The Online Store is OPEN!!

We have developed an online store with merchandise that includes our adoption logo/slogan, “Love Runs Deeper Than Blood”.  ALL PROCEEDS go to helping us adopt and rescue an orphan from Uganda, Africa.

They make GREAT christmas gifts, too!

Check it out by clicking the below logo:

A Call from Jesus

“Lord, may You begin to break our hearts for what breaks Yours.”

I’ve met people who won’t even watch a video or they’ll turn the channel if it shows any children or orphans in Africa who are suffering.  This saddens me. Why?  Because the hurt and sadness that welts up inside those people that keeps them from watching is the same hurt and sadness God wants to use to evoke compassion on them.  To want help them.  To want do SOMETHING.  If you don’t want to watch the below video because you are afraid of what you might see, then maybe its time to listen to what God has told us to do…then actually do something.

note: These scenes were taken in Ethiopia.

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

If You Have a Heart for Africa…

I probably don’t know you, if you are reading this…but what if you are reading this for a specific reason…right now.

I knew that there was power in the social networking and blog world.  People love community.  Even when they don’t personally know someone, they feel like they do when it comes to reading their blogs, twitters, facebook, etc. We have recently started our journey towards adopting from Uganda, Africa.  We were there in 2006 and our hearts were broken for the children.  So many

children on the streets.  So many fatherless and motherless children.  So many orphans because of AIDS and Malaria.  Something happened to me the day that I held in my hands a baby that was 4 months old that had AIDS.  It stirred a desire that deeply rooted itself to my core and has been growing since.

This conviction was to adopt a child from Uganda.  Not to westernize them.  Not to ’save’ them (although we are saving them from a life without parents), but to raise them.  To raise them with a knowledge of their heritage.  To raise them with the understanding of where they came from.  To give them a chance at an education.  And one day…just maybe, their homeland will call them back to make a difference.  We want to give them a chance to become whatever their hearts desire is.  A chance to put hope into a child’s eyes.  That is our vision.

Last week, we (Bethany and I) put our social networks to the test.  We announced that we need help.  That in order for us to have this opportunity, we have to HUMBLE ourselves and ask for help.  But at the same time, give people the opportunity to actually make a difference in a real persons life.  This is not like giving to a charity like the (RED) campaign or anything else.  While all of those charities and campaigns are great, have you ever wondered how much of your money is actually going to the people that need it.  We are giving people an opportunity to help us literally change a child’s entire life.  And because of our social networks with Facebook, Twitter and blogs, we have been AMAZED that so many of you have caught our vision and have given hundreds of dollars.

And while Bethany and I are doing everything we can, financially, to this process, there is still thousands to go.

Bethany and I recently discussed the fact that if everyone who reads our blogs or follows us on Twitter or all of our Facebook friends gave $10, the HUGE difference that it would make in this process.  Would you please consider joining us in this journey?  How amazing would it be if in several years, we are able to give this child we adopt a notebook full of names and addresses (some of which we don’t even know) and say,

“God used all of these people from around the world to help bring you to us.”

Join our Journey.

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

You can Donate HERE, via paypal.

*if you are a blogger or have a Twitter account, please consider posting this blog on your site as a post and/or Twittering about our journey.  Thank you all!

Adoption Letter

This is the letter we (Bethany and I) are about to send out to friends and family that will ‘officially’ begin the journey of bringing home an adopted child from Africa.

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, please contact us via email at gaddisadoption@comcast.net

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!

Join our cause on Facebook: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/304529/2048873?m=200ef49e

You can donate directly to our cause through Paypal by clicking the ‘Donate’ button below:

Humbled and Grateful,

Bethany, Nathan, Jaxon and Jovie Capri Gaddis

I’m Playing Out in Naples!

After 4 years of being here, I have yet to play out (meaning play my music that I’ve written around town, other than at a church)…..UNTIL NOW!!

This Saturday night, June 6th, at 8:45PM at Six Degrees Exhibition Art Gallery, I will be sharing the stage with a friend and fellow songwriter, Matthew Stewart, who is moving back to San Francisco next week.  This is his last show in Naples.  This is my first show in Naples.

Matthew goes on at 8:00 or 8:15 pm and since I am at church until 8:30 or so, I will go on around 8:45 or 9.

What does this mean for you?

Well, if you are here in Naples, and you want to hear me play some of my own original songs, feel free to come on down and support me!!  For those who go to church on Sat. night, it is after everything, so you can skip on down to the art gallery when you leave church.

Here is all the info you need to know about the event:

Six Degrees Exhibitions Art Gallery

1100 Sixth Ave. South

Naples, FL  34102

10$ cover to get in.

The Gallery is near the corner of 10th street on 6th Ave. S. next to Tin City.

PLEASE COME AND LISTEN AND SEE ME!!  I WOULD LOVE TO SEE ALL OF YOU THAT I KNOW, HERE IN NAPLES, THERE!!!

Saturday, June 6th – I go on at 8:45 or 9pm.  I’ll play about a 20-30 minute set.

AND…BETHANY, my wife, is going to sing with me as well!!

My little Rockstar

My little rockstar’s new haircut that I, I’m proud to say…cut it.

Change

This is a song written by me (Nathan Gaddis) and Alex Ruidiaz on 05-24-09. It is just audio and no video. I’m playing piano and doing some BGV’s and Alex is singing on this one. Thanks to Brandon Fraley for letting us use his stuff and recording this work-tape demo. If you want the back-story of the song and how it kind of came to be check this out,http://tinyurl.com/oodek5 but here is the lyric:

Change

I wanna feel it like I felt the first time
I’m dying for these lungs to fill up with air again
with every step of pavement the world gets smaller
and I’m stretching out my hands
to feel for something that I’ve never felt
and I am clingin’ on to wonder
I’m clingin’ on to faith.

I believe i’m losing hope and it’s hard
to find what’s so amazing in a place that’s all the same
I know that change is coming
This heart has lost all its composure
struggling to find it’s beating start
This city’s dark and so in need of saving
or maybe it’s just me that’s come apart
So I feel for something that I’ve never felt
and I am clingin’ on to wonder I’m clingin’ on to faith.

I believe i’m losing hope and it’s hard
to find what’s so amazing in a place that’s all the same
Every road it seems I’m getting farther
but I’ll bend until I break
If its not now, then it’s to late
I know I know a change is coming.

Loss of Wonder

The loss of wonder is a contagious epidemic that is plaguing the people of the world quickly and quietly.  As I sit on this plane wondering what my trip will be like, if I’ll write any good songs, if people that I see are the same people I remember them to be, my thoughts were interrupted by a father and son sitting behind me.  Now, I have to admit that when I saw them sit down, I secretly dreaded what my flight might become as the family was loud and boisterous.  It was the boys first time to fly in a plane.  He was probably 7 or 8.  At that age, his father didn’t have to baby talk him through the flight process.  In fact, they were having conversations about how hot the pavement gets on a runway, wing-tips on plane and what they are for and weight distribution.  Now, I highly doubt that the boy understood it all, but he was in complete wonder of what was about to happen.  And when the plane started speeding down the runway, I didn’t have to see this little boys face to know what was happening inside his head and heart.  His excitement was not contained very long when he let out with a cry, “DADDY, THIS IS SO AWESOME!  WE ARE ACTUALLY FLYING!!”

At that point, I almost teared up.  Because as contagious as the loss of wonder is around the world, a glimpse of wonder is also as contagious.  I found myself in awe of what we were doing.  The ground getting smaller and smaller and finally us disappearing into the clouds and then popping out above the clouds to an unbelievable view of blue sky amongst a sea of clouds of different hues.  It literally took my breath away.

I miss living like that.  Living as if you are experiencing something for the first time.  Living as if you will remember those moments for the rest of your days.  It changed the way I approached the flight to Nashville.  Even as I type, the boy is kicking my chair and pushing it with his feet, yet I am not really worried about it.  I am not about to taint his experience of flying, with me trying to tame him.

This story inspired the first song I wrote on my birthday trip to Nashville this week.  Hopefully, I will let you hear it soon.

Jovie Walking

Uganda Facts

Facts about Life in Uganda

Population:

Population of 24.6 million (Census, 2002)

Uganda has 1.7 million orphans, the highest number in the world

Life expectancy 42 years (UN, 1998)

Infant mortality is 100.7 per 1000 live births

Fertility rate is 7.1 children per woman

Health:

At least 25% of all households look after at least one child orphaned by either HIV/AIDS or war.

The number of children orphaned by AIDS is expected to rise to 3.5 million by 2010, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

AIDS is now the leading specific cause of death among adults followed by TB and malaria.

In children, the main killers are malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea

Pregnancy related health problems are serious and Uganda’s maternal mortality rate is over 12 times higher than is normal for developed countries.

Education:

Majority of children enter primary school but only 49% of boys and 29% of girls complete this.  Almost 40% of primary teachers are untrained.

Social & Economic:

The population of Uganda includes several hundred thousand temporary residents, particularly refugees from Rwanda and Sudan.  Insecurity remains widespread in the north where the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), led by Joseph Kony,  still continues to operate.  In Kitgum and Gulu districts three quarters of the civilian population are compelled to live in camps, known as protected villages.

Only 11% of Ugandans are urban dwellers and of these 40% live in Kampala.

Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy.

History of Uganda:

Uganda became independent in 1962.  General Idi Amin came into power in 1971, his incompetence and violence brought society to collapse.  Amin was deposed in 1979 by the Tanzanian army. The Amin era and its aftermath resulted in the neglect of health infrastructure and a loss of resources.  Mr Obote was in power from 1980-1985  Presendent Yoweri Museveni assumed the presidency on January 30,1986.  He was faced with the reconstruction of a country virtually destroyed by a series of regimes which had left almost a million people dead, 2 million refugees, 600 000 injured and incurable property damage. Uganda re-elected President Musevani in 2006.

My dream for our adoption:

I dream of adopting an orphan from Uganda.  I dream of bringing a little baby home with me, whether a little boy or girl, it doesn’t matter.  I dream of raising that little baby with more love than they could possibly imagine.  I dream of that child to growing into a fine, God fearing, Christ loving adult.

Then, I dream they will desire to go back to their roots and to their home country, having a passion to change it for the good.