Dear Friends and Family, It’s been a while since I have updated our community via this format, but I can’t keep quiet as there’s so much goodness and life to share! And, the madness of trying to fit my words in an instagram limited character counter feels too hard right now! LOL (though, I am fully aware that many of you don’t read blogs anymore) but I pray that you will make this one exception and join me for a few minutes in this little space today, as I share my heart.
I first want to start this letter by telling you how THANKFUL and GRATEFUL we are and have been for your continued prayers and support as we have navigated the past three years of holding both deep sorrow and yet deeper Joy. Your prayers and love have literally been a daily rescue in the trials and triumphs of the past.
We are so thankful for Jesus!
Walking the deepest pain and experiencing the hottest fire of our lives have been a purifier and catalyst of what it truly means to be a son and daughter of the one true God. To know the true Jesus who is acquainted with all our sorrows.
To know Jesus is to know PEACE.
It means unconditional love in all our wrestlings
It means unwavering anchor on our lives as we drift on the sea of doubt and ache
It means overflowing grace when we stumble and fail
It means unending comfort when we feel deep pain
It means unending joy when we see His Promise as our true HOPE!
It means absolute flooding of light in our shadow valleys…
It means Abundant LIFE, even in death!
I am so grateful that there is SO MUCH MORE beyond what our eyes can see in front of us in this temporary earthly life. God has used this thorn in our flesh of deep sorrow to give us true sight into eternity. Our hearts are forever untied from earth and deeply tethered to our one true home….Where we invest our treasures.
When we stood at the gates of heaven and gave our precious Gianna to Jesus, We saw Him.
In the most heart wrenching moments of our life, we felt the deepest peace as the holy hands of heaven held us tight and we were given a sacred glimpse into the UNSEEN.
Gianna’s life and the honor to carry her home from China and then to have the painful and beautiful honor to carry her to Jesus has changed us forever.
We know true HOPE.
It’s real…ALL real and we are changed forever.
Though we fail often in this mission, we are sold out to live with eternal perspective in all we do. Gianna’s life continually teaches us to love fiercer, give more, and go deeper and watch for the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living since we have a HOPE that never disappoints!
He is GOOD, JESUS is so good and gives true purpose and overwhelming JOY to life, even in the sorrow.
There is a JOY that is deeper STILL! He is TOO good to not believe! We have seen miracles, we have seen Him turn ashes to beauty. WE HAVE SEEN HIM turn tragedy into triumph.
We have seen the goodness of the Lord ARISE from the depths of sorrow, BECAUSE of HOPE.
So, that leads me to the first announcement:
We have decided to change the name of our Foundation that was birthed from the legacy of Gianna’s Life from
LIVE GIA GROW FOREVER FOUNDATION to…. (drum roll)
G.I.A.’S HOPE
This stands for “Goodness is Arising ( since Hope is Shining)”
We belief this new name better represents why we keep pressing on to shine God’s light with love and hope for the most broken, hurting, poor, orphaned and vulnerable around the world.
It’s all because of HOPE…. the hope that held us and continues to hold us.
The HOPE that is the agent that ignites the goodness of the LORD. This goodness supernaturally arises from the tragedies of life, because Jesus is victory.
He can take the depths of darkness and turn it into light.
He can take the agonizing pain and turn it into praise.
He can take unbearable death and turn it into EVERLASTING AND ABUNDANT LIFE!
Because He is never done. The story of victory is promised and we want to partake in this truth in tangible ways to those who most need hope around the world.
We are in the process of creating a separate webpage which will launch soon! It’s a bit of a transition but we know we are walking in the right direction. We want God’s Hope to be SEEN, as He has shown us His truth, through our Gia’s life, even in our deepest valleys of death!
GIAS HOPE embodies the truth that God’s Goodness is rising up because our Jesus lives and death and despair don’t have the final say!
Keep reading because you won’t believe all this PRAISE!!!!!
BIGGER BLESSINGS TO SHARE!
We are very excited about our vision for this upcoming year, but before we share that…. we want to share all that God has done this past year through your prayers and generous donations. He is never done…. His glory is an unending story of praise!
**So when the year first started in January 2021, we were able to honor our baby’s birthday by awarding FIVE $1000 in grants to 5 different families who were stepping out in faith to adopt. (one was awarded in April to honor Gianna’s heaven day). So, when you are supporting GIASHOPE… you are also helping to bring orphans into forever families!
**We were able, by God’s goodness and grace, to give $1300 to Lily @LilysHouse (Gianna’s Foster mama ) who is running and directing a foster home for special needs orphans in China (now located in Guangdong province, LianJiang city of China) These children get specialized, family style love and care in a warm safe home. I am so thankful to see God continue to move through the gift of Gianna’s life.
When you support GIASHOPE, you are also caring for orphans.
**And in the mission to prevent children from becoming orphans, We have partnered with HOPE Station in China to sponsor a little girl with downs syndrome and her family who have multiple children with severe special needs. This incredible ministry provides, support, education and therapy to these families in the desire to help equip and empower them to stay together and have HOPE. What a beautiful mission and we are honored to see Gia’s life shine in this way. When you give to GIASHOPE, you are helping to keep families together.
** In January of 2021 (in honor of our Gianna’s birthday) we gifted $500 to Unity 4 Orphans ESL sponsored Family to help them with flooding they had in their house and another family (ESL Student in Managua) which had a robbery in their house.
** THIS WAS HUGE! GIASHOPE got to bring love, and light to Nicaragua this past summer as we partnered with OPEN HEARTS NICARAGUA to serve the most vulnerable of this world. Nicaragua is the 2nd poorest nation in central America, but it is RICH in God’s hope and light! It was such an honor to serve alongside The Farrington Family as we witnessed God’s goodness arising in the most broken of places.
Because of your generous support, gifts, prayers and love: We were able to do all this by God’s Grace alone, and not of ourselves… He gets THIS GLORY!
GIAS HOPE was able to
**Provide 25 bunk beds @ $125/each for Los Brasiles Community. and help feed 50 kids and their families in the community. ($3000). While having the honor and joy to be welcomed into these families humble homes, build their beds, and pray over them.
**We were able to partner with and serve at Tesoros De Dios ( a powerful ministry which helps children with disabilities reach their full potential) by serving and filling food bags, cleaning and painting the whole exterior, Sanding several doors for prep for paint and providing lunch for the beautiful staff of unsung heroes.
- **Brian and I had the sacred honor to do a home visit with a very broken mama (of one of the children who used to receive help from Tesoros De Dios who is now in the arms of Jesus) It was an anointed time of sharing many tears and prayers and sorrows and ultimately Hope. Grief needs no translation, but neither does love. And God’s love is so tangible when we choose to enter someone’s pain and hold space for their sorrows. We were also able to give a love offering to this broken family. Your support of GIASHOPE made it possible for us to care for this mama and talk about HOPE. God can use our great pain to minister to others who know great pain. Because of Jesus.
**We were able to gift $1100 to Open Hearts for 5 mattress sheets pillows to Rubys House of Prayer and , diapers and supplies, wheel chair, canes to Club esperanza in Nicaragua ( a school serving the community that lives in La Chureca. La Chureca is the largest landfill in Nicaragua.) This school also serves the special needs community and is a light in the darkness!
**One of the purposes of going to Nica on mission was to encourage and support and practically love on those missionaries who are there long term, boots on the ground… and laying down their lives for the least of these daily. We were able to provide lunch for various missionaries who we partnered with ($135) and a love offering to the incredible family who we stayed with who are and have been serving the vulnerable of Nica for decades(Buzbee family) $1000 and a $50 love offering to the pastor of the Los Brasiles Community. This pastor serves this community faithfully despite often going without food himself. He embodies Jesus
**By God’s grace we were able to partner with Unity 4 Orphans and provide lunch ($150) for 45 kids and 10 staff for MIramar Unity 4 Orphans ESL Program and also spend days teaching and spending time and loving on the amazing kids in this program. This was such a gift as this ministry is so close to our hearts. U4O exists to fight for a brighter future where orphaned and vulnerable children experience God and transformation in every area of their lives.
**Because of your generous love, we were also able to gift a ukulele to one of the students who has been with the program the longest and has persevered even through very hard circumstances. She was so grateful and filled with such joy to see a dream come true! It was our joy!
**We were also able to provide dinner meal for Unity 4 Orphans teachers and Joe (the founder) $200 and support and encourage them in their fight for hope!
****FRIENDS!!!
We are undone to see God multiply your offerings,
sacrifices and love for His kingdom love and light!****
YOU GUYS!!!! There has been a total of $$13,241 given to the broken, poor, vulnerable and orphaned of this world, because of HOPE! Because of LOVE. God’s Love overflowing through his church!
We believe we are seeing the Goodness of the Lord in the land of the Living and we crave MORE!
We want to see more of God’s glory and goodness arise in 2022! Will you consider coming alongside us to watch His beauty unfold from the depths of brokeness. It is our mission to shine God’s light and Hope to the orphaned, most vulnerable, broken and poor in this world. We want to show God’s LOVE!
We can’t do it alone. Please pray about how you can be a part of our mission at GIASHOPE! How amazing to see God moving in such powerful ways!
So GIVING TUESDAY IS COMING! Will you pray about helping us meet our goal of raising $5000 to continue in this mission of HOPE.
One of the newest projects on the horizon that we are praying about is our desire to reach out to the Muslim community who are refugees in our country. We have felt such a burden and desire to bring light and hope to families who have experienced such deep tragedy and trauma. I, Johanna, have become a volunteer for an organization that serves these families and I am looking forward to seeing how God uses GIASHOPE to shine His light! Will you pray for us to have opportunities and open doors to share love and hope.
We also pray to be able to award a grant/grants to families who are adopting special needs orphans.
We also hope to continue to help support our partner ministries that we were able to come alongside with this past year (see above).
UNITY 4 ORPHANS
Lilys House
HOPE Station China
OPEN HEARTS Nicaragua……
We know God is not done!
Finally, I would love to take this moment to share with you about a project that I have been working on for 3 years. This is something that God has laid on my heart as a calling to create as a tool to minister to families who also walk through seasons of grief and loss.
Ya’ll! I Wrote a Children’s Book based on the allegory of our Gianna’s Garden of Hope.
Friends, this project is so special and something God has written on my heart since the day we walked Gianna to Jesus. It is all HIS and I have laid it on the altar of God’s heart to do what He wants with it.
This has and still is a long journey of faith. He has made a pathway forward to getting this book illustrated and published and I am so excited to see this vision come to life! This book will be a valuable resource for families who are trying to navigate the mess of Grieving with HOPE. I wish I had this resource to hand to my dear grieving mama friend when we visited her in Nicaragua. This book helps put into understandable words and pictures and metaphors and powerful illustrations what it means to hold on to HOPE, while also giving space for your pain. Part of our mission at GIAS HOPE is to minister to the most broken.
We will be raising money to help with getting this project finalized so it can be available to be put into the hands of hurting families who suffer loss and grief.
Our goal is to also sell the book on Amazon where 100% of ALL profits will go to GIAS HOPE to help bring more love and light!
I can NOT wait to share more later! Stay tuned!
So, Friends, REJOICE with us for what He is doing!
Will you partner with us?
He has grown this Foundation with the power of your love and prayer. What was once just a seed from the legacy of Gianna’s life has grown into a wildflower garden of beauty upon beauty!
Again, will you please come alongside us to watch Goodness arise and Hope shine! God is so good to invite us all into HIS STORIES of redemption and love and restoration.
Please click this link to donate to our GIVING TUESDAY Event on FB GIASHOPE (formally Live GIA GROW FOREVER FOUNDATION) Or you can use the paypal link below if that is easier!
We are so thankful for your support!
Oh how sweet is the LOVE of Christ through his saints!
I hope you and your family experience HIS grace and love in new ways this year that overwhelm you and radically change your life!
We are so thankful for YOU and your partnership in the gospel of our Savior, Jesus!
It is such an honor to invest into eternity with you!
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
1 Chronicles 16:34
