Love Runs Deeper Than Blood

If you would like to follow our journey of adopting our little girl, Jaydn Priscilla, from Uganda, Africa, please visit:

http://loverunsdeeperthanblood.com

It has up-to-date info on our journey.

Adoption Letter

This is the letter we (Bethany and I) sent out to friends and family that will ‘officially’ begin the journey of bringing home an adopted child from Africa.  For more info on our adoption process, please visit: http://loverunsdeeperthanblood.com

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.

Moldy Dishes

I have a tendency to leave dishes around.  I wouldn’t necessarily call it laziness as much as I would call it forgetfulness.  I really have every intention of picking up the dish and taking it to the sink or dishwasher, but something happens and it just makes me forget.  My wife, Bethany, HATES this about me.  However, I am really bad at this in my office.  Way worse about it actually.  I found, the other day, two bowls of what used to be pasta, growing green and fuzzy stuff all over the dish. I would put a picture, but I feared it might hinder you from reading any further.  I think they had to be 3-4 weeks old.  At the same time, I found a Klean Kanteen that my brother gave me for Christmas in my office with fuzzy tea inside of it.  It would just be so much easier if I had a sink in my office.  I don’t.

I had a roommate after college that if I left dishes in the sink and did not wash them or put them in the dish washer, he would bring them to my bedroom and put them on my bed.  Actually, he threatened it many times…and only did it once.  We almost got in a fist fight when he did, so he did not do it again.  But he was passionate about keeping the dishes clean.  I was actually just lazy then.

Where am I going with this, you ask?  I have no idea.

Maybe I feel the need to inject some reality into your world about me.  I’m a real guy, who has real problems, and sometimes real disgusting habits.  I think a lot of times, the church (as a whole, not just the church I’m at) gives off the perception that staff members are not human.  A lot of the pressure comes from the congregation, I understand, but I’ve never really felt like I fit very well in that mold of “perfect, everything is always great in my world” perception.  If I am having a bad day, and someone asks me “hey, how are you?” in casual conversation, I won’t lie to them and say to them, “great!  God is good!”.  While I do believe that God is good and that isn’t a lie, me saying I’m great, when I don’t feel great, is.  Sometimes it is shocking to people.  Granted, I don’t unload my baggage on them and go into a 3o minute tyrant about how messed up my world can be at times.  My usual response is more like “well, not that good actually” or “it could be better, to be honest”.  It is uncomfortable to them because we have conditioned ourselves to have conditioned responses.

The reality is that authenticity is what the world needs.  For people just to start being real.  That is what people who do not follow Christ need to see in people that do follow Christ.  Not that we have it all together…but that when are worlds do look like a mess, we still know where to take our mess.  We still know and believe in a HOPE that is larger than we can imagine.  That we can stand in the middle of pain and struggle and say “God, I don’t know what you are doing here, but I am going to trust you.”

It is then that our moldy dishes get washed.

okay, that was a lame attempt at ending the post with some over the top “hit home” sentence.  It didn’t even make sense and you know it, but at least I’m honest about it.

WORST PURCHASE EVER!

Several years ago within the first or second year of my marriage, I was duped.  I was duped into purchasing a water softening system for our house

(err…townhouse)  in Franklin, TN.  We were (okay, I was) talked into installing this huge system that would make our water so much more enjoyable.  We spent about $4000 on this idiotic purchase.  But what sold me on it was that we pretty much got laundry detergent, dish detergent and oatmeal soap bars for life.  Not really life, but when they rolled in the boxes, it looked like a lifetime supply.  Probably 400 bars of soap.  We gave a lot of those away as Christmas gifts.  :-)

Anyway, my point: Now, 6 years later, I needed a bar of soap.  I looked under my sink at a zip lock bag that had about 7 bars of soap left from the original 400 count.  I have finally almost rid myself of the blasted soap that cost me $4000.  So by July, I should be done.

What are some of the worst and/or dumbest purchases you have ever made?  These should be fun to read.  Leave your story in the comment section.