Happy Birthday Brayden!!!

Today is a special day!  Not only is it my birthday, but it is also Brayden's birthday!! 

My sweet Brayden,
                 I was truly blessed 4 years ago today when you were born into our family.  I had no idea how much fun a little boy could be until you came into my life.  You are growing up way too fast.  I think sometimes in my head I picture you as this:

Look at that sweet baby face!

But time has flown by, and you already are such a big boy!

My little cowboy!

 You have such a fun personality, and you make me laugh all the time!  It is truly a joy to be your momma!  I am so proud of the little boy that you are are.  I cannot wait to see what God has in store for you in the years to come! 

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!  I love sharing our birthdays together!

Orphan Sunday

As many of you know, this past Sunday was Orphan Sunday.  This is a day for Christians to all come together and do exactly what the Word of God tells us to do- "Defend the cause of the fatherless.." Isaiah 1:17.  Although we should be doing this on a daily basis anyway, this day is important because many events are planned across the entire world to raise awareness of orphans, adoption, etc.

Of course, this day is especially important to me this year.  Our family can't wait for the day that we get to bring our little girl home.  To us, she is already apart of our family, however, she has not felt that love yet of having a family.  Seriously can't wait for the day that I get to tell her that I'm gonna be her momma forever! 

This year, Eric was asked to preach on Orphan Sunday (not because it was that specific day but because the preacher was going out-of-town).  However, this was no coincidence. 

As most of you know, we live on a Native American Reservation.  I have never heard the word "orphan" ever come out of anyone's mouth here.  I have only heard the word "adopt" a couple of times.  It's just never talked about.  For many, "adopt" is not something that they want to hear because there are many families whose children have been "taken away".  They have never thought of it in a Biblical sense that we, who are believers, have been adopted into the family of God.  So, Eric got the privilege to preach that message and to challenge the church to get involved and do something about the orphan crisis.  It was so awesome to be apart of this reservations first ever Orphan Sunday event!  Eric was able to share many statistics, both globally and locally that really opened the eyes of everyone.  One of those statistics was about the Gila River Indian Community (where we live).  Last year, 400 children from the reservation needed to be placed into foster care.  There are only 2 foster homes on the whole reservation.  Many of the kids were sent to group homes because there was no where else for them to go. 

There were several people afterwards that came up to Eric and asked, "What can we do?"  Praise God!!   That needs to be the question that we all ask.  If we are believers, we are called to do something!! 

One event in particular really stood out to Eric and me that day.  There are 2 girls in our youth group that have just started coming in the last couple of months.  We don't even know if they are believers, but the message really got to them that day.  They decided to get a coffee can and attach the bulletin insert on the front of it.  They went around the entire community where we live and collected money for orphans.  That night, they brought it back to us and said, "We didn't really know what to do, but we had to do something."  How awesome is that!!!

How about you?  Did you do anything special for Orphan Sunday?  

Brittany

  

Ella Grace

My sweet Ella Grace,

Today you turn 6 years old!!!  I seriously can't believe it!  Time has gone by way too fast!  It seems just like yesterday that you looked like this:


Our little chunky monkey

And now you have gotten so big so fast:



Our beautiful princess

I thank God everyday that He has given me and daddy the awesome privilege and responsibility of being your parents.  It has been so fun watching you grow into the little lady that you are.  I can't wait to see the plans God has in store for you in your future!

Happy 6th Birthday sweet girl!  You are loved more than you know!!

Love,
Mommy



Our Rollercoaster Ride

Hello everyone!  I know it's been months since I have blogged, but there is a reason for that.  It's called LIFE.  There have been several things/circumstances going on with me and our family these last couple of months, and honestly, I needed to take a break.  I needed to actually live my life instead of write about it.  Most importantly, I needed to spend time with my Heavenly Father instead of my time on the computer.  There were just some hard things that were going on that I needed to talk to God about first and not the whole world.  :)

One of those hard issues was our adoption journey.  We feel like we have been on a rollercoaster ride with all the ups and downs.  It seems like when we think everything is going just fine and we are getting closer to the end of the ride, it takes one of those hairpin turns and everything goes upside down.  

Let me explain further.  We happily announced about 4 months ago that we had been referred a little boy!  I can not explain to you how excited we were.  We had pictures of him and we had sent him a book of our family, as well as some other goodies.  We had him named- Weston Fisher Gibbs.  The kids called him their brother.  We called him our son.  I could close my eyes and see him running around our house. 

All of that came crashing down about a month ago.  We got the phone call that no adoptive family wants to get.  Our agency called and explained that as the lawyer was doing more investigations, he found out that Weston has a family.  Although he lives in an orphange, his family had not legally abandoned him.  We could not adopt him any longer. 

I didn't know what to say.  I couldn't really respond.  My heart broke into a million pieces.  It was a really hard day.   In fact, I cried most of the day and the day after.  Although I wanted him to be in our family, my heart broke most of all for him.  I kept thinking, "What if his family never comes back for him?  He will spend his entire life in that orphanage without the love of a family." 

But then, I/we just gave the situation up to God.  He is the one that is in control, not me.  He is the one that is all-knowing, not me.  For some reason, Weston was brought into our lives.  We don't know what that reason is right now.  Maybe it is just for us to pray for him, because more than likely we are the only family in the entire world that knows him and will pray for him.  Maybe it is so God can teach us to trust and have faith in Him above all else.  Whatever the reason, we love that boy and not a day goes by that we do not pray for him or think of him. 

We are learning to TRUST.  We are learning to have FAITH.  We are learning that GOD is in CONTROL.

And just when we thought that we were in a really low spot, God brought another child into our lives.  This time a sweet little girl.  Yes, we have been referred a 2 1/2 year old little girl!  We immediatley loved her when we saw her.  We are waiting for the lawyer to get her abandonment decree soon (although all the proper investigations have been done this time he assures us).  But that is where the trust, and the faith, and the control thing come in.  There is no point in worrying about it when there is nothing we can do anyway.  We are trusting that she is our daughter.  In our hearts, she is already.  We have named her as well- Emmalyn Jewell Gibbs.  Her name comes from both of my grandmothers.  She has a different name now that I can not publicly share yet, but it means "blessing."  We also hope to keep that as a middle name too for her.  We hope that we get to experience the blessing that she is. 

Would you join us in praying for her and for this adoption journey? 

Our adoption journey has not been an easy journey, but yes I would do it all again.  Because the day that I finally get to hold my child in my arms will be worth it!  The journey of God growing us more like Him is worth it!   The rollercoaster ride is worth it!!!

Brittany 

Funny Story (at least it is to me)

We were sitting around the dinner table tonight talking about our day.  Ella was telling us all about her school day. (She always has so many stories to tell.)  This week, their class is studying about community helpers.  She was telling us she was so excited because tomorrow 2 police officers, a fireman, and a nurse were all going to come visit her class and talk about the ways that they help the community. 

Eric jokingly said, "So when is your teacher going to ask me to come speak to the class about being a preacher?"

Ella started laughing and said, "Daddy, you have to have a job to come speak to our class."

The whole table erupted in laughter.  So funny! 

Then, as we were finishing eating, she said (as if not to hurt his feelings), "Daddy, I know you actually have 2 jobs- you're a preacher and a missionary."

Oh how I love that sweet girl!!

Brittany

Beautiful Eyes

Today we went to get Brayden's hair cut.  (I think he has the fastest growing hair in the world!) While we were there, he and the lady that was cutting his hair started having a conversation.  It went something like this:

Lady: "I think you have the most beautiful eyes. Where did you get your eyes from? Your mama?

Brayden: "Nope."

Lady: "Well, did you get them from your daddy?"

Brayden: "Nope."

Lady: "Did you get them from your sister?"

Brayden: "Nope."

Lady: "Your dog?"

Brayden: "Nope."

Lady: "Well, where did you get them from then?"

Brayden: "God. He gave them to me."

Lady: (laughing) "I guess you're right.  God gave you beautiful eyes."

 

I love how much truth a child can speak!  What an example he was to the lady we met today! 

And, of course, he does have beautiful eyes!!  No bias at all!

Brittany

Knee Deep in the Water Somewhere

Have you ever had "one of those weeks"?  Yeah, me too.  I gave you a short glimpse at just the beginning of our week last week from the last post (with the flat tire).  Well, the week continued to dwindle.  Monday night I became really sick and had to go to the ER.  They didn't know what was wrong.  The next day I went to Urgent Care.  They sent me to get a Doppler ultrasound on my arm and neck just to make sure I didn't have a blood clot.  I didn't :) but my symptoms didn't go away.  All week I have been absolutely miserable with pain and numbness in my right arm, sometimes having trouble breathing.  I have had to sleep on the couch so that I could be elevated and have something to prop my arm upon.  It's been a hard week.  But praise God, I woke up this morning feeling much better!  No explanation other than that God healed me! 

However, one day last week, we took an afternoon to get out of the house and getaway from everything.  Although I didn't feel well, we were all dying to get out of the house and thought maybe the fresh air would feel good.  It did.  We had a great time. 

Here are some pics of us soaking up the sun and splashin in the water at Canyon Lake:



I just put my feet in the water





This girl would live in the water! 



One of my favorite places to go :)

Sometimes it feels good to get knee deep in the water somewhere (or in Ella's case, get all the way in) and just take in all of God's creation! 


Brittany