We're Expecting!

Yes, you heard me right. We are expecting!

It has now been over a year since we added a baby to the Seay family. That might be a record for us.
But God is doing something different in our family. As you already know, we are family that believes in adoption.
God has blessed us with a beautiful daughter by adoption. God has given us 2 amazing grandsons by adoption.
And now we wait for the grandchildren that God is adding to our family from Ethiopia.

We are so excited about God's plan. God has called Brian and Amy to pursue adoption. He showed them the country
they were to go to and He will soon show them the children He has already planned to bring to their family.

Please pray for them - for the journey that can be long - for their preparations - for their finances.
In the future we will be sharing ways that you can be a part of helping with the enormous cost of completing the adoption.

If you want to follow their journey visit them at brianseay.wordpress.com or at blessingsoverseays.wordpress.com

Seay Family Christmas Spectacular

Every year during the Christmas holidays the whole Seay family gets together. It is always an amazing time. 15 cousins form the Cousins Club and they absolutely love getting to spend 3 days playing together.

We feed 26 people 3 meals a day with a couple of snacks thrown in and we sleep people all over the house.

This year Pop-Pop put on a big fireworks show. We built a bonfire and made s'mores.

The cousins put on the Cousins Showcase - sharing their talents with the family. What an evening - ballet, piano, singing, song writing, running cheetahs, magic shows and hip-hop. What an amazing bunch of kids.

But.. one thing we shared this year was a particularly violent strain of the flu and strep. It started with one or two and within 3 days almost half of our family was sick.

We all had a great time together but we could rename the whole event as the Seay Family Christmas Epidemic. Perhaps next year flu shots will be required to attend:)

Walk for Hope

If you have read my previous blog (What can you do with $50) then you know that my family are all working on projects to raise money for the Child Survival Project with Compassion International.

My Tennessee kids did a Walk for Hope this past Saturday. My son, Brian; his wife, Amy; and their four children (ages 4-10) walked 30 miles in their neighborhood. They enlisted pledges and when the day was done they had raised $850. How awesome is that!

When their legs got tired they reminded themselves of the plight of children in Ethiopia and they were easily refreshed. I am so proud of my kids and all that they are doing to help their own children get a glimpse of the needs of children in this world.

Another one of our kids will be selling cookbooks soon as a part of their project. I will keep you posted of the progress with this project.

You can read about the Walk for Hope on Brian's blog - brianseay.wordpress.com. I will also keep you informed of the cookbook project. All of the money raised will go directly to the Child Survival Project in Ethiopia.

What can you do with a 50 dollar bill?

We are becoming increasingly aware of the need for us to give away more than we do - give to the poor, the homeless, single mothers, hurting children, and so on. The list never ends. There are so many needs in this world and so few people who feel drawn to share out of their own bounty to make a difference.

When I hear stats of how much we spend on makeup or junk food or eating out, I am embarrassed for our nation. We could skip a few nights a month eating out and save that money to help Living Water dig a well for a community who has no available clean water.

We could give $30 per month to sponsor a Compassion Child.

There are times that our hearts are touched but we seldom act upon that feeling. I want to commit to find ways to "Give Myself Away" and to be an example to others. This Christmas we are giving a unique gift to our grandkids. Each family of grandkids will receive $50. The $50 is "seed money". They are to find ways to "plant" the seed with the goal of multiplying that money. At our family Christmas they will bring the money they have raised and together we will donate the money to sponsor Child Survival Project through Compassion International. I will be posting more on the details of this project soon. I will let you know what the kids are doing to raise money.

My prayer is that we will set the example for our grandchildren to be aware of how blessed we are and the reality of the needs of children around the world and that we can all make a difference.

37 Years!

Yesterday we celebrated our 37th anniversary. I am so blessed by that. It helps to have a husband like mine who loves the Lord with all of his heart and who has loved me, cared for me, provided for me and protected me for 2/3 of my lifetime. I love this stage of marriage - there is very little disagreement - there is mostly reading each other's mind - completing each other's sentences - knowing what makes each other smile and being comfortable just hanging out together in the quiet. I love my life and I thank God everyday for the husband he has given me and the family that followed.
If you are married, take a moment to thank God for what He has given you and know that a good marriage is a result of hard work, sacrifice, forgiveness and most of a commitment to Christ.

I'm Back!

We recently returned from a 10 day trip to Greece and Turkey where we visited ancient sites in cities where Paul preached. It was an amazing trip. There were 23 of us and we enjoyed one another and had fun together.

I felt that the trip gave me insight into the challenges that Paul faced as he said "Yes" to the Macedonian call and entered a region of pagan people. These people were steeped in Greek mythology and the worship of gods and godesses such as Artemis, Zeus, Diana and many, many more. Even today many of these people speak of Greek mythology as if those events actually happened.

It was moving to stand in Phillipi and think of how Paul wrote to them and told them how thankful he was for them everytime they came to mind.

And then we stood among the ruins of Miletus where Paul met with the elders of the church in Ephesus to give them his final farewell before leaving for Jerusalem.

Ephesus was amazing. We sat in the ruins of the large theatre that seated 25,000 people, where centuries ago Christians were thrown to the lions and we considered the church at Ephesus and the work that Paul had done there and then we worshipped our living God together.

Toward the end of our trip we visited the Island of Patmos where John received The Revelation. It was incredibly moving to enter the cave where it is believed that John received the vision from God.

The trip continually took us back to scripture and we found a kind of completion as we read the Word standing in the same places where Paul preached the gospel.

A highlight for me was standing on the Acropolis in Athens and hearing Ed read the passage in Acts where Paul was preaching to the philosophers on Mars Hill. As Ed read this passage many people gathered and stood and listened to the reading of God's Word and then Ed prayed the most anointed prayer - proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in a place where a majority of people are Muslim.

I am thankful for our country and our freedom to worship. I am thankful for my home and family - for my car and for my clothes and the many other abundant blessings that we so take for granted. Visiting other countries will cause you to remember that we are a blessed people.

Have a blessed day of giving thanks!

Life is Precious!

There are some days that I am blessed to be taken back to the important things in life. This week I had one of those days.
I met with a client who thought that aborting her baby was the only option she had. She was living a life of desperation and sadness.

We talked and she cried. I got the opportunity to show her the baby inside of her via ultrasound. There was no manipulation - no magic answers - no problems solved. There was only life - a tiny baby - doing somersaults inside the safety of its mother's womb - a beating heart that in reality is smaller than the eraser on a pencil.

These are the things that are really important - the miracle of a life created - a life that only God can create.

This young woman left with a resolve to give life to the baby inside of her. She did not leave with a plan for her future. She knew that survival would only be possible one day at a time.

We will be there for her. We will help her determine how to relieve some of the issues that have caused the desperation in her life.

Please remember these young women - they need love - they need Jesus - they need a community that will surround them and encourage them to become the woman God has designed them to be.