It's go time!

I have been talking about training for another marathon for several months. Because I am so out of shape I am going to have to start at square one again. Then last month I stated to my husband that July was the month I would get serious about working out & running again.

Well today is the first day of July and in honor of that fact, I went to the local running store, had my feet tested and bought a new pair of running shoes (a gift from my dad for my birthday- which was 2 months ago, Im such a slacker.)

Anyway, here I go again.

Gigi and Bobo

Many of you were prayerfully a part of my life when my mom and stepdad moved here then had to move to Phoenix, AZ less than a year later due to the lack of jobs here in Naples, FL. It was really hard to see them go. Well the difficulty didn't end there. Less than a year after moving to Phoenix they both lost their jobs on the same day. I was so angry with my stepdad's employers who promised him up and down that his job was secure enough to move back across country for it and then they let him go anyway. This hardship brought my parents to a decision point and what it really boiled down to was this: they couldn't make decisions on where to live based on jobs anymore. So they turned to what they could depend on, family. Now my 2 sisters, 1 brother and I all live at different ends of the US (FL, CA, UT and NH) so they did some traveling to figure out which location would best fit their needs and abilities at this point in their life and settled on....drum roll please...Naples, FL. That's right, they moved back! I thought I had lost my chance to live near family but what a gift to be given for the second time. They returned to Naples a few weeks ago and have found a great condo just 5 or so minutes from our house! They are still looking for jobs but thankfully aren't dependent on them to be able to stay here. Please continue to pray that they will find something either full or part time, just to keep busy and meet new people if not for the financial assistance as well. I feel tremendously grateful to have them so close and I look forward to doing life with them, again.

PS this blog post was written in response to being asked what was going on with my parents and the confusion of my Twitters talking about them being here and not knowing why they were in town. Hope this clears things up!

To see past posts about their story go HERE HERE HERE

Daunting

Some friends of mine needed a photographer for their impromptu wedding before the groom was deployed...for some reason they called me. I don't do weddings but it was low-key, on the beach and she is a girl from the youth group so I said YES!

Then I started shaking. I am afraid of weddings. I always say no to weddings. What about weddings make me nervous? The looming fact that if I don't get it right the first time, then I am screwed. I typically run in the other direction but the family seemed forgiving enough. So I said my prayers and tried to rest easy. Then the day of the wedding came and it was rainy. Quick change, now in the chapel at our church. Ok another thing I am afraid of is working with flashes. I don't understand them and I am not good with them so this was a double whammy for me: Inside and wedding- YIKES!! I tried to play it cool the entire time I was there but I was sweating bullets. Especially when the batteries in my flash decided to die on me. I did my best and some of the shots turned out well so I hope they are pleased with the uneducated, unconfident, and unrehearsed results. Here are a few of my favorites.

Congrats Taylor and Kylie Hayes!

Family Pictures

One of my students loves photography and is soooo much better at it then I am. Since I can't afford the photographers I like and don't like the photographers I can afford, I asked her to do some family shots for me. We played around and posed a few times & they turned out amazing! Here are a few of my favorites.

There are more...many more. Go to my Facebook account to check out the entire album!

Our adoption letter

ADOPTION: TO TAKE BY CHOICE INTO A RELATIONSHIP AS ONE’S OWN

At the age of 19 I, Bethany, felt deep in my heart a call to international missions. For some the “where” is not clear but for me, it always has been: Africa. I began dreaming of a life in a red dirt hut working with African children on a daily basis. After I got married those plans were put on hold while Nathan prayed through his length of calling toward Africa. In 2006 Nathan and I made a trip to Uganda that confirmed in our hearts that we were indeed BOTH called to lifetime missions through international adoption. However when we returned to the states we were discouraged to learn that Uganda was not open for international adoption. We prayed and waited that something would change and a way to adopt would present itself. In the meantime we searched the WORD and found that adoption is clearly God’s heart. It says in Ephesians 1:5, “…He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will.” There are roughly 100 million orphans around the world and if God can adopt us into His family and call us His own, we too should feel called to follow His example by adopting. So this year we committed to taking the steps toward “legal guardianship” which is available in Uganda but very difficult to navigate through by yourself. A few months into that I received an email from a friend thrilling us with the news that Uganda was now open and that Holt International (www.holtintl.org) was offering assistance toward adoption from that country. PRAISE GOD! We jumped online, learned as much as we could, attended a web seminar, requested the information packet and completed the application. We could not be more excited to see yet another promise God has placed in our hearts coming to pass in His perfect timing.

As many of you know, adoption is a costly process. Please trust that we will be doing everything we can by applying for grants and scholarships along the way but some of the steps have to be completed before we can qualify for those. The first steps are the application and homestudy. This is performed by a social worker and quite simply they are called in to evaluate our home life. Upon approval we begin what is know as the “paper pregnancy” where we complete a dossier telling the Ugandan government about ourselves in great detail and depth. The next step is our child placement stage where they will send us as much information as they can attain about our adoptive child and send it to us for “approval.” Then we arrange travel and go to Uganda to pick up our new child and bring him/her home.

So what are we asking for? Help. We believe God has already provided the money we need to fulfill this calling He has placed on our family. We also believe that some of it has been placed in your care. All we ask is that you take a moment to prayerfully consider if what you have been given might be in part to help us on this journey of expanding our family. We know these are tough times but every little bit helps.

The cost coming up most quickly is for our homestudy. We will be working with Adoption Home Study Services (www.adoptionhomestudyservices.org) and need to raise $1,100 as quickly as possible.

Is that all? No, this is simply a step. But it’s a step toward a miracle. As we continue, the costs will continue. Once we get through the homestudy phase we can apply for grants to help supplement for other parts of the process. We will likely call on you again to help with what is not provided after pursuing those options. For a full breakdown of our costs refer to the attached sheet.

Of course we also ask for your prayers. This is new territory for us but we trust the partnerships we have with Holt and AHSS to show us the way. We also know that we will see God work and provide for what we lack as long as we walk confidently in His calling.

The amazing invitation that God has for us is that when we step into the realm of adoption, we find that God Himself is there, the true Father to the fatherless. The opportunity to enter into adoption is both an opportunity to glorify God by presenting the world with a picture of His heart -- and to come and know Him.

“Religion that God, our Father, accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…” – James 1:27

Join with us on this journey!

Humbled and Grateful,
Bethany, Nathan, Jaxon & Jovie Gaddis

DONATE by going to the left column and clicking on the "Gaddis Adoption Fund" link.

Naples residents: We will be having a fundraising dinner in the Fall so come out and support us then too!

A wake up call

A friend of mine is working in Uganda, Africa at a babies home and periodically she sends out updates letting us know how to pray for them. When I read her most recent letter I was moved to tears at the thought that somehow, so many people STILL don't understand how different and hard things are for the children there. Here is what she said, quite simply:

"I hope that you are all doing well! I am doing great, I have settled back into life here nicely! And I am really enjoying it! The last week or two has been very eventful!

Last weekend some of us volunteers took one of the children ‘Abdul’ out for his 5th birthday, we also took out his friends, some of the special needs children at the babies’ home. It was a lot of fun and they all really enjoyed it! On Wednesday we had a birthday party for all of the children that have a birthday in June.

This week has also been exciting for Abdul because he is going to Kenya for evaluation and possibly surgery to diagnose some of his difficulty eating, due to being fed acid as a baby. I just ask if you could pray for him as he is there that everything goes smoothly and that it is successful. And also for the volunteer Molly that has gone with him!

Today I took some of the children out to the Watoto village “Bbira” for a visit, to get familiar and spend some time there before they move there this Friday.

We took some of the girls out to pierce their ears on Friday, this is for their protection, because it makes them less likely to be abducted or used for child sacrifice, because they are not completely “pure” if that’s the right word...

There are about 25 to 30 children moving up, it is both a sad and happy occasion, because although we will miss them, it will be good for them to be in a family, and have plenty of room to run around and explore!

I am loving every single day here! I look forward to hearing from you as well! Thank you for loving me and supporting me!"

Look at that again... A 5 year old trying to recover from being fed acid as a baby. Girls getting their ears pierced as a way of protection against abduction and use as human sacrifices. This is reality to these people folks. How can you hear something like this and not DO something? How can a person not be willing to make a sacrifice to help these helpless kids?

Here are some places to start:

OUR ADOPTION FUND- we are adopting a child from Uganda Africa right now!

WATOTO BABIES HOME (BULRUSHES)- This is where our friend is volunteering and its owned and operated by the organization we served with while we were there in 2006.

INVISIBLE CHILDREN- Motivated by the unseen war in Northern Uganda, Invisible Children was created by three young filmmakers with a singular mission: To use the power of stories to change lives around the world.

We are...LIGHTFORCE!

Late Friday night I returned from a 5 day missions trip with our youth choir. This year we went to Immokalee, FL. It is about 45 minutes from Naples and is considered one of the poorest communities in the state.

SIDE NOTE: Ironic don't you think, that the poorest and richest communities in the state are within the same county?

We took with us 38 students from 6th-12th grade to serve the nearby town and people. Originally we were intending to do "backyard Bible club" types of ministry but the week before, plans fell through and the whole trip changed.

Instead of having a ton of interaction with kids, we would be doing a wide variety of service projects through organizations such as IHOPE and Timber Ridge Community Center as well as not only serving, but eating dinner with the residents of Friendship House Homeless Shelter each day.

It was an amazing time! We learned about flexibility, God's ultimate purpose being fulfilled, how our attitude reflects our heart condition & how there are no limits to what God can do through a willing person. I watched kids grow up in a matter of days and I pray the desire they have now for serving the needs of our neighbors will only continue to burn in their hearts as time wears on.

I always love going on trips like these not only b/c its a break from the norm or because I love missions but also b/c its an opportunity to know these youth beyond merely face recognition. I teach 12th graders but I don't often get to know the guys and girls that are in the other grades due to family obligations. This past week I met and spent time with some amazing teenagers.

I walked away from this trip with so many things but mostly with a renewed hope in the future and it being placed in the hands of the next generation.

Nana & Pop

For the past week or so we have had Nathan's parents in town. I affectionately call them MamaJ and Dr. Bob. It has been such a blessing to have them here so that I could go on the Lightforce (youth choir) mission's trip this year. I will blog about that trip next. But this is post is about them.

I grew up spending weeks during the summers with my grandparents & that is always something I wanted our kids to experience too. Jaxon has gone to KY on many occasions and the Gaddis' have stayed here with him/them a few times as well. Its such a precious time for every one involved.

Now if we can just get to see our nephews more often, we should be good.