Richard's BIG day!!

SOMEBODY just had a BIG birthday!! Entrance into a new decade :)! Happy Birthday to a Godly, Tender, Courageous, Joyful, Hard-Workin' man. We honor my Husband, our Dad, and , "Mr. Richard" this b.day -- you are God's blessing to us!! Love you, Hon!!

Affectionate Father



Hero and Champion!!



Hands-on Dad




Man of Faith--Passing Truth to a New Generation



Ever the Awesome Coach




Love, Gillian

The Glue in You

All Things Hold Together in Christ

Be Encouraged today, precious people,






For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:16:17)


Now Let's Worship Him!--How can we not?






Blessings in our Amazing Jesus,

Gillian

Our Family's Theme Song--Please be Blessed With this Video!

This is our family's theme song these days--can you see why?
Our God can be downright obvious/even humorous when He wants to get our attention!!
The night we made the decision to take in our 2 new foster children, Richard went to a gala hosted by our Adoption Agency, AWAA. Brit Nicole was the featured guest that night. Late that evening Richard called home, I could hear this song in the background. "Gillian," he whispered in a voice choked by tears,"do you hear that, Gill? Lets go get em."

Ever since, in almost EVERY instance where we have rejoiced over the miracle of these children or needed to be encouraged to keep going, THIS song has played--either over Christian radio--or floating in from my children's IPODs or just in "random" places--coming on RIGHT as we pile in the car from a family hike or starting just as Richard and I drive off to complete a tough task for DCS requirements, playing in the house as we deliberate on tough issues or wipe tears away in discouragement. "Stand Back UP, Sweet Children--the Lost Get Found--I'm not giving up on them. I'm not giving up on you..." we hear the Spirit tell us. Often its RIGHT in the middle of a crisis or an amazing victory--
By now the intent of encouragement from the hand of the Lord with this song is SO obvious that our preschoolers and our new foster children are cheering as they hear it come on!! Truly a family fav.!! :)
The Lost Get Found--for sure!!

AND He is so faithful to Keep saving us EVERY day--
He just won't let us give up on plans that He has started
cause what he wills He completes--

making sure we are enduring to the end--

that the found STAY found.

Nothing can snatch them from the Savior's hands!!

And for that, I am so grateful.

If you find yourself Lost, Know HE is searching to FIND you today,

And if you are blessed to be of the number of the FOUND,

Thank Him,

Reach out to His Lost Ones,

For you are held SO tightly--He does anything to keep you near and strengthened --even if that may include singing to you from the radio every day :)!! Listen for how He may be speaking to you.

Much Love today to the Lost and Found,

Gillian

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lyrics to The Lost Get Found by Brit Nicole


Hello my friend
I remember when you were
So alive with your wide eyes
Then the light that you had in your heart was stolen
Now you say that it ain't worth stayin'
You wanna run but you're hesitatin'
I'm talkin' to me

Don't let your lights go down
Don't let your fire burn out
'Cause somewhere, somebody needs a reason to believe
Why don't you rise up now?
Don't be afraid to stand out
That's how the lost get found
The lost get found

So when you get the chance
Are you gonna take it?
There's a really big world at your fingertips
And you know you have the chance to change it
There's a girl on the streets, she's cryin'
There's a man whose faith is dyin'
Love is calling you

Don't let your lights go down
Don't let your fire burn out
'Cause somewhere, somebody needs a reason to believe
Why don't you rise up now?
Don't be afraid to stand out
That's how the lost get found
The lost get found

Why do we go with the flow
Or take an easier road?
Why are we playin' it safe?
Love came to show us the way
Love is a chance we should take
I'm movin' out of the way

Don't let your lights go down
Don't let your fire burn out
'Cause somewhere, somebody needs a reason to believe
(Stand out)
Don't let your lights go down
Don't let your fire burn out
(Stand out)
'Cause somewhere, somebody needs a reason to believe
Why don't you rise up now?
Don't be afraid to stand out
That's how the lost get found
The lost get found

So when you get the chance
Are you gonna take it?
There's a really big world at your fingertips
And you know you have the chance to change it

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fullness at His Feet

Play the triangle at the bottom of this frame to hear the song...

Servant Of All - Misty Edwards from Forerunner Music on Vimeo.

Servant of All by Misty Edwards

I wanna be with You
where You are
You're the Servant of all

I'm in love with a King
who became a slave
And I'm love with a God
who is humble
And you gotta go down
if you wanna go up
And you've got to go lower
if you want to go higher and higher
And you've got to hide and do it in secret
if you wanna be seen by God

Cos' it's the inside, outside, upside down kingdom
where you lose to gain and you die to live

I wanna be Your lover
so show me how to go how to go lower
For in the depths I will find You
where You're serving my brothers

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


It's not easy laying it down every day.
Wow.
Its sooo hard...

Choosing to go into or to stay in places where pain or the woundedness of the world is found... Many times recently I have wanted to shake off the yucky places of this world and just walk on by--maybe sprint back to the comfortable places where I know life "worked so well".

A daily challenge.

I need this reminder and God has been speaking it so clearly to me in the past months:

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world,yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:24-26

One thing I have and I am currently experiencing however is, the "finding" of Life (in surrender or service that lays "me" aside) is so much greater than the losing. Real satisfaction, true JOY, amazing fellowship with a living God bubbles up here--that living water Jesus talked about.


I was just reminded today that life through/in Christ is like a river that rushes to the lowest place.

The lower the place,
the fuller it will become with His living water
(the fullness of His presence)
as His river of living water rushes in.
That's where I want to choose to be...

May we make conscious decisions to go to the lower place
--instead of
the shining place,
or maybe the pleasurable place,
the place of escape,
the prominent place,
the place at the top of that social ladder,
the place of revelling in our own giftings,
or, perhaps,a place of savouring past hurts and wounds,
perhaps a place that only may contain our own desires and wants

--the list could go on and on--

and yet--

there's a different destination than what our culture and time, "the world" has to offer--

but where we'll find the sweetness of our Saviour...at His feet...

pouring out our lives

like water...

and finding that

Life

Overflows

in the Deep Waters there...



Blessings,

Gillian

Daisy, Daisy, Ava Aday -- We love you!

We picked this cheery flower for you today :).

It is the Aday flower--

the Ethiopian version of the American Daisy.

Aday flowers grow on the high plains of Ethiopia in April--
the month we went to pick up our precious children.

I have shared recently about how we "picked" out--
rather,
how God picked out
Bruik's name.

Ava's name story is just as special.

Often as we prayed for Ava and gazed at her referral photo in the months between our referral and when we traveled, I would talk with God about a name for her.

Over and over my heart was impressed that our family needed the delicacy and tender beauty of this fragile "flower" before me in our little photo.





We desired much out of a name!! For both children, we wanted to have a name that reflected their unique identity--what kind of a gift they were from God, a family name from our heritage, and an Ethiopian name to celebrate their beautiful culture and heritage.

Ava's original Ethiopian name meant "one who cries out loudly" and while that makes me smile now cause she really IS a loud one :)--this name was not going to do for it was given by her nannies at the orphanage and was related to how she was found on the streets of Addis Ababa.

Instead, she was named, Ava, meaning, "Breath of Life", and she would share my middle name, Leigh--NOW for the ET. name,--not just any name would do,--I searched high and low for Ethiopian flower names and found the beautiful flower above--a tiny yellow daisy that blooms only in the month we were to pick her up and bring her into our arms--perfect!

Ava Aday-Leigh... so many international children could use some extra spaces on name forms, right, adoptive parents?

But here's where our story takes on the fingerprints of God...

What a JOY it was to meet our little Aday flower--she was as beautiful and bright and tender as a little wildflower for sure.





As we brought Bruik and Ava onto the plane--into all the newness of a first sight of a plane, first ride on an elevator, first experience in close spaces with so many pale faces :),first tastes, sights, smells...the children did remarkably well. They joyfully bounced up and down in their seats as Bruik sang this specific song we assumed from the orphanage over and over. Over and over he sang to Ava to make her smile and to calm her down. The song worked every time and went something like,

"Aw wah et
Lah Lem" (repeat)

Throughout our first year, whenever the children needed a special connection --they would speak toddler speak in Amharic (their language) and jump up and down Ethiopian-style and sing this happy little song. Its a song that can go on and on but that remains sounding really sweet--especially watching the sweet bond --Bruik protecting and enjoying--and Ava trusting and giggling.





About a year and a half later, on my birthday, we went to our favorite Ethiopian restaurant in town, Abay. We had become friends with the manager and on occasion had tried singing this little song to him to find out what it was. It never registered--we thought it was something cute the children had made up or a toddlerized version of another song.

On this night, however, a new waitress came to our table and after some conversation we asked this young Ethiopian girl if we could sing her our little song. She laughed, we attempted and pretty much embarrassed ourselves in front of a roomful of Ethiopian nationals enjoying their dinners. BUT our new friend's eyes immediately lit up and she began to sing WITH us--she filled in all the gaps of our little song with Amharic words and song. We stopped singing and listened to the completion of what we had only heard in snippets. It was a gorgeous song!

"OOOOOHHHH..." she smiled at us
"That is the song that little Ethiopian girls sing. Each year they sing this song as they go from house to house bringing flowers at our new year. They first go out into the fields and pick ADAY flowers and then they carry them from house to house singing this song about the ADAY flower."

I jumped up and down and clapped my hands in delight--I must have looked like my little children in their joy as they sung this song so often!

The song Bruik had been singing to comfort Ava all those months was HER NAME!!
What confirmation for us that God had chosen that name (and I thought I was being so clever/creative when I first found it :)-ha!)

As we tend to and delight in the Aday flower in the colorful array of our family bouquet we are so humbled to see that it was truly God's hand that reached out and picked her for us.







God's hands are always busy tending to what He loves most. The orphaned, the lost, the wounded, the lonely, those in distress, the widowed, the forgotten... I just am thrilled to hear stories like this one ALL THE TIME from those who are choosing to walk in places alongside of those who particularly touch His heart. We currently are experiencing stories like this one almost every day with our new foster children. Just storing them up--one day perhaps we'll have the permission to share them--until then (keep praying us along please!!) we live so amazed at the power and LOVE of a loving FATHER God who is ALL about transformation -- hope and a future for each of our lives.

Blessings!

Gillian


American Black-Eyed Susan Flowers



P.S. A Shout out to the REDINGTON family--see their link on the side of my blog to their blog "Journey of Hope". They have JUST brought their little girl, Wylie, home to her forever family!! They have gone through fire to bring her home--this is a day of rejoicing!! We celebrate with you, dear Redingtons!!

What's in your Brownies?

A modern day parable...

Hey, kids!! Your'e home! Hey, come on back to the kitchen--we're making browinies today! You get the mix out...O.K. let's see ...what do we need next...
a little sugar {yum, sugar! who doesn't love it?!!}
some eggs {watch out! They are fragile--they might break!}
salt {make sure its the salty kind--we can't use it if it loses its flavor--taste it, test it to make sure--is it salty? a little goes such a long way! great!! you kids are GREAT bakers!!}
What else do we need...Oh, yes!! OIL {It holds EVERYTHING in the receipe together} Let's pour in the oil and mix it ALL through our receipe

Hmmmmn, kids you know what? These brownies are going to taste terrific? Can't wait to eat em huh? Let me JUST slip in ONE more thing before we bake and eat them up--I saw alot of my friends putting this into their brownies recently. Yeah, it doesn't smell so great but...it's brown isn't it? Yes, it looks kinda gross but we're just putting in SUCH a LITTLE bit and maybe JUST this week we will add in this extra ingredient and then we'll go back to making our brownies the way we usually do. O.K. Let's mix this in--this is going to be FUN--does everyone want a turn stirring? Good JOB. Hey, I know, let's share some of these brownies with the neighborhood kids too--so that we all can try em. GREAT! This is fun--now let's pop them in the oven...setting the timer...

Hey, hand me that bowl over there--wow, it really is stinky, huh? But I sure wouldn't want our friends to not like us if we didn't make brownies like this, this week. We might miss out on some great fellowship--I heard they are even bringing brownies like this to church fellowship groups and celebrations this week in addition to all the brownie parties in the neighborhoods and schools this week. You, know if its being brought to church--it MUST be O.K., right?

DING, DING, DING--Oh, that's the oven buzzer let's take out our treat. Who wants a glass of milk with our brownies today? YUM!! FUN!! Oh, you're welcome!! :)
Yummy, soooo good! Should we pack some up and hand them out now? Great?--Yes, honey, what did you say?--Oh, what was the special ingredient? Is that what you asked? Well I just added in what everyone is adding into baked goods this week...

Dog Poop...

Oh, don't look so horrified!:)

...it was only a little bit...
Now...who wants some more?

A little break down of our receipe and why I'm telling this story this week:

Brownie Receipe is what we are pouring into our children's lives and hearts.
Mix is God's best, His Truth for them, the foundation of God's Word

Sugar--the pleasure this world has to offer can be a gift from God and also a distraction for our hearts

Egg--a reminder that their hearts are fragile. As parents we are the guardians of our children's hearts--our wellspring of Life flows up from well-tended hearts.

Salt--Our value to the Lord and our influence for His Kingdom in our World. Just a little of our influence shines SUCH a long way.

Oil--The abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in us. We are to stay in step with Him. Choosing ways that are not of Him actually brings grief to Him. Every bit of us should be "mixed" with God's holiness--His presence--His anointing--His anointing is light and cannot mix with darkness.

And the mystery ingredient? GROSS!! you say! Yes!! Totally Gross!! But a picture of what so many believers in Christ do every Halloween week. Taking just LITTLE bits from a demonic celebration and injesting them--mixing them into their lives--feeding these elements to their children with much festivity!!

You may have not heard, and if not, you need to know that Halloween is not just about candy, good times, costumes, and acting. NO, the origins of Halloween are downright creepy. As my kids would tell you, I'm sure there are no Halloween celebrations going on in heaven this week and so there will be none at our home either!
Halloween has pagan origins. There is much more history that would be helpful to know but simply, the people worshipped dark spirits and were afraid of the undead who walked on the earth once a year on this night. They would leave treats outside of their door so that demons would not carry them off to Hell--some "trick"!--and the costumes were to hide from the evil spirits as well. Even without knowing this, there are obvious signs that this celebration glorifies death, fear, and witchcraft--

-all things that Christ died on the cross to get VICTORY over!!

There just is NO fellowship light with darkness.
In fact--when light appears--the dark must run away!

Many, many cool and nice people--really likable people that I know celebrate Halloween--some only in measure. But PLEASE remember the brownies--even a little bit -- is dangerous. If I am now not "likeable" for writing this post to you, that's really o.k. with me for although I like you very much, I love you so much more and needed to share truth with you today.

"This is the message, we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in Spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the llight, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar andshowing that His word has no place in our hearts." I John 1:5-10 "And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever." I John 2:17

"Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living...clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ..." Romans 13:11-14

Children of Light--don't eat the brownies!!

Love, Gillian

We Talk all Day --No, Really We Do!!

Ava is talking about a lady taking a nap--from a book at school...

In a family of 8 kiddos, talking is like getting a turn at Karaoke night--
pretty much someone "on the Mic" at all times and alot of singing along-
in tune,in harmony, off-key or off- subject...whatever goes!! :)

Ava's getting her "turn" in the above video--("Bruik, it's MY turn!") talking about a book from school. But to further get a window into our bunch--imagine the rate of talking streaming on at the point the video turns off--and INCREASING as the bus comes home --then INCREASING at dinner time until suddenly its SO VERY QUIET at tuck-in time--oh the bliss!(jk)--I have found that life with so many kiddos couldn't be more precious and entertaining--an amazing blessing!! I've also found that silence actually has a SOUND. My ringing ears can attest to that!! I wouldn't have it any other way--what an amazing group of children --I'm honored to get to serve them--or just to simply listen in getting to know each one--..."Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."

Blessings to you today--be they quiet or loud!!
Love, Gillian