Do you notice anything special about our Book Cover in this pic??????
Another language??!!!!
AHHH! Ok, More on that down below!! keep reading, and don’t miss all the goodness in the middle!
First off…
Hi Friends!! Wow, it has been a minute since I have updated here! It has been SO busy in this season as I have been in FULL BOOK LAUNCH MODE on top of a season of grief and trauma memories as April is also our Gia’s heaven month.
Joy and Sorrow, always braided and intertwined together.
So, if you have not heard from me lately …ummm…or maybe heard too much from me… (I am a bit of a social media spammer when it comes to sharing about the miracle that God has done with getting Hope’s Garden Song into a hardback book!) I have been in a tender, reflective place remembering both the miracles of 5 years ago and the tragedy of 5 years ago. This anniversary hurts deeply and has brought me to my knees as I grieve and ache the loss of my Gianna Lilyfaith.
Ironically, I have also been knee deep in ministry initiatives, as well as the sharing of my book launch! As you may not know, all proceeds from the sales of our book benefit our 501(c)(3) ministry: GIASHOPE.org. The goal of this book is to minister to families and individuals (of all ages) who are walking through their own storms, or seasons of grief, loss, tragedy or unexpected disappointment. This book is an allegory of what it means to hold on to Hope in the midst of despair. This book can be a tool for families to be able to have tender language and powerful visuals for both the pain that can be so inexpressible and for the hope that is their anchor in their storm. This book is also a tool to raise money to further fund the various initiatives at Giashope.org (ie: Adoption grants, orphan care, family preservation, missions, Care-ministry for the hurting)
I just can’t keep quiet about ALL God has done! This was a vision He laid on my heart 4 years ago and to finally get to hold the beautiful miracle in my hands is so humbling! It’s all His grace and kindness to shepherd me in an industry I knew nothing about and to allow me and my family to get to this point where we are holding the vision in our hands! It is yet another tangible evidence of how He brings Beauty from Ashes and of His redemption goodness in the land of the Living. These are eternal gifts and glimpses that continue to spur us to fight forward in Hope and faith as we look heavenward!
So, the timing of this book launch truly is sacred and anointed as it is a way to declare that death does not get the final say when Jesus is your Savior. Life is HIS STORY.
Please go and order a book, or go and order another one if you already did! Your purchase is literally helping to fund more HOPE! Then come back and read all the exciting news below!!!
What do your donations go towards:
Let’s first talk about all that God has done so far in 2023 through the vehicle of GIASHOPE.org and through your donations.
- We were able to give 4 adoption grants on Gianna’s Birthday month of January 2023, stay tuned to our facebook page as we share about these families! We will also be giving another adoption grant on Gia’s heaven day, April 22. Your donations help us help families bring home their child so they can be an orphan no more.
- We were able to send Funds overseas to the 10/40 window areas to help fund and spread Gospel Hope to the unreached through YWAM. Your donations help bring HOPE to the unreached!
- We were able to send funds to two special families at Tesoros De Dios (a special needs ministry) In Nicaragua to help fund needed surgeries and medical procedures for children who are getting cared for by Tesoros Ministry. We were able to serve at Tesoros a couple years ago when we did a family missions trip to Nicaragua. This ministry is a beacon of LIGHT in NICA and we hope to get to go back soon to serve again! Special Needs ministries in a huge part of our mission at GIASHOPE! Your donations help bring hope to families who are trying to Provide for their special needs child in a poor country with no public/governmental support for families with disabled children.
- We also were able to fund the freedom of a dear girl, Sara (through Ting Ministries) who was being held under terrible slave labor conditions. Here is a note we got from Ting Ministries: “Freedom! Freedom 2X Freed from eternal death by faith in Jesus Christ and Freedom from a lifetime of Slavery on the Brick kiln. John 3:16-17 Praise God and thank you to everyone who has helped through your gifts and prayers. Sara, a teenage girl, was born into slavery in Pakistan. She was forced to make bricks from the time she was old enough to walk and help make the bricks. Her family was a generational slave family with no way of escape. Until your gifts helped set her family free. Sara and her family are now free and are under the care of Ting Ministries, where they will be assisted with finding work and housing needs. Sara dreams to work alongside one of the Ting Pastors to share the Gospel and her younger brothers will be able to attend school for the first time in their lives.” Your donations help bring FREEDOM to the oppressed!
- We were able to send gifts to encourage families who have gone through deep tragedy, and grief. Our hope is for these precious families to feel seen and loved in their own storm and season of dark valleys. Your donations help bring LIGHT to the darkness!
- We Were able to help fund a heart-saving surgery for a dear little girl in a poor area of China through the ministry “Love without Boundaries”. Family preservation is a huge part of our own heart at GIASHOPE.org. Many families are forced to give their child/children to social institutions so they can get the medical help they so desperately need and can not afford. Can you even imagine being in such a dilemma as a mama who wants to save their child but may not be able to keep their child so their child can live. What a huge sacrifice that SHOULD NOT HAVE TO HAPPEN! Your donations help us to help families stay together. AS THEY SHOULD!
- We were able to send help fund a care package that was sent to the earthquake victims of Turkey as one of our dear friends is serving there with the broken families now Through YWAM. To see the photos and JOY that these children (who have lost so much) have when they get to play with stickers, bubbles, balls and other items that bring so much joy in a time of deep grief. Nothing compares! Your donations bring JOY to the darkest places of sorrow and places of tragedy
- Our Book is officially getting launched (more on that below) and there will be multiple formats available! Your donations help bring this story of HOPE into the hands of families who most need a fresh word and visual of our Great Gardener’s Promise to bring LIFE from death! It is our vision to send these books to funeral homes, hospitals, nursing homes, refugee camps, libraries, counseling offices etc! God will lead the way!
- We are able to (for the third year in a row) sponsor a little girl named, FuYin through Hope Station . This is a vital ministry that strengthens families of children with special needs in China through therapy, education, medical care/equipment and counseling). This ministry is integral in preventing children from becoming orphans. Your donations help preserve families! This is our passion!
- GIAS HOPE FARM FRIENDS will be launching again this Spring/summer with our commencement being officially on April 30th, (more on that below). Stay tuned for family farm day opportunities and class schedule coming soon! Proceeds benefit GIASHOPE.org
- and….TO BE CONTINUED! Only God knows what is next, as we give HIM our ministry*** Will you help us continue to be used as a vehicle of LOVE, and HOPE? You can donate here***
Ok, so more on the book launch because that has kinda been taking center stage this season!
Though I haven’t a clue what I am doing, I will say: God is on the move as we have continued to give Him this vision and this deep ache and passion of our hearts.
He has brought forth beautiful opportunities for this book to multiply in goodness.
- First let’s talk about the elephant in the room! Look at that beautiful UKRAINIAN BOOK COVER (see below)!!! I could cry!! Ya’ll this is such a GOD thing! About a month ago, I felt the Lord say to me: “This book will go to the broken places and people of Ukraine and be a light in the darkness ” and immediately I knew that somehow this book was going to get translated into the Ukrainian language so families there who have endured unbelievable tragedy will have this visual and word of Hope. Immediately I messaged by dear friend/sister in Ukraine (she hosted my kids when they did missions two years in a row in Ukraine and Israel, and we hosted her son last summer in our home). It goes without saying that they are our dear family and it has broken our hearts deeply to see their beautiful land destroyed and so many they know lost to this terrible war. Immediately when I reached out to her and let her read my book, she said in her exact words: ” This book will help many broken parents and children who have lost so much…” She also shared that she is helping to run a Women refugees shelter with children and that this book will be in demand for the women there who need to read about Hope in the darkness….
Well, let me tell you! When Gods writes a mission on a heart, He is the one who steers the boat! He led me right to a dear Ukrainian formatter/translator who helped translate and format the book!! We are in process of getting it published into paperback so they can be printed and sent to Ukraine. We also are getting the book uploaded to Ukrainian Kindle formats to families can directly have access immediately! Again, I have no idea what I am doing… but He is so good to shepherd his sheep!
***All of this (publishing, and sending) takes funding, so please pray about helping us send HOPE to Ukraine! Will you come alongside us in this vision of love! Please donate Here! And write “Ukrainian mission of HOPE” in the notes!
2. Another prayer request and exciting update: Hope’s Garden Song is being turned into a produced audio drama for “Audible Books! Ya’lllllllllll God continues to lead me to the people and to the resources to bring forth new layers to this project that I could have never conceived myself. This powerful audio drama production does for this story in a audible way what the hand-painted incredible illustrations does for this story in a visual way. I am most excited for how this part of the project will bless children/adults with vision impairments. Some of you may not know this but dear Sara Jo, my talented illustrator, has two precious blind children adopted from India. I have thought often about them as I have been able to hear portions of the incredible audio that is being created. It’s truly so precious. It makes me cry. I picture families gathered on their couches, or around their kitchen tables, leaning in and listening together and being carried along through the tender hearts of these characters and their emotions and the redemptive song of Hope woven throughout the story! Please be praying for God’s hand to continue to guide this project… it’s so special and I need Him to lead the way! Stay tuned as it will be launched soon!
3. I also have a Kindle Book, ready to go “Live!” I am excited about how this Kindle book option can help for the distribution to parts of the world where they can not receive a book from Amazon, like Nicaragua! This Kindle book should be ready and launched soon!
4. Finally, If you do not know, My book officially launches April 22, Gia’s Heaven Day. I can not imagine a better way to honor her life, her legacy and our GREAT BIG GOD then to see this book fly out into a broken world that needs HOPE! This book is the vision of HOPE that He wrote on our own hearts in the midst of our dark storm. It is a reminder of the great eternal Spring that is coming! So to say that this anointed launch is worthy to be celebrated is a severe understatement! Will you help us celebrate? We will be having a SPRING launch FARM/garden party soon for those of you that are local. It’s gonna be sweet way to celebrate HOPE AND LIFE and our Resurrection HOPE! Details coming soon! Stay tuned!
For all you local friends, stay tuned to our facebook page as we are going to share details soon on our upcoming Farm Book Launch party! Save the date of April 30th! We will have some new surprise baby farm friends!! Hint: Gia’s favs!
Thank you for reading this update! God is on the move to bring beauty of the depths of brokeness. He is the one who brings life from death. He is the one who allows for goodness in the land of the living.
This EASTER/SPRING season is a beautiful time to celebrate HOPE! Look around at the world coming alive in creation! It is a picture of our new birth in Christ! Jesus lives and if HE is your Savior, you will not die… you will LIVE forever with HIM!
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25,26)