Popo turns 75 Years Old

So Thursday, June 26th was my dad’s 75th birthday! My two sisters and brother drove up from Florida to surprise him and celebrate. He was so surprised. Melissa snapped some family photos of my parents and their four children: Linda, Debbie, Eileen, and Chuck. It has been years since we were all together. It was a very nice weekend and Special day for Daddy!!

Chapmans Update - TV Appearances in August

I just wanted to share some news about the Chapman family and how the Lord is using them for HIS glory through this tragedy in their lives. Please mark your calendars and watch them on the following programs. Please keep them in your prayers!

Chapmans to appear on Larry King Live, August 7th for entire hour!

Now able to confirm that Steven and Mary Beth, and possibly the Chapman children, will be appearing on Larry King Live on August 7th. They will be guests for the full hour. This iconic journalist's interview show is seen nationally and internationally by between 1 and 2 million nightly on CNN, the Cable News Network.

Good Morning America, August 4th

We've just confirmed that Steven and Mary Beth, and potentially the Chapman children, will appear on Good Morning America the week of August 4th.
Seen nationally, ABC's morning tradition, Good Morning America began airing in 1975 and reaches a huge audience of approximately 8 to 10 million each morning.

People Magazine August 8th

They just completed an interview with people magazine on July 14. This is also the "GOTCHA DAY" of Maria. They had their first photo shoot without her. This was a very hard day for them but they trust in Lord and lean on HIM!

Let the redemption of this tragedy begin. : )

Well, at least the beginning of redemption through their first appearance in the media anyway : )

Steven, Will & Caleb are back on the road performing and getting back to the routine. They are doing well and recieving standing ovations at every event. Steven is releasing a new single, a new verse added to this song and it will be sent out to the radio world per this info from their blog.

Good news blog friends. I think you'll like this. I'm now able to confirm that "Yours" (new verse) will be digitally available through all major Digital Service Providers by August 11, 2008. * Song goes to radio for airplay adds on August 1st or 8th.

There is legal being worked through at the label as we speak, but I can say this much, that all of the royalties Steven receives from "Yours" (new verse) will be donated to Maria's Miracle Fund at Shaohannah's Hope. The lyric does say it's all "Yours." :) +

* There is a possibility that the song will be available beginning August 4, 2008. Label is trying! Attached art tentative.

+ By the way you crazy generous people, did you know the Maria's Miracle fund has now topped $610,000?!?!?! We're so grateful! What a wonderful tribute!

Jonathan's Graduation Celebration

(Tesoro Photography is our daughter Melissa's company)

On June 7, 2008 we held the Lighthouse Christian Home school Association Graduation Ceremony Class of 2008. We had 20 graduates this year, several of whom we have home schooled with for the past 13 years. Jonathan is the first graduate of Mestas Christian Academy and in addition to his high school studies, he has attended Vance Granville Community College as a dual enrolled student for his Jr. and Sr. years. He has also been a Jr. Firefighter for two years, and successfully completed his EMT certification. He is in the hiring process at the time of this writing for the Wake Forest Fire Dept. It has been our privilege and honor to have spent these past 13 years "Doing everything together"! It has been an absolute joy, honor and pleasure to have had this amazing experience of living, loving and learning together. We are so grateful the Lord called us into this abundant life of homeschooling! We have accomplished much through hard work and lots of prayer, and we have so many wonderful memories.

It was also Jonathan's 18th birthday this month and we wanted to give him a very special gift for these two milestone events. So, we decided to send him and Jerry on a Father/Son retreat with Focus on the Family's Breakaway Adventure in Colorado Springs. He has always wanted to go whitewater rafting since his dad went several times but he was too young to join him. This was his first whitewater rafting trip, but as he said, not his last! This was a great time of bonding and fellowship for the both of them. They have added more wonderful memories and stories to share, as well as some new friendships with other fathers and sons from around the country. There were 200 attendees on this trip and they were absolutely blessed and honored to have been a part of it. They highly recommend this for other fathers to take their sons on. Here are just a few photos of this great adventure.




Jonathan is on the left front seat and Jerry is on the right. This was an awesome week long adventure at the Horn Creek Retreat Center in Westcliffe, Co. They did two days of rafting, went hiking and climbed on a high ropes course in addition to worship services and various speakers in the evening. They had a wonderful time!

However, on the last day Jerry started to experience lower back pain. He had difficulty carrying his back pack and luggage so Jonathan had to take over. Since arriving home, he has gotten progressively worse and we wound up in the ER. He is suffering from a bulging disk in his back causing pain and numbness in his feet and legs, swelling, and he can hardly walk and he is really hurting. Please pray for his speedy and full recovery and for the Dr's to have wisdom and discernment in his treatments. He has to go to CA to work this coming Sunday and Jonathan will be joining him to help carry his belongings and set up his trade show booth. This is a perfect example of one of my mom's favorite sayings; "No good deed ever goes unpunished"!

Ellie is Home Safe and Sound

Praise God Ellie is home safely and had a amazingly blessed trip to China. She has lots of photos and stories. She is so very grateful the Lord allowed her to experience this journey. They are already planning a reunion in TN with the girls that attended this missions trip. They were blessed to be with the precious children at the blind orphanage and several others. They held a Christmas in July celebration for them, played with them, held and loved on them. These children don't get many visitors so they were so excited to be loved on by these American young ladies, 14 in all and Ellie was the youngest! . Check out her blog where she will journal more about it.

Ellie is in China!!!!!!

I sit here in awe that my precious 14 yr.old daughter is in China right now with Shaohannah's Hope. They are getting their orphanage ready to open and they took a total of 16 young ladies to work there for 2 weeks and to care for and love on the precious children. Here is my first email from her:

Hey guys!

How is it going over there? I hope it is going well. I love you guys!! We are doing awesome. We went to the great wall today which was a beastly/painful climb but it was sooooo worth it once you get to the top. We actually 'tobogganed' down from the great wall. It was like this little car/sled thing that you sit on, on a slide that goes alllllll the way down the mountains and over a bridge...it was kind of freaky but it was sooooooooo much fun. I can't wait to show you guys pictures but i have no way to get them on the computer!!

We went to a blind orphanage yesterday and had a huge water fight and we are going back tomorrow. I cant wait! :-) We are having a blast and everyone is getting along soo well. It feels like everyone has known each other for years...not 3 days. Half of us went on a bike ride through the village today and it was gorgeous and we had a blast. The weather was beautiful today. The workers here are so nice too. i love it here and i am so thankful that God has allowed me to come here. We are staying in these huts that have bugs in them but its ok...:-) The huts are right outside the foster home so we are with all these cute little kids in the mornings and then we usually go somewhere in the afternoon. We are actually in a very rural area. we are about an hour away from the city area and somewhat outside of this really cute little village. I love you guys!!! I will try and email again soon.


I love you mama and papa and jonathan and jeremiah, josiah and james and keziah and keren and melissa and randy and vaden and grandma and grandpa and ruby...and samson.....sheesh...:-) Happy early birthday grandpa!!! Mcha!! I will try and email in a couple days. Love you all!

--
In Christ,Ellie

That's my baby biological I call her. She is such a sweet heart and she has such a passion and heart for the orphan. This is an amazing journey the Lord has orchestrated for her and I am so excited to see how her life's journey unfolds. Please keep her and the team in your prayers. Thank you!

SOLOMON'S FUTURE?

In my recent letter to my son Solomon at the Kolfe boys orphanage, I asked him how long he was going to be there and what he expected to do when he got out. Here is his response. I wanted to share this with you because I really believe the Lord wants us to know and understand what these orphans are really going through. How many of you know an orphan personally? As it states in James 1:27, Pure and undefiled religion is to care for the orphan.... I can't help but think about how isolated we Americans are from them. Our lives and our culture are so different than other countries. We really don't have a lot of opportunity to get involved in the lives of orphans. So, this is why I believe the Lord wants me share my relationship with Solomon. To open our eyes and hearts to the plight of the orphan!

Solomon's Letter dated 5/14/08

Mom, I like the chocolate very much. I bought trousers and shoes by the money you sent for me. Thank you for everything. Mom I will graduate next years. Then the camps will give me 4000birr and then I will leave from the campus. After that I will find rent houses. When I get the house I am very lucky when I don’t get the house I don’t know what to do. Here in Ethiopia rent houses are very expensive you don’t get rent houses easily. So for many kolfe young guys this is the main problem that faced with them. When they leaving the campus many of them going to street because they don’t get a work easily because of this they can’t afford money for rent in this time the inflation rate is the world problem. So, 40000 birr is not enough to do.(approx. $400) I don’t think that I get government work. But I am thinking that to open my own business by 4000 birr after leaving the campus I think to open computer service center. But it need more money the computers are very expensive the houses also very expensive. I don’t know how possible to open my own business.

When I am alone I always thinking this why God create me without family? What kinds of plan he has for me? He loves me? When he loves me why he did this to me? I don’t get an answer for this question just crying my life is full of sorrow. I am not happy even for one day just always come to my mind who am I? But I hope that one day I get an answer for my entire question. I always found my self.

Mom, I always love you. You are always in my heart I crying last night just think about you. I don’t crying like this even when I lost my father. I know it is not possible to live with you but my heart is not accepted this reality. I don’t know before what to love mean but know no one defined the world love. Love means that to love some one greater than your self. I love you mom greater than my self. May be one day we meet each other for talking one and the last time. Until then you are in my prayer. I love you very much. I can’t wait to hug and kiss you my mom. Thank you for everything mom.

Love your son Solomon


This young man will be let out of the orphanage with $400 and no one to love him, help him, guide him into his next season of life. He has no where to live, no relatives or friends outside of the orphanage. Can you imagine being so alone and hopeless?

This weekend we just celebrated our son Jonathan's High School graduation and his 18th birthday. He is our first graduate from Mestas Christian Academy, with six more to go. We have homeschooled for 13 years with an intentional focus on preparing him to be a God's man, a career, and to be a husband and father someday. He has been such a gift to our lives and we have been so blessed to have had all these years to spend so much time together learning, laughing and loving. He is now preparing to be a Firefighter. He has been blessed with a wonderful family and support group around him his entire life. We have been blessed with a large family who gives lots of love and support.

As I compare him to my son at Kolfe, my heart grieves for Solomon. He has had no one cheering him on, intentionally training and loving him. Helping him to be prepared for his graduation, career, to be a God's man, husband and father some day. I am on my knees begging the Lord to show us how we can help him. I am praying that somehow, we can bring him home here to live with us. This is going to take a miracle and I am asking for it. I am so humbled and honored to have Solomon in my life. He has such a sweet and kind heart. Please join me in prayer for him. He is only one year from graduation and being released from Kolfe. AND THEN WHAT? Who will be there to love him, give him a home, help him find a job, and make the important decisions, find his wife, be a husband & father? I want to be his MOM, Jerry wants to be his DAD!! All we need is the Lord to show us how? Please, please pray for the LORD to make a way where there seems to be no way!

The Lord Gives and He Takes Away

The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the LORD. Job 1:21

At the recent funeral of Maria Sue Chapman, these were the words that Steven uttered to me as I tried to finds words to comfort him in his time of grief. These words of scripture were what brought him comfort. They brought me comfort. God's Word and the hope we have in Him is all we can count on in this world. It was a bold reminder from Psalm 46 that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. It brought back to mind Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;

Recently, some of our well-meaning friends and family members have shared with us their advice and counsel on the situation with M. They had suggested that we should step back and reevaluate our desire to adopt her. We truly appreciated their concern and advice and told them we were going to wait on God to let us know how to proceed.

Praise the Lord M. is doing well, safe and sound. While we don't know or understand the details of her situation, we are trusting that God does and she is in good hands. During this time of questioning and seeking the Lord's wisdom for M. and her adoption into our family, we have been examining a lot of things in our own lives. We asked the Lord what we are to learn from this and how to apply it to ourselves. Is there something we need to see, learn, experience in this that we are missing? As we prayed, we asked the Lord for HIS WILL to be done and not ours. We asked for wisdom to know what HIS WILL is in the adoption of M. As we meditated on her, her needs and her safe return, we came to the realization that we are blessed to have her in our lives, it is a privilege to pray for her, to plead on her behalf for love, protection and blessing from the Lord. We know that God brought her to us for a reason and to all of the saints that have prayed for her for such a time as this.

We have had to take a long hard look at our personal situation here at the crazy Mestas house and have recently come to the realization that we are not her forever family. While this is not what we had hoped for, we believe with all of our hearts that the Lord has spoken to us and that He has another family planned for her. She needs a family that can devote a lot of time and attention to her. Our new life with 8 children, 5 children under the age of 5 years old, and a precious new grandson, is just not conducive to giving her the time and attention that she deserves and needs. We are literally spending every waking moment, taking care of 5 very demanding little children that have consumed our lives. I don't have time to change my mind half of the time, and I just don't think this is the best situation for M. I don't want to do her a disservice and as much as I hate to admit it, I just don't have what is best for her right now. She would be standing at the end of the line of 5 little ones all day long, waiting for my attention. Never mind the rest of my responsibilities like laundry, dinner, chores, errands, schooling, nurturing the older children and of course my husband. As I have prayed for wisdom, I have had to admit that I am not superwoman...I can not do it all! I am trying to do my best with what I have now and I am overwhelmed with the thought of taking on more responsibility and being able to serve in a way that will bring honor and glory to God and to all involved. So, we have had to surrender our desire to bring her into our family knowing that God has a better plan.

We have a genuine desire to see all of these precious children in Ethiopia be placed in loving, forever families and we are praying that as a result of this journey of faith, many more people will step out and rescue these children. So with that said, may we ask all of you to join us in the prayer that the Lord will reveal HIS PERFECT PLAN for M. and that she will be placed with a family that can meet all of her specific needs. That someone reading this, or hearing about her through this journey, will be led by the Lord to come forward and say...we believe the Lord has called us to adopt her!! She needs a Mom and Dad to love and care for her, talk with her, and walk with her through this life. Maybe the Lord's plan for her in our lives was just to help find her forever family through this journey? Only He knows the plan for sure and we are stepping out in faith again to see what that is. We desire that M. be loved and adopted...that she know the Savior Jesus Christ and that HIS WILL BE DONE!! Thank you to all of you who have prayed for her, her safe return and allowed the Lord to use this situation to draw you to HIM and M. into your hearts as well as ours! This journey is not over, we wait with HOPE, joy and peace to see what the Lord has in store for her as we continue to pray for and love her!

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28