Titus and Lesli Neuenschwander - A Place Where Families Heal - Restoration House - 32

Hope may start at the table. We sit with Titus and Lesli Neuenschwander, a couple who turned personal heartbreak into Restoration House, a Carthage, Missouri home where families stay, eat, play, and gently relearn how to be together. Their story begins with adoption, threads through the deep ache of losing a child, and arrives at a surprising answer: combine therapy with radical hospitality so trust can grow where fear once lived.

Across three nights, they guide families through a carefully designed intensive that pairs counseling with real-life moments—board games that surface patterns, outdoor play that releases tension, and unhurried dinners that make space for honest words. Kids who are burned out on therapy meet pancakes with smiley faces and rooms that invite movement without overwhelm. Parents who are exhausted by crisis find a house arranged to lower their load: meals handled, rhythms set, and a calm environment that makes healing work possible.

We also share how this mission became real: a paid-off home that opened doors, a banker’s quiet act of courage, and a community that cleared a yard in a day. Today, Restoration House specializes in trauma, adoption, neurodiversity, and stress sensitivity, offering on-site intensives, parent education, church trainings, and parent-only retreats that travel to where the need is. The nonprofit arm ensures families aren’t priced out, with prayer partners, donors, and service teams keeping the lights on—often for those who arrive late at night and breathe out the first “wow” of relief.

If your family needs a reset, if your church wants to strengthen caregivers, or if you feel called to stand with families in hard seasons, this conversation offers a clear path forward. Learn how to inquire, how to sponsor a stay, and how to join the prayer team that undergirds every step. If this resonates, follow, share, and leave a review—your support helps more families find their way to hope.

Restoration House
https://www.restorationhousefc.org

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome, Updates, Abide Study
• 0:58 Meet Titus And Lesli
• 4:02 Adoption And Family Snapshot
• 6:40 Community Help And Preparation Season
• 7:30 What Is Restoration House
• 10:31 Grief, Marriage Strain, And Honest Worship
• 16:53 From Pain To Purpose In Practice
• 19:32 The Intensive Model And Hospitality
• 23:52 Designing A Safe, Calming Home
• 27:32 The House Story And Provision
• 31:18 Who Qualifies And How To Engage
• 35:12 Beyond Missouri: Trainings And Travel
• 37:40 Vision, Access, And Affordability
• 40:06 Prayer, Funding, And Serving Needs
• 43:03 Closing Prayer And Passing The Baton

Transcript

Kim McIntire: 0:08

Hey everyone, welcome to the It's Time to Rise Up podcast. I'm your host, Kim McIntire. We know there are so many things you can do with your time, so thank you for choosing to spend yours listening today. We pray you are encouraged and blessed by what is shared. If you're not familiar with our show, please check out our website at itstimetoriseup.org where you will find our social media links. And for our podcast platforms, you'll find us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere else you find your podcast. I'm excited to announce that the Abide Study is now available on Amazon and Barnes Noble. The link to order is found in our show notes. The Abide Study is currently the discipleship piece of the Rise Up movement. There's more about that on our website. Now let's get to today's episode. This is part two of our compassion series, and I have invited two friends into the studio to talk about their nonprofit restoration house in Carthage, Missouri. Welcome to the podcast, Titus and Lesli Neuenschwander. You guys, I appreciate you taking the time. Titus, why don't you just start us out with letting us know how long have you and Lesli been married and where did you meet?

Titus Neuenschwander: 1:28

Sure. Well, first of all, I had to pull out a calculator to remember that we've been married for 30 years.

Kim McIntire: 1:34

Oh my goodness. Congratulations, that's a milestone.

Titus Neuenschwander: 1:37

Thank you. Yeah, it was an exciting year, and uh maybe we'll have a chance to celebrate those 30 years after a while.

Kim McIntire: 1:45

But when your life slows down, right. Right. Right. That's awesome. When did you guys meet or where did you meet?

Titus Neuenschwander: 1:52

So Lesli and I met at uh Ozark Christian College, where um we both went and graduated. I uh saw Lesli actually across the way from campus, and so I kept making strategic moves uh in order to be able to have conversations with her.

Kim McIntire: 2:13

He stalked me.

Titus Neuenschwander: 2:15

I did.

Kim McIntire: 2:16

He admits it. He's not even gonna deny it. No. No.

Titus Neuenschwander: 2:21

Well, I joined choir.

Kim McIntire: 2:22

I can you sing?

Titus Neuenschwander: 2:25

Well, that's a great question. I sing well enough to go to choir. Right. And um that's great. Then uh literally they asked me where what part do you sing? And I looked up and Lesli was in the uh alto section, so I said baritone because baritone was next to the alto.

Kim McIntire: 2:46

That's awesome.

Titus Neuenschwander: 2:47

And uh basically every part of my day I would try to figure out where she was so I could by chance run into her and have a conversation. And so did a lot of work in preparation for that. She really never noticed.

Kim McIntire: 3:03

She did it. Oh my word. So what got your attention then, Lesli? If you never noticed what got your attention.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 3:10

Oh my goodness, that is a good question. Um I think you called me and asked me to go on a date. What he didn't know is that I had already seen his picture from somewhere. And um we're only a year apart, but two years in school because of the eight and just the birth dates and things. So I was a junior and he was a freshman, and I can remember the freshman girl saying, I know someone who likes you. And then I saw his name and I thought, well, first I'm not in high school anymore, and two with New and Swander, no way.

Kim McIntire: 3:41

That's funny. And then here you are, 30 years later. 30 years later, that's what happens when you say married.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 3:47

Well, there's been multiple no ways that God's just sat up there and laughed at me a little bit, I think.

Kim McIntire: 3:53

Um, you guys are adorable.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 3:55

This is a good one. I was glad that uh my no way did not get in the way. Amen.

Kim McIntire: 4:00

That's right. I am too.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 4:02

So, Lesli, tell us about your family. Uh, we are a family woven together by adoption. We have seven children, six still living. Uh, five of those are uh within four and a half years of each other. So we kind of um just side note always we lived every age stage in full with all of the everything that comes with it. Yeah. Um, and then we have so they're all young adults right now, and we have three grandbabies, and then we have our 17-year-old senior in high school this year.

Kim McIntire: 4:34

Oh my goodness.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 4:35

Jesus finishing year, yes, we're finishing the chapter of school kids, and that's a very, very uh yeah.

Kim McIntire: 4:43

How many grandchildren do you have? Three. You have three now. Oh my goodness. You're up on me by one. Well, you guys, I um know you through a church that we used to attend together. And at that time, Titus, you were a middle school minister. Wow. I believe. Weren't you a middle school minister? That's where we started. That's where you started. And Lesli, you were Phoenix's preschool teacher at then College Heights School, which is now New Heights Christian Academy in Joplin, Missouri. And so we've just been connected through through church ministry, really.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 5:18

Yeah.

Kim McIntire: 5:18

And then we were neighbors for a while until you moved off to Carthage, Missouri. So and you guys came and were part of our tree party that we had one year. Yes, yes. I was driving, I was riding my bike to the lake and I ride past your house, and there's all these trees down. And I'm like, did we have a storm? It looked like a tornado had hit your front yard. Yeah.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 5:37

I'd asked them to trim, thinking that we could take care of the limbs. And when I walked outside, we thought we are in big trouble.

Kim McIntire: 5:44

Oh my word. And I I like I bite to the lake, and then the Lord's like, go help them. And I'm like, okay, Lord, help me to find some people. I go home and tell Everett. He starts texting people before long. The yard was clear. Yep, we had it done in a day. I'm not taking credit for that, but God had you on his mind. But yeah, I actually was like, did the tornado only hit there? It was bad.

Titus Neuenschwander: 6:05

And I don't know if you remember, but Everett had actually just bought a brand new chainsaw.

Kim McIntire: 6:10

He had. And he hadn't even used it.

Titus Neuenschwander: 6:12

I think our house was the first time we pulled that happening.

Kim McIntire: 6:15

He hadn't even used it. He was actually excited. I went home and I'm like, Lord, and usually his Saturdays are very like, you know, I've got this, this, and this to do until like afternoon. And I was like, oh Lord, I hope he doesn't have a busy day. And I tell him, I'm like, Titus and Lesli have trees all over their front yard and we need to go help them. And he goes, Oh, I've got that brand new chainsaw I haven't used yet. Yay!

Lesli Neuenschwander: 6:39

You know, actually that was one of the beginning um pieces, uh, just the the things that God did uh that to prepare for what we were doing. I mean, it had been happening our entire lives, really. I mean, everything. But that was kind of one of those, we were trying to get the house ready to sell. We were trying to move forward in what was happening and yeah, you were in preparation phase. We were in preparation phase for sure. And then to have all those trees, I mean, there's just no way to describe that uh what we thought was gonna take us over a week to try to navigate ourselves. And in a day, God just said, here, I'm gonna have, you know, we're gonna, we're gonna take care of this.

Kim McIntire: 7:19

Well, those tree trimmers took their job very, very seriously because they were determined the trees were gonna be trimmed down to bare bones. But anyway, moving on, um, we're here to talk about Restoration House in Carthage, Missouri, in which you guys, I believe you direct that, you own that and direct that. Um, is that correct? Yeah, we're the executive directors. Yeah, the executive directors. And you were you invited me to tour this spring. And to be honest, you guys, I was absolutely amazed at what I saw. And then when you went into talking about just the vision for the ministry and the purpose and what you were doing, I just thought to myself, this is a story that people need to hear. Um can you share with our listening audience how Restoration House came to be? Because people most likely don't know what hot restoration house is. So I don't know which one of you want to lead out with that, but let's let's talk about that. What is Restoration House?

Lesli Neuenschwander: 8:27

Oh, again, that's a good question, and it's a big one to answer. Um, in a nutshell, Restoration House, um, we help families find hope and healing. So um, I'll let Titus do a little bit more explaining about that. But um the explanation of what it is is as unique as what we do because it's and how we got to where we are is a is a big story. And so trying to even condense it sometimes is is well we can make this two parts. So don't feel like you have to do a nutshell explanation. There's just so much to it, preparation, uh years and years of preparation of our hearts and our minds and our family uh to get to where we are today. And ever I think every time we drive up to the house, there's emotion because we're just very simple people. And when we look at that home and think that God's let us live here and be here, it's very humbling and a reminder of his provision and his um just that he can make impossible things possible.

Kim McIntire: 9:24

Absolutely, absolutely. And a beautiful place for people who are in crisis or in trauma to come. And I was thinking if if I were in crisis and trauma and my family and I needed a place to go for therapy or counseling in the setting that you guys are offering, I would feel incredibly loved, incredibly welcomed, and really almost like I don't know, royalty is probably an exaggeration, but you really feel like you're special. You know, like it's you're not just walking into an everyday environment. I mean, it's it's just very much it's a pl it you can tell it's a place where love has been poured out, and you guys have done that so well. So let's just talk about how did this come to be? Like, I know you explained what it is. It's a place where families come and find hope and healing. But how did you get to this place? Is it is it born from the experiences you guys have lived out?

Titus Neuenschwander: 10:31

Yeah, I think ultimately passion almost always ascends out of pain. And so as Lesli mentioned, we're an adoptive family, and um it was through a lot of circumstances that we realized that oh my gosh, we feel so alone, so unprepared, and um without any exaggeration, our family was falling apart at the seams, which is embarrassing for a lot of reasons when you're supposed to be in charge and helping families, and then you're looking at your own and the seams are splitting. Yeah, it's a really humbling place to be. And so during there were several things that all collided at the same time. Uh first we did uh lose our son Tyler when he was almost four months old. Um he was our sixth child, and um we realized how unprepared and ignorant we were at the at the grief process.

Kim McIntire: 11:40

Yeah.

Titus Neuenschwander: 11:41

And um in trying to recover, there were several things that took place, and one is um our marriage became much more fragile than it had ever been before. We were both trying to recoup in ways that made sense. For me, I stayed busy. And for Lesli, what was that like for you?

Lesli Neuenschwander: 12:08

I could not get a bed, couldn't get out of bed in the morning, um, wasn't able to go to the grocery store. Uh had a very difficult time functioning and daily care for the other five kids that we had, our other five children. Um felt very alone and yeah, it was It was a rough season for sure.

Kim McIntire: 12:31

Would you say out of out of the span of 30 years that that was the most difficult challenge that you guys faced as a couple?

Lesli Neuenschwander: 12:42

I I think so. Um there have been a couple others that have uh that have unfolded, but that one probably tested um, and actually we did really, really well at the beginning. Um we kind of we actually uh thrive in uh hard chaotic situations. It was when um like maybe maybe that nine to ten month mark when things started settling for everybody else, uh, and and we were still trying to keep our head above water, that we started um kind of falling apart. It it happened kind of gradually because I think we were very united and connected at the very beginning of the grief process, but then uh when we were supposed to, quote, unquote, supposed to be kind of getting on with life, um and we weren't for good reason. But at the time we thought we should be um things started, yeah. I would say that was probably it was the most difficult time in our marriage. And probably a couple years into that, because we had a big move, we we moved our family and um started a new ministry here at College Heights. Right. And where before we were kind of a 60-40 for family and ministry, so I was part of the ministry with him, and he was very much involved at home. When we moved, it was like 90-10. So even the adjustment of he now was at work all the time, and I really wasn't a part of the ministry. Right. And he wasn't at home, and I was very much just at home with the kids. Sure. So that divide I think is really what started unraveling the strength that we had uh with each other and and just increased the grief that we weren't we really weren't working through properly.

Titus Neuenschwander: 14:34

Um yeah, and I think it's just such a lonely process.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 14:38

Yeah, and everybody does it differently, and so um yeah.

Titus Neuenschwander: 14:43

There was a season though where probably going to church was the most difficult aspect of it. And um but for me, church was work. And so busyness is uh at some level, it numbs life and it does a good job of it where you don't have to stop and think as long as you keep moving, it's when you stop moving that uh so nights are sometimes long, quiet moments are long. But Lesli's Greek process was um more of a quiet process. And um but I do remember a Sunday in which uh she stopped singing, and it wasn't because um God wasn't faithful.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 15:32

Oh no, I leaned into him so strong, but worship was just too hard.

Titus Neuenschwander: 15:38

But at some level, um the words that Lesli used to describe it was I just didn't feel like I was honest when I was singing songs. And um I remember it was probably maybe about six months, but more than anything, I remember the day that she started singing again. And um that was no one else around us would have known. But uh it was a place of just uh felt like God had been faithful through that season. Not that we were out scot-free or that there weren't other things that we were working through.

Kim McIntire: 16:21

Sure.

Titus Neuenschwander: 16:22

But um it was just a time that says we're gonna we're gonna do this. God's gonna do this.

Kim McIntire: 16:29

So that was kind of the beginning layer, would you say?

Lesli Neuenschwander: 16:33

Of Restration House? Yeah. Oh no, that had been going well. The preparation for that and the when we go back to how far back was God preparing, it started at day one. Um, just a real quick kind of couple uh because we work with individuals, marriages, and families. We do specialize, Titus specializes in marriage as a marriage and family therapist, and um we specialize in uh trauma, adoption, um, neurodiversity, stress sensitivity, uh, traumatic stress. Um, I work with a company for adoption, and of course, as adoptive family, that's our focus. Right. Uh, that's one of our specialties, challenging behaviors, families that are getting ready to disrupt. Okay, so looking back from the very beginning, when we got married, we spent the first year secretly wondering what we have done, and we've just ruined our life because I had some medical conditions that we didn't know about and we weren't aware of that made some things very difficult in our early marriage. So even when we're doing marriage retreats, there was we have several stories of how God, in even in the beginning, was uh creating space for us to be able to sit with people in very vulnerable places without judgment, um, because we'd we'd we didn't like each other very much. And you know, it it wasn't always a lot of fun, you know, being married. And um, but then we and I we always loved being with people, we always loved hospitality. So even as when I feel like we're duplicating our our stories. So the way that our family came together, I feel like God's doing the same thing with this next quarter of our life. Wow. Um the things that just don't happen that happened when we got our first son when he was brought when he came home, the same way that this house came about. Like these things just don't happen, but we know they do, right? So it does it does feel like we're kind of duplicating the story that God has for us and that he has for us. So that's been exciting and fun to watch happen. I'm not sure if I hit your question that you asked. Oh, that was perfect. That was perfect.

Kim McIntire: 18:39

I'm not so much worried about the question as hearing your story. No and the process as, you know, when when people are doing a work in the kingdom, in the community, whatever realm, right? Um there's always a backstory. Oh, yeah. People just don't end up being the executive directors of XYZ, right? And so to me, the backstory is so important for people to hear. Um, and so families come for hope and healing because your family has been in need of hope and healing. And received. And received that. And so what you have received, you're pouring out into others, which is just so beautiful. Yeah. And when families come, I may go off script a little bit if that's okay with you guys. But when families come, what can they expect? Titus, like a family is coming and they're going to be with you. How many days normally would people stay?

Titus Neuenschwander: 19:39

Yeah, if a family or a couple come in for an intensive, usually it's three nights. And um, we do about two and a half days of therapeutic work. And when I say that, it doesn't mean it's all work. If a family comes, we will there are different games and avenues that we also uh use to bring about emotion and unity and frustration. All of those things are great opportunities for families to learn. But I think the most important aspect of why we chose to do it this way, that a family actually comes and stays in our home, is because there is also power in hospitality.

Kim McIntire: 20:23

That's right.

Titus Neuenschwander: 20:24

You know, it's one of the spiritual gifts that that scripture um opens up, even as a gift of the spirit. As a young person, I always thought, who wants the gift of hospitality?

Kim McIntire: 20:37

I do. Wesley's great at it.

Titus Neuenschwander: 20:40

Sure. As a middle school kid, though, I'm like, ooh, who wants that one? But you know, Kim, a lot of the families that we have the opportunity to invite into our home have been through have been through tragedy and trauma. And it also means that some of the kids who have gone through adoption have also been overloaded with therapy.

Kim McIntire: 21:02

Yeah.

Titus Neuenschwander: 21:03

And I don't mean that bad. That's part of my field. I mean there's definitely healing processes for it.

Kim McIntire: 21:09

Sure.

Titus Neuenschwander: 21:10

But there is a much uh greater difference for a child who comes in and they're thinking, oh great, more therapy, but they're in our home. And the very next morning that they're in our home, Lesli is making pancakes with a smiley face on it.

Kim McIntire: 21:27

I love it.

Titus Neuenschwander: 21:28

You know, and you're you're serving them, and it's almost as you're doing that, especially with the kids, there's trust that's being built. Sure. They're feeling like this is something different.

Kim McIntire: 21:41

Absolutely.

Titus Neuenschwander: 21:42

And uh that's not true just for the kids, though. That's true for the parents that we work hard to prepare a place where they don't have to worry about the next meal, they don't have to worry about what's the next uh event or what that's taken care of, and they just get to be. And for a lot of parents, specifically where that relationship is just um has been falling apart and there's nothing left. Those are key moments in just learning to have fun and learning just to spend time together.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 22:20

And we've set up the house too, where parents don't have to worry about what their kids touch or what they climb on top of, or I mean they they really um we've been very purposeful in not putting too many things out in the house that um and even the things that are out that might be taken or might be broken. Um I've decided when I put them out that if they're gone, they're gone. I've put them there for me, but I if if it's out, I'm not I'm not worried about it. So parents don't have to come in and be concerned about whether their kids are running up and down the stairs or jumping over well, you know, jumping over the couch or whatever, you know. So we we they we get to kind of lower their stress and their worry and their anxiety because um one, God's created big spaces but controlled spaces in the house. You've been in there, so you know. We looked at 27 properties plus, I we lost count at some point. Um, and every time we thought about the space that we would need, we had a checklist of all the things that we needed or we thought would be needed for what we were looking at to provide for families. And um, we would walk into these homes and they would have these huge vaulted ceilings and these big massive open entryways, and we would walk in as adults and think, oh my goodness, this is overwhelming. So you can imagine if a kiddo's walking in for sure to that space and how much um, but when you walk into our home, we've got these big spaces, but they're that's um, it's hard to explain unless you've been designated their designated spaces, and so even though there's lots of designated spaces, there's room in them, and the doorways are um are wide and the ceilings are a little bit higher, and so they have all this moving space, but it's still confined enough that there provides some safety to that. Um, and so even God providing that type of safety, that type of comfort and peace in a home, um, that's something that that was outside of us. I mean, we we brought love into the home. He brought love into the home, but we brought the home piece in with him, but he set that house aside for us, and that's a whole nother story of how that house came to be.

Kim McIntire: 24:32

But yeah, we're gonna talk about that actually. I'd love to talk about that. The home is a beautiful home. Uh it I don't know if it's officially historic, but it looks historic. I don't know if it's on the historic records.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 24:43

It is not on the historic records, probably a good thing because we don't have to abide by any of the historic records, right? No, well it looks but it is. It's from uh it was built, started, it was built in 20, started in tw uh 1921, finished in 23. There's a great article in the Carthage Press that we have that talks about the erection of the Highland home and how it was built to last. Like they they it was just uh it exudes family. It does.

Kim McIntire: 25:09

You can tell it's built for family, it's built for hospitality. Yep. I love designated spaces. I love homes with a dining room where people can sit down and dine, and it's apart from where the television is and all the busyness of the home is, and it's just it creates, I feel like sacred spaces that sometimes families are missing today. And so I actually do want you to share about how you ended up with that house. But but but first, um when people are there, you say normally it's a three-day stay. Are there times it's longer or shorter?

Titus Neuenschwander: 25:49

Yes, both have both have been true.

Kim McIntire: 25:53

Okay.

Titus Neuenschwander: 25:54

And uh it really does depend upon the circumstances and and what's going on. Uh we have found that um about two days that's a lot for a family to come in and experience or a couple to experience, and uh which is why um we just kind of spread things out a little bit. Yeah. But at the same time, um we've had families who uh just experience immense grief. Some friends of ours uh who are friends now, they had lost all three of their children in a car accident. And um so they stayed um a couple days longer in that process. And some of it was just it wasn't all therapeutic. Some of it was just sitting with them, and some of it was uh walking with them. And uh you know when you read Joe, um, you have friends who came, and I know that those friends um we kind of criticize their responses, but their first response was they said nothing for seven days and they didn't speak until Job spoke. And so there's something about just not always being alone. And so some of those times we have expanded, and sometimes just out of uh scheduling or what that looks like, it's it's been shorter.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 27:30

So we really focus on the individual needs of the family. So we have uh blueprints of what we do even in the intensive, but once the family's there, we adjust to the needs of the of the individual, the marriage, or the family based on what's what's needed.

Kim McIntire: 27:45

Yeah. Yeah. And how long at this point, how long have you guys been receiving families? Oh yeah.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 27:52

Our first three. We had uh we so we moved into our we closed uh August of 22, end of August, we moved in beginning of September of 22, and we had our first three families in our home December of 22. And then we just had a family this last weekend. So we've been um actually this last family was our 30th family that we had in the home.

Kim McIntire: 28:13

Wow, that's incredible. So when they come to your home for this healing and hope, are you guys in the home the whole time with them?

Lesli Neuenschwander: 28:25

Yeah, we are, which actually is uh uh part of the hospitality piece and the therapeutic care piece because they have freedom, like we have our specialized um care where we're in, we have a family room office area that is designated for some of the emotional work and the counseling work. Um, but we are available the whole time that they're there. So especially families with children, we get to interact, we get to watch, we get to see if they have questions. We kind of call it real-time support. Like we're there to be um available to to silent witnesses to pain, but also uh witnesses to joy and interaction um throughout the time. We uh cook, I mean, we're cooking the meals for them. Um right now our daughters are cleanup crew, so she does a fantastic job of coming in after and cleaning up. But we are, you know, we're cooking and and taking care of that. Titus does uh family initiatives and group uh group games and things that promote um process incredibly. Yeah.

Kim McIntire: 29:25

Do you guys find it to be rewarding?

Titus Neuenschwander: 29:27

That's where we once we thrive. We love the work and and almost every part of it, uh even preparing a meal or just uh eating around the table, you know how important that is for any family. And um we really feel like we get to be an extended part of their families. Yeah. What a, as you said, what a sacred space. Yeah.

Kim McIntire: 29:53

For sure.

Titus Neuenschwander: 29:53

What a beautiful place to be a part of.

Kim McIntire: 29:56

I said I want to backpedal because I said you feel like royalty. I felt a little bit like royalty when I walked into your house. I'm like, I feel special in this place, but I'm gonna change the word to VIP. You know, because I feel like royalty may have been exaggeration a little bit, but I felt like a VIP, you know what I mean? And so I can just imagine how people who are hurting would feel.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 30:20

And remember, even as we say this, this has this is so this is is so big, so much bigger than us. Like it is be is beyond anything that we could have asked or imagined. But it is, if you can imagine, especially our families that come in from California, if you can imagine these kids getting on a plane with their parents, wondering, what in the world are we doing? And remember too that the ones that are coming from California are are, I mean, are they have some significant trauma. So getting them on a plane, the parents getting them in a car, them fighting all the way up, I don't know why we're here, I don't want to be here. And it has been such a rewarding thing and a humbling thing for us for to hear those parents say the moment they drove up, because they usually come in at night, and so all the lights are on, you know, to share the house. And there's they just immediately are like, wow, you know, like wow, we get to stay there and then we can't get them out the door to leave. Right. And so that is a um that says God written all over the house. Like he just knew that was the house that was needed.

Kim McIntire: 31:21

I know not everyone can see it, but when when you said that about the lights on at night, I know it's not a brick house, but I imagined home alone and what it looks like at night, you know, on the scenes where the lights are on. And to me, that's the closest thing I can compare it to, is you know, it's just a beautiful historic home. Yeah. And God's blessed you with it. And so if you want to take a few minutes just to talk about how did you end up with this beautiful historic home in a beautiful town like Carthage, Missouri. That's even yeah.

Titus Neuenschwander: 31:54

Yeah, I mean, it was just it was just part of the journey. Um, our realtor, who was also a friend, when we started looking at houses, he had us a note from a banker or some lender that said, yes, they can afford to look at homes this size.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 32:13

Because he said families with our income don't look at houses like this. Yeah, yeah.

Titus Neuenschwander: 32:18

And uh so we didn't know how it was gonna work. We just felt like that's that's the direction that we want to try to work and move. Right. And um we uh had done Dave Ramsay many years ago, so we like, okay, we're gonna pay off this home, our other home in 15 years. And uh so we did. There were many times during that journey I thought, wow, I don't know if we should have done this. Everything is still so tight. But to be able to sell that home uh debt-free, and that's really what allowed us the opportunity to even get close to uh purchasing a larger home, especially in a uh seller's market.

Kim McIntire: 33:04

Right.

Titus Neuenschwander: 33:05

But all that be said and done, there were lots of things that were happening on the side. Matter of fact, uh a friend of ours who uh said, Hey Titus, here's the bank that you need to talk to. Uh we did not even understand this, but he had co-signed. We didn't find that out until a year after we until we were looking at the paperwork and we saw a signature uh down at the bottom. And uh just like who would take a risk uh of that uh we weren't experienced, we were unprepared, we felt like uh this could work. And um so it's just been part of a journey. But that particular house we it is the only house that we looked at that's actually in town. We thought what we were looking for would have to be somewhere out in the country or we needed space.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 34:02

We uh knew that we would want an area for people to be in the the yard and the surrounding areas, not just confined to a neighborhood. Plus, we also knew that we needed movement in our at our house, especially if we were gonna have kids there.

Kim McIntire: 34:15

And the yard is like a garden. There's yeah. I mean, it's just like a garden. Meaning beautiful. I'm not speaking about vegetables, but you know. Okay, you do finally, I finally got my vegetable garden. But I mean, it's just be it's beautifully landscaped. There's space, the spaces are inviting. I love the swing set on the side of the house. It's just it's lovely. You guys have the Lord has given you the grace and favor to just make it a lovely space for everyone. And I'm just I'm just believing that there may be someone listening who knows someone who needs your help. And if someone's listening and they think, I need this help, my family needs this help, or someone I know needs this help, what qualifies them? Can you guys talk about that a little bit? Like, can they just call your number and you're gonna share info in a little bit about how to connect with you guys? But what is that process like if it's not too complicated?

Lesli Neuenschwander: 35:15

Oh no, it's not, and it's for anyone. So we're even though we specialize in some of the crisis um areas, it it we want our home to be available to anyone, even if they're just needing rest, and they don't necessarily want the therapeutic, I mean, it's therapeutic, just the hospitality piece of it, but even if they're not necessarily wanting therapy or uh they just want rest, like anything from just basic rest all the way to we are in absolute crisis, divorce is imminent, child might be leaving our home. I mean, all for all everything from the the the it is all welcome in the house. That's what the house is for people, that's why we have it. Yeah if they um are interested or know someone, then our we encourage them to go to our website at restorationhousefc.org. Is that right? Yeah. Um and just put in a form submit and we will make contact and begin the process of that uh working out what that looks like for their family.

Kim McIntire: 36:13

Okay. And if you didn't catch that, it will be in our show notes listeners. Yeah. Yep. Okay. So that's a pretty easy process.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 36:20

It is a very easy process. Yes. It starts it starts with that, and then we make contact, we find out what their actual needs are. Um we also do things outside of our home. So I mean, we we do a lot of part of what we do is providing therapeutic support and education for the unique challenges families face. So there's an education piece that's also available specifically for parents. Oh, that's excellent. And so that's part of that as well. So there's multiple resources. There's lots of resources, yeah. Our house, the education, we have an online course that um that I do uh right now is free through the nonprofit. And then um we go our our heart is for the church, and so we would love to like Titus does seminars and we do workshops and retreats even outside of our home. Like we go to California to do parent intensives with multiple parents, not with the children, but the parents come and they come to an Airbnb, and we do pretty much the exact same thing we do in our home, but we do it just for parents in in those settings. And so if there's a church out there or a a group, a small group or something out there that wants um to be cared for and to have some support and have the support that we offer, we travel to places that's good to know and make arrangements for that.

Kim McIntire: 37:32

Yeah, so you don't necessarily have to come to Carthage, Missouri. They will come to you if their schedule allows it and everything. So you guys, what is the vision for the future? Have you have you been given a vision from the Lord about what's what's next?

Lesli Neuenschwander: 37:48

A lot of what we're doing right now, like we live we are living our vision. You're living the vision, but we do have some thoughts for what we'd like to do.

Titus Neuenschwander: 37:56

And I think um right now we're we're also doing two other jobs, and so what with the house that is really the direction that we'd love to land and do that more often.

Kim McIntire: 38:10

Yeah.

Titus Neuenschwander: 38:11

I think part of the other vision is again part of your story is when we were needing help. Um we completely drained our savings account uh to zero, just trying to get help for our kids, specifically our oldest son. Part of the vision is to be able to say, we want to do this to families where they don't have to do that. And that's really the whole reason for the nonprofit. We don't need the nonprofit to do what we're doing, right? We're set up the nonprofit because we understand that when you're on the other side, to be able to look back and say, Well, this is what we needed, this is what would have been helpful, right? Um we want to provide that to families as well.

Kim McIntire: 39:01

Mm-hmm. But how can people get involved if if they're, you know, some people just they're very um they have hearts to serve, they have hearts to support. How can people support this nonprofit? Are there ways for the community to get involved? Or even people who don't live in this area? How can people get involved to support this ministry?

Lesli Neuenschwander: 39:28

The top priority right now is prayer partners. Like we we are committed to 100 prayer team partners before we ever launch. We did a soft launch for the nonprofit to do the playground that you saw, and it was family recreation. Right. And there was an overflow of of people willing to support those recreational areas. But we haven't done the um full funding launch for the nonprofit because we're very committed to wanting the hundred uh prayer partners before we do that.

Kim McIntire: 39:56

Okay.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 39:56

However, there are families in need right now that are wanting intensives, and um, so there's cost and investment to that. Sure. That um so one of the ways, other than being a prayer team, and if they want to be a prayer team, you just go to our website, there's a prayer team link. You just click on there. We're still developing the newsletter. We're it's it's we hit the door running, literally, and we're still trying to keep up. We have a wonderful board that is helping us, you know, fill in the gaps of the things that we can't get done.

Kim McIntire: 40:22

So work in progress.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 40:23

Yes, work in progress. So uh prayer team is the first piece, and then we'll be doing a launch this fall, but there's always a financial need for families. And so, I mean, that's just the reality of living in the home and taking care of the home and providing that space for for in the care. And so if anyone's interested in supporting a specific family or supporting a family in general, um, there's also a link on our website that they can do that as well. It's all yes, and it's all nonprofit, so it's all tax uh deductible. That's wonderful. Um, there are there's always small uh household needs all the time, like taking managing and taking care of the the landscaping and the yard work and the um service projects. We the the school actually comes and does service project uh projects once a year, the new heights. And so that's been exciting. So in the spring, when everything's coming up and we have to kind of clean up from the winter, they've come in and spent a day helping us just get the yard prepped for the spring. Um deep cleaning of the home is kind of always a thing that we're doing. So anyone who wants to do that, we've always got small, you know, home projects that need to be done in a house that size. So if somebody has service, um the like service projects service projects or the git the gift of service in that area, those are always places that we're needing.

Kim McIntire: 41:46

I know that there it seems that more and more churches are doing service project days. And so is that something that a church would could do? Absolutely. Just call you and or or get on the website and say we're interested in coming to serve for a day or something? Yes. Okay, that's excellent. Very needed, thank you. That's exciting. So what is the greatest need you have now at this time? Is it prayer?

Lesli Neuenschwander: 42:11

Yeah, it's definitely prayer. Um, I mean, we finances are always there, but prayer is the um sustaining and wisdom and um the spiritual warfare out there um for the families and the marriages that we work with are, I mean, it's it's real and we see it all the time. And then we feel it in our family and just praying for protection and um yeah.

Kim McIntire: 42:39

Okay. Thank you both so much for your time. It's truly been an honor to hear the whole story, probably not the whole story, but a bulk of the story. And I would love to pray over Restoration House before we close. All right. Thanks, give. So you're welcome. Listeners, join in with me. Let's let's pray for this amazing nonprofit ministry in Carthage, Missouri. Father God, we come to you in the name of Jesus Christ. And we bring to you Restoration House. We bring Titus and Lesli to you, Lord. We thank you for the work that is being done to help families heal with hope. And God, we are asking that you bring prayer partnership, God, to lift up their arms and to lift up this ministry, God, that you have planted in Carthage, Missouri. Father, we're asking for you to stir hearts to financially support this work. God, we are praying that you would stir hearts to come and serve and help in the yard or in the home. God, it takes many hands. And we thank you for what you've already done. God, you've done so much. Thank you for the 30 families that have gone to Restoration House and received help, hope, and healing. And Lord, for all of the families that have yet to come, we just pray a blessing over them. We thank you again, God, that you allow your people to partner with you in the work of restoring lives. All for your glory, God. All for your glory. May your blessing rest heavily upon Titus and Lesli, Lord. We bless them in your name. Grace and peace over them in Jesus' name. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. In Christ we pray. Before we close, I just want to ask, is there anything else you guys would like to add to this conversation before we close?

Titus Neuenschwander: 45:00

Kim, I think at some level, uh Lesli and I are jumping in this a little later in life. And um, even this is a second occupation for both of us and going back to school and all those things. But I we're really hoping that this is just the beginning of something, and we're not trying to build restoration house around us. We hope it's just a starting place that we get it past the baton. Yeah, and that the house will be something more. And so at some level, we're still looking for others who uh love walking beside families, uh, who love checking in with families. We hope that there's other marriage and family therapists who uh we can do the hospitality piece and and they get to do some of the work. So we're not sure what all that looks like, but um as even this is at the start for us, we're hoping that that baton gets passed to the next generation.

Lesli Neuenschwander: 46:03

We recognize that uh we it's also not sustainable for just the two of us, and it was never meant to just be the two of us. And so building a team of people that once the families have been in our home, um eventually rather than us doing the follow-up, there's follow-up in place outside of ourselves. And and again, creating that team of people to provide that support and wrap around these families.

Kim McIntire: 46:25

Oh, that's so good. Legacy, yes, legacy. Thank you for being here. Thank you. I appreciate you both. Thank you for taking your time to listen to our podcast. We'd love to hear your feedback. Please rate us or leave a five star review on Apple Podcast. May God's grace and peace be with you all in Jesus' name.