Garcia... Family of 5!

We have an exciting announcement!!!

New little pumpkin coming April 12th!

 Praising the Lord for this sweet life of 12 weeks and a healthy heartbeat this morning :)

December "Give" Family- The Maurers

So excited for you all to hear from Jen Maurer and her precious family...

Shawn is from northeast Ohio and I [Jen] am from southeast Indiana, and the two of us met in college in Kentucky. We were married in 2005 and spent five years ministering in Winston-Salem, NC before moving to Texas in 2010 where Shawn currently serves as the Lead Student Pastor of Compass Christian Church. Adoption and fostering has been on both of our hearts since we were dating, and we both knew that it would one day be something we'd pursue. God spoke to each of us separately and distinctly about a year ago, and we realized that the time to begin this part of our journey was now. Shawn's degree and experiences in student ministry combined with my degree and experiences in Counseling/Psychology have culminated in us hearts that break for the most vulnerable in our society - children in the foster care system. We feel called to walk through the pain, hurt, neglect, abuse, and prayerfully - healing with the children God has prepared for us. 

Our family will be officially licensed on December 4th, which was an arduous process unto itself! However, I think the most challenging aspect of our preparation so far has been working with our boys to understand what is about to happen. Our six year old [Jude] understands why children would be put in foster care and understands that our family can help, love, and serve those children, but also seems to think that all a child would need is a week or so of kind words and they'll be "good as new." Helping him see that the healing process is long, slow, and often even unseen has been challenging. Our four year old son [Cohen] is excited about the prospect of having a foster brother or sister, although we're still working to help him understand that his new sibling will require significant patience, gentleness, kindness, and selflessness. That's a hard lesson for many adults to get...much less a 4 year old! 

One of our greatest concerns in entering this process was our need for a support system. Our families live across the country, and we knew we'd need help, support, and understanding to parent our foster children [as well as Jude and Cohen] well. As we took our first steps in paperwork and training, Shawn and I began praying earnestly for a support system. I can remember crying on my knees, pleading with God and telling Him we couldn't do it alone. Within the hour, my phone began blowing up with friends offering their help and support - friends who were willing to be certified to babysit our foster children, friends who were happy to watch Jude and Cohen so we could make all of our training sessions, and friends who were offering encouragement and prayers. I've seen God provide over and over in many ways at each junction of our journey. Just when I get overwhelmed and think I'm not going to be able to make it through the next step, He reminds me of His faithfulness and everlasting love. 

We're not exactly sure when we'll get the call for a placement, but it's looking like we'll have a placement by Christmas. I can't help but think about Joseph in the days after Mary's labor. He was looking at a sweet boy. A sweet boy who wasn't biologically connected to him. During Mary's pregnancy, I wonder if he questioned if he'd be able to love that baby. I wonder if he thought he'd have a hard time raising a child he didn't help make, or worried about feeling resentful. But I think as he looked at Jesus' tiny fingers, any worries he'd had surely vanished. God called Joseph to adopt and raise His son, and Joseph submitted to that call. And the world will never be the same. 

My favorite quote, my battle cry, my anthem is from Derek Loux. "My friends, adoption is redemption. It's costly, exhausting, expensive, and outrageous. Buying back lives costs so much. When God set out to redeem us, it killed Him." 

Our family blog: 

				jenny.erally : speak.ing {speaking before i think since 1981}
				View on jennyerallyspeaking.w...	Preview by Yahoo

jenny.erally : speak.ing

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All profit from the December Give Scarf will go directly to the Maurer family to help fund their foster care and adoption process.  Thank you so much for your generosity.  Stock up on Christmas gifts, tell your friends and help us share with the Maurers!  Here is this month's Give Scarf:

Thank you!

A note of thanks from the Blandford Family (read more about their family {here})

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Precious friends,

Whether you have known us for a lifetime or were recently introduced to our family through Savannah's Blog, thank you for your support!  We are humbled and amazed by your generosity. It's been so fun to see so many of you showing off your scarves this month.  It's given us great joy to see you so excited for our expanding family!

 

Thank you for your willingness to join with us on our journey.  What peace we have in knowing we are surrounded by such a faithful community! Additionally, your purchases have helped us make a giant step toward our fundraising goal.  We are blessed and encouraged by your support!

 

Much Love, JJ

(You can continue to follow the Blandford's Adoption on their website {here})

philippians 4:7

My Favorite Blogs Lately

Arielle Elise: My favorite photography blog.  She is so talented and such an inspiration- not just with her photography, but in her faith, love for her family and calling as a mom.

In This Joyful Life: My sweet friend's Nursery Reveal for her precious twins!  Not only will you love their nursery, but check out her adorable weekly pregnancy updates and her yummy recipes.  Start following now... her next post could be the big announcement!

Grace in Progress: Came across this new little place- look forward to more beautiful posts and photography!

Bob Russell Ministries:  Every post deals with issues relevant to today's culture and church.  He writes with a boldness and conviction that only comes from a life of walking with Jesus Christ. The truth that he shares is straight from Scripture and covered in a grace only One can offer.  I'm so thankful to have been raised in a church under his leadership and biblical preaching.  

The Better Mom: I have been so encouraged by this blog.  This is one of my favorite posts {here} but I love that every post is unique and covers a wide variety of topics from organic food to parenting, faith, budgets, scripture reading...

5th Belle Avenue: I love this sweet blog.  Her little boy is just a little older than JR and she is expecting #2!  Her faith is inspiring and she also shares some delicious recipes :)

Matthew 5:16
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Baby Dedication (March 24th)

 On March 24th (3 months!), Patrick and I had the wonderful opportunity to dedicate John Ryman to the Lord in front of our entire church family.  There were so many families stretched across the stage and it was so special to welcome these babies and families into the church and pray over their lives.  After the service, we went out with friends to celebrate at JR's Grill :)

Thanks to our sweet friend Megan who took these pictures!  She actually just started blogging- head on over {here} and check out her cute blog!

 Gracious God, Giver of all life,
We pray for these parents.
Give them wisdom and patience.
Let Your peace and joy dwell in their homes.
Instruct them in Your gospel truth.
Strengthen them in faith.
Sustain them through prayer.
Order their lives by love.
We pray for these children.
Be gracious to them.
Draw them to Yourself.
Help them to love and trust Jesus.
We pray that You will grow them in faith,
So that they might be like arrows in Your hand.
For Christ’s sake, Amen.

prayer from {here}

Happy December!

December is here!  The month when our son will be born... and more importantly, the time we celebrate our Savior's birth!  Through all the hustle and bustle (especially for me right now!) it can be so easy to miss the still, quiet voice of the Lord this season.  Yesterday, I read a powerful post {Here} on A Holy Experience.  May we all be praying for a heart that is weightless in the waiting.

Today we start our family Advent countdown, but I won't be doing the blog advent this year- I barely even made it through every day last December and I'm very sure I would fail if I tried this year :)
{Here} is the link from 2010 if you want to go back through the scriptures.  (You will have to scroll to the bottom of the page and work backwards.)

Give Thanks

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We have so much to be thankful for this year- every new change has brought about new blessings.  We spent Thanksgiving day with dear friends and families!  While we missed seeing our Stone/Garcia families, we are so thankful for the people God has brought into our life over the past year.  I am overwhelmed with thankfulness for our little boy who is growing (a lot!) each day.  With every kick and movement, I am amazed... and can only imagine how much more our love for him will be when we hold him in our arms for the first time.  Thank you Lord for all you have blessed us with- may we continually praise you!

beach days

Vacation is going way too fast!!!!  Enjoying sweet time with ALL the Garcias...
Sorry for the lack of posts- be back soon :)
Oh and please be in prayer for my family.  They are in flight to Kenya right now (or maybe waiting in Amsterdam) for a week long mission trip.  Praying for the team's safety and for God to move in their hearts and the hearts of the people they come in contact with.

light

why I do what I do

I received this article in an email yesterday.  I was encouraged by the words and scriptures shared and I pray you will be as well...

Click {here}

"Dear Lord, reignite my passion for ministry.  Let me glimpse Your burden for those I come in contact with, and let me rediscover all over again why I love serving You.  In Jesus' Name, Amen."

Psalm 96

Psalm 96:11-13

"Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; 

let the sea resound, and all that is in it;

let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. 

Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;

they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth."

please pray

Please join me in praying for precious Ezekiel Blanchard.  At just 6 weeks old, he is having surgery on his liver tomorrow morning at 7:30.  Please pray for his sweet parents, Amy and Chad who are celebrating their 4th wedding anniversary today... their faith in Christ through all of this is incredible and they are already being a great witness to the doctors and all who talk with them. Here is what Amy wrote on her Facebook:

"Specifically pray that when they go in and do the surgery they will find that he has nothing more than some "sludge" in his liver that needs cleaned out! If it's not just a blocked duct it will require them to make a large incision and do surgery on his liver and intestines. The doctor said yesterday there is only a 10% chance that this surgery will be successful. If it is not he will have to get a liver transplant. Please pray!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I don't know Libby personally, but her story touches a special place in my heart.  Jen, my blog friend :) asked for prayer for her friend and I want to ask all of you to join us in prayer.  Libby, a wife and young mom, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma and is waiting for specific results in order to decide on a plan of action.  Sadly, Patrick and I know this cancer far too well, but Thankfully, we also know the joy and peace that come from trust in Jesus and prayers of believers.  She believes in God, who we know is the Ultimate Healer.  Please lift up Libby, her husband Justin, and her adorable little girl Ava as they prepare for a tough road of treatment.  
To read more on her story and be encouraged by their faith go {here}

My encouraging, funny, humble, and loving father-in-law, Dr. Garcia, is scheduled to have heart surgery Monday morning to put in a heart pump.  This should improve his heart efficiency and give him more energy as he waits to receive a heart transplant.  If you could please lift up Dr. Garcia as he prepares for surgery and recovery, my mother-in-law, Rita, as she loves and supports him and waits alongside, and for the rest of the family... especially my sister-in-law Cara whose twin boys are due this month :)  

Ephesians 1:17-19

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, 

may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know

the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

and his incomparably great power for us who believe."

Ephesians 1:17-19

The Wailing Wall

We continued on the Via Dolorosa and made a stop at the Wailing Wall, the western wall of the Temple Mount.

The Western Wall refers to the only remnant of the Holy Temple, constructed by Herod the Great around 19 B.C.   The name "Wailing Wall" describes the site because it is a Jewish practice to come to the site, mourn the destruction of the Temple, and lift up prayers as close as you can get to the Holy of Holies.  The lower half the wall is from the Herodian period, but the Byzantines and Umayyads added more layers on top of the existing Temple wall. (notice the different layers in the picture below)  This has become a place of pilgrimage for Jews as the closest accessible site to the holiest spot in Judaism.  King David built the Western Wall and the one here today was built on top of his foundation.  

Heartfelt prayers on crumpled paper filled every crack of the wall and spilled onto the tile below.  Jewish people believe that all of God's bounty and blessing comes from the Holy of Holies and this wall is the closest to that spot... so they believe praying by the Wall is particularly beneficial.  A wave of sadness came over me as I watched women cling to the wall with heavy hearts, little girls hovered over crying, head in their hands.  Men walked through to their section of the wall repetitively bowing in meditation as they recited prayers to God.  

The sense of hopelessness and despair overwhelmed me.  I could not pray for the requests I previously had on my heart.  I do not believe that a prayer by this wall is any more powerful than one to the Lord from my home in Cincinnati.  My God promises to hear my cries and prayers, no matter where I am.  But still, I prayed.  Leaning against the wall, I prayed through my tears... for the teenager rocking back and forth in meditation to my right... for the beautifully aged Jewish woman to my left who, trembling, tucked a tear-stained prayer into the wall... that they would find hope in their despair, the only true Hope, the Messiah. 

As I backed away from the Wailing Wall out of reverence, my sadness was overcome by thankfulness.  Thankful for Jesus who saved us by grace and gives believers the hope of eternal life.

 1 John 5:9-15

"We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.  Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart.  Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 

"And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 

"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.  This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us- whatever we ask- we know that we have what we asked of him."

Wailing Wall Video on my Dad's Blog: {Here}


Next stop: Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Psalm 143:8

Garden of Gethsemane

Matthew 26:36-45

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."

...Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, 

"My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter.  "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." 

He went away a second time and prayed, 

"My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done."

^...When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy.  So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"

Gethsemane means "olive press" and the twisted and gnarled olive trees are all throughout the garden, some even dating back to the time of Jesus.  Just next to the garden is the Basilica of Agony, built between 1919-1924 by the famous architect, Antonio Barluzzi.  I found the following description {here} which gives beautiful details, but the Basilica is something you just have to see in order to fully appreciate the architecture and intricate mosaic facade:

    "The facade, enclosed by an elegant wrought iron fence, stands at the top of a flight of steps. A mass of pillars supports the great arches surrounding the atrium, while the tympanum is adorned with a modern mosaic representing Jesus as the Link between God and the Human Race. Inside, some remnants of the mosaic paving document the existence of the ancient Byzantine church. The presbytery is the part of the church which most attracts the attention, since a large fragment of the rock on which Jesus is supposed to have prayed the night before the Passion can be seen in front of the high altar. The rock is entirely surrounded by a crown of thorns in wrought iron. In the lunette in the apse is a mosaic representing Christ in Agony being Consoled by an Angel. In the side apses are other mosaic representations of episodes in Jesus' passion, such as the Kiss of Judas and the Arrest of Jesus."

This was my favorite ceiling of all the churches we visited:

Mark 14: 45-50

Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, "Rabbi!" and kissed him.  The men seized Jesus and arrested him. Then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

"Am I leading a rebellion," said Jesus, "that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me.  But the Scriptures must be fulfilled." 

Then everyone deserted him and fled.

Did you notice the prayer etched on the sign in the third picture?  May we follow Christ's example, that in the darkest night, we come to our Father with honesty and trust.

"Oh Jesus, in deepest night and agony you spoke these words of trust and surrender to God the Father in Gethsemane.  In love and gratitude, I want to say in times of fear and distress: My Father, I do not understand you, but I trust you."