The Firstbrook Five

Check it Out - What Love Really Means

I've found a new artist I like . . . I mean really, really like . . .

JJ Heller.

She has a sound that I love and she sings about Someone I love . . . the perfect combo. Add to that she has a very lovely blog, and I'm one happy new fan!

Enjoy this video:

30 Days of Giveaways

Seriously . . . free stuff . . . you could win . . . for 30 days??!!

I'm in.

And as an added bonus . . . I love the blog Ni Hao Y'all . . . and I bet you will, too!

So, if you will just click on over starting this Thursday, you'll have a chance to win something everyday for 30 days!

100 People

The Austin Stone Community Church in Texas has a program in place called 100 People.

Their goal is for 100 people to start the process to be sent out in 2010 for 2 year terms to reach unreached people.

Fantastic.

Amazing.

Their website tracks the folks who are in the process, and you can read their stories and even see videos of some of those who have already been sent out or who are in the process of training.

I just love the following video . . . 2 sisters gripped by the grace of God during their college years are now spending the next 2 years in East Asia, serving the country, the culture, the community that our family has come to love so much.

Be encouraged.

Could God be telling you to go . . .

#1 and #2 of 100 from The Austin Stone on Vimeo.

Check it Out - Meant to Be

Each of our girls, whether born from my flesh or born from my heart, are Meant to Be . . .

Meant to Be loved by us and by the Father.

Meant to Be taught of Christ's great saving love for them.

Meant to Be used mightily by God for their good and His glory!

Check it Out . . .

This here interwebby is sure a huge place with lots and lots of great stuff to see and do and check out.

Here are just a few of my favorite things right now:

Crossway is the publisher of the book "Adopted for Life" and they have some amazing, emotional, and inspiring adoption videos to check out here and here and here and here. These aren't videos just for adoptive families . . . everyone should check them out and be amazed by God's redemptive heart and plan!

Emily starts 5th grade tomorrow and Katie Mei starts Kindergarten! Yikes. And yippee. I'll be sending them to school with this adorable and inexpensive teacher gift. 

Speaking of school . . . with Katie Mei starting Kindergarten we recognize that we will have new opportunities to share about adoption. Undoubtedly her classmates will wonder why she looks different from her mom and dad and sisters. Surely we will have opportunities to share and educate. This handout looks incredibly helpful to us as adoptive parents with kids in the classroom.

Again, speaking of school . . . our kids will have countless opportunities to tell their friends that they go to church . . . and we hope those conversations about church morph into conversations about Jesus! Here's a great article from Ministry to Children that talks about how we make this so much more difficult for our kids than we need to. In part, the article says:

One way that I’ve encouraged my own kids as well as those in church is to talk about our faith as if it is something that is to normally be discussed and talked about with people. One of my recent revelations when it comes to kids talking about their faith is that they aren’t really scared to do it; we’re the ones who put the fear in them. We talk about how it can be scary to talk about faith with friends, we tell them we don’t have to be afraid, we tell them that they might be made fun of… We plant these fears in kids; they don’t already have them. It’s changed how I talk with kids about having faith conversations or about inviting their friends to church. I talk about it as if it’s the most normal thing in the world to do, which it actually is. Since doing so, I’ve heard more stories from parents about their kids talking about faith with their friends and their kids inviting friends to church.

So, with my kids all in school, what will I be doing with my days? Besides twice a week daycare & working about 20 hours a week, I hope to be sending my pastor & his wife an email every Monday morning, starting a new blanket, creating some new playlists so maybe I'll go outside and walk, and dreaming about new and creative children's ministry ideas.

With all that and great big wide interwebby to surf, I don't think I'll be bored . . .  do you?!

Sunday Snapshot - What I'm Checking Out

I'm an avid blog reader . . . I read lots and lots of them . . . every day.

I read adoption blogs, craft blogs, mom blogs, theology blogs, family blogs . . . I'm an equal-opportunity-blog reader!

I actually use Google Reader to manage all of my blog subscriptions. It's the only way for me to stay on top of everything. And let's be serious . . . I don't read every word of every single blog I subscribe to.

But I do check them out every day.

And I do get tons of inspiration.

And I wanted a way to save my favorite ideas and inspirations in one easy to access place. And that place wouldn't be my Bookmark Tab that has about 33 gazillion bookmarks already in!

And then I stumbled across tumblr. It's a great place to store all the things I read and want to remember. I just click a button and the web page I'm reading is stored on my tumblr site. Then, when I've got time to craft, or enjoy extra reading, or need some inspiration, I just head over to my tumblr and easily find what I'm looking for!

So . . . are you ready for a few snapshots of what I've been enjoying on the internet?

When I see a great quote, I add it to my tumblr:

HT: Together for Adoption

 

 

How about a recipe to try:

HT: A Southern Fairytale

 

 

I don't have much time for crafts these days . . . but I do find myself adding quite a few projects into tumblr for that "someday":

HT: Attic24

 

 

Home decor? I've got lots of ideas stored in my tumblr:

HT:Burlap + Blue

 

 

Children's Ministry ideas, inspirations, lessons . . . yup, I've got those, too:

HT: Effective Children's Ministry

 

 

Those are just a few examples of the many, many pages of my Firstbrook Finds Tumblr. I encourage you to go check it out. You can even subscribe to the RSS of the tumblr in case you want to keep track of what I'm keeping track of!

And that . . . that was just a simple Sunday Snapshot of what I'm about these days.

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This post is part of Sunday Snapshot . . . a round up of bloggers sharing Snapshots of their family, their life, and their faith. To see more Snapshots, click here:

 

Check it Out - Willette Designs

More great stuff to share . . .

By now most of you know that I have quite the obsession with photography.

I hardly ever leave home without a camera. My children have all learned not to wince and complain when I say let's take pictures. Our extended family knows they can count on me to bring the camera to any family gathering.

Photos are all around our house. In frames, propped up against the wall, in scrapbooks, in home decor. I love to decorate using the faces and places of people and things I love!

I recently discovered Willette Designs, a great site with lots and lots of goodies for photographers, and for regular folks like me who just love a great photo!

Willette Designs offers freebies for Photoshop Actions, photo ideas, templates and a load of other great stuff. They also sell a phenomenal posing guide and host photography workshops geared towards moms like you and me.

I encourage you to check out their site . . . spend some time clicking around. Download some freebies and maybe even purchase a posing guide or join a workshop!

Enjoy!!!

Check it Out - Andrew Peterson Video

It's no secret our family loves the music of Andrew Peterson a lot. We listen to it a lot. We talk about to our friends a lot.

It was pretty much a huge deal when we begged offered to host a tour stop during Andrew Peterson's 2009 West Coast Tour and they accepted! It was such a joy to hear AP in person, at our very own church, with our very own friends! It was a night not soon forgotten!

Andrew Peterson has a new album coming out July 27th and we are loving the snippets we have heard so far.

Andrew also just released his first music video and I'm telling ya, you need to check it out! Andrew writes truth and poetry and Truth set to music. He is a storyteller and a Truthteller. His songs strike at your core . . . and this song, about marriage . . . it's lovely and truthful and honest and so much more.

Enjoy.

Check it Out - Death In His Grave

Sometimes, well a lot of the times, I find stuff that I've just gotta share. And when that happens, I'm going to post about it here and call it "Check it Out." Pretty original, right? Not. But originality not withstanding, trust me, you'll want to check this out:

I recently read about John Mark McMillan on several blogs. He is the song writer behind one of my favorite songs How He Loves. Well, this amazing guy released a new album and this first song, "Death In His Grave" might just be my most favorite song in a long, long, long time. John Mark McMillan paints pictures with his words, and those pictures and words make me long for Jesus and love Him more.

Enjoy "Death In His Grave."

Death In His Grave (Performance Video) from john mark mcmillan on Vimeo.

Lyrics:

Though the Earth cried out for blood
Satisfied her hunger was
Her billows calmed on raging seas
for the souls on men she craved

Sun and moon from balcony
Turned their head in disbelief
Their precious Love would taste the sting
disfigured and disdained

On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke with keys
Of Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid death in his grave

So three days in darkness slept
The Morning Sun of righteousness
But rose to shame the throes of death
And over turn his rule

Now daughters and the sons of men
Would pay not their dues again
The debt of blood they owed was rent
When the day rolled a new

On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke holding keys
To Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid death in his grave

On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke with keys
Of Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid death in his grave

He has cheated
Hell and seated
Us above the fall
In desperate places
He paid our wages
One time once and for all

{HT:Shaun Groves}

A-T Tour Cure

Our family has a very special friend, Cathryn Achilles . Cathryn is the daughter of our pastor, and over the years she has become a very important and sweet part of our family. When we first moved here Cathryn would come over to visit with her mom as we all became friends. Later Cathryn would come over and "help" with Emily as part of a life skills class. Just this past year Cathryn gave us a beautiful hand-made quilt for our Katie Mei when we came home from China.

None of this may seem extraordinary or very special to you . . . but all of this is very special to us because Cathryn has been afflicted with Ataxia-telangiectasia. A-T is a rare, progressive, degenerative disease that has been slowly taking away Cathryn's abilities. From the A-T Children's Project :

A-T is presently incurable and unrelenting. If they are lucky enough not to develop cancer, most A-T children are dependent on wheelchairs by the age of ten, not because their muscles are too weak, but because they cannot control them. Later, A-T patients usually die from respiratory failure or cancer by their teens or early twenties. A few A-T patients live into their forties, but they are extremely rare.

Every day for Cathryn is a gift . . . and she is a gift to all around her. We love her like crazy around this family and want to do anything and everything we can to support her and others like her with A-T.

That's where you and I can come in. Right now a very amazing and gifted man, Tim Borland, is running 63 marathons in 63 days . . . yup, you heard me right. He is running the A-T Cure Tour in hopes of raising awareness and research dollars. As he runs a documentary is being filmed to record this momentous feat. Daily video blogs are posted to keep up with the tour.

Please take a moment to watch this video that gives a synopsis of this amazing cure tour, Tim Borland and A-T. Watch for a glimpse of our sweet friend Cathryn:

After you watch the video, I'm sure you'll want to check out the video blog to see past days of Tim's run or to continue watching him run across the country. To watch the Cure Tour, you can go to:
A-T Cure Tour

Maybe Tim is heading your way and you might be able to support him at a tailgate party. Maybe Tim is heading towards a friend or family member - tell them about it. Perhaps you've never heard about A-T before . . . well, now you have and you can tell others about it!

Thanks for hanging in there with me until the end. Cathryn is too important to us to let this opportunity to help pass by. I hope you are blessed by the courage and dedication of Tim Borland and all those helping make the Cure Tour a reality!