Flood Relief for Misty and Justin!

Hi, my name is Jolina Petersheim. I've known my best friend, Misty Adams, since before I could tie my shoes. She was just a permanent fixture in my life, more like a sibling than a friend. Needless to say, our twenty-nine-year-old sisterhood has witnessed many triumphs and setbacks: weddings, births, illnesses, adventures, dreams fulfilled and others . . . drowned.

This past week, for the second time in two years, Misty and her husband Justin experienced great loss as the Red River rose, this time from the colossal storms associated with Hurricane Harvey, and flooded their home.

Misty and Justin spent most of this year remodeling after the June 2016 flood, and now that their home was completed, they were ready to begin dreaming again: this time that dream entailed expanding their family through adoption.

They submitted their adoption papers in June 2017, but on September 1, those dreams were placed on hold.


I received this text: “Well, we are having to leave our house again. It is climbing the steps. It’s just a house, and we have the people we love. Love you.”

My chest hurt, for not only were Misty and Justin leaving their home, they were leaving their dreams as well.

I sat up that night—rocking, praying, and feeding my three-month-old child—trying to think of a way to ease my best friend’s heartache from three hours away (I live near the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee; Misty lives in southwestern Kentucky).

That was when I thought of GoFundMe.

Over the years, so many of you have read and/or heard me talk about Misty, but no amount of words can adequately convey this woman’s depth and resilience.

In her early to mid-twenties, Misty battled cancer twice (and won!), but not only that, she maintained a positive outlook and a trust in her Creator that set an example for my own life and for the lives of the many medical personnel and patients she met.

Misty was in remission when I introduced her to Justin during homecoming weekend at my college. Before one of our English classes, Justin (a musicially-inclined, baseball-playing poet) had mentioned that he would like to marry a tall, homeschooled redhead. 

That was when I turned around and informed him that I had the perfect girl.


There are quite a few chapters to their love story, but my plot prediction proved accurate. The creative, musically-inclined pair married in 2012 and immediately began pouring themselves into their community.

Right now, Justin helps pastor a small church and works as an English teacher in Kentucky. Misty manages the farm, writes music, and opens their home to countless guests, using their river cottage like a year-round ministry tool.

I know Misty and Justin will be okay. I know that same depth, resilience, and trust in their Creator, which they've displayed in the past, will now fuel them as they sift through the carnage of their dreams, move the cottage, and renovate it for the second time.

However, I thought of that quote (by Shania Twain, but it's still good):

“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."

This GoFundMe page is my attempt to sing that song back to my best friend, when these three young children of mine make it next to impossible to physically help.

Will you come alongside me and help rebuild their dreams? This is not only a physical rebuilding, but the rebuilding of a family, for to receive a child through adoption, Misty and Justin need a home.


Misty and Justin are the sole beneficiaries of this campaign (meaning nothing will pass through my hands). The money will be used to move and renovate their home. Thank you for reading.

Be blessed,

Jolina Petersheim