Children's Hunger Fund & Avenues

Children's Hunger Fund

We packed boxes of chips & bags of dried fruit intended for Guatemala's Zone 3.

And later that evening we attended a fundraiser.....

Avenues 

...where Michael Reagan was the keynote speaker.  Such a sweet testimony.

San Francisco

Mcabe booked a Men's Wearhouse job.  Rather than him fly up there alone and try to navigate different locations...hotels etc....the girls and I decided to hop in the car and join him for a few days.

Aside from me being sick with what I thought was food poisoning while we were there....it was a fun trip.  Short and sweet.

We did the typical things tourists do...travel Lombard Street... hit Fisherman's Wharf for Clam Chowder bread bowls...viewed Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge from a distance.....

The two highlights of the trip were seeing Renee & Keane and finding in Japan Town....the BEST $1.50 Store in the entire world!

Stories I Only Tell My Friends

While Bradley and Mcabe were in London...I had some down time.  The girls and I were out and about...actually doing some early CHRISTmas shopping at Barnes & Noble when I came across this in the Reduced For Clearance bin.  $6.98!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I totally related to the story & enjoyed it thoroughly. 

I knew Rob in passing...and his brother, Chad.  I remember being at a Malibu Beach colony dance party of some sort with him and then again....there was this other time he was in my Calabasas living room for some reason?????? Chad...with his then girlfriend Hilary (such a sweet couple at the time) ...sat directly in front of us in the Mann Village theatre as we watched Prince rock the world in Purple Rain.

I have to admit...I always thought Rob was way too pretty to be manly but I did have a small...very small thing for Chad.

What a great read.  Especially if you grew up in or around Hollywood during this era.  Played on the same beaches...travelled to the same film festivals.  Knew Robert Wagner (who paid a visit to the same Calabasas living room??????)  ...C Thomas Howell ( a whole other story)....Charlie Sheen (who was also in my Calabasas living room for some reason????)...etc.

It was a surreal read.


My take away.

If this thing called ACTING is in your blood...

Don't leave before the miracle.

P.S.  In my humble estimation...the whole West Wing thing that went down...it's sad to say...but I think Martin Sheen might have had a role to play.  I hope not....but it's my gut instinct.

P.P.S. Rob seems to have grown into a very manly man :)

City of Angels

I have been processing some thoughts floating around in my head and heart with a friend.
I shared with her a few weeks ago something that seems sort of impossible to explain in a way that makes perfect sense...to not only her...but to myself. 

I love this city.

I love Los Angeles.

I love people in Scottsdale.  I love things about Scottsdale...but that's different than loving Scottsdale. 

I feel as if our family is supposed to live here.  I feel as if the Lord brought us to this place.  In His timing and for His purposes.

In Bible Study this morning, the conversation turned towards us girls wondering if we (other families as well) were doing the right thing by moving with our husbands and our respective clans to this place...away from family support systems...away from comfort...away from ....our preferences. 

Life here isn't stupendously wonderful.  In fact, things have not gone the way we had hoped.  Acting work for Bradley has been non-existent up to this point.  There are new stresses.  New temptations.  New struggles. 

There are also new blessings.  And new opportunities.  New convictions.  Lots of them.  

For me ....it has come down to obedience.  I believe we are being obedient by living in Los Angeles.  Leaving would feel like disobedience.

It's hard to explain...cuz as far as the world goes...it just doesn't make sense.  Not one bit of sense. 

Jeni, the friend I spoke of above gets me.  I'm the Ethel to her Lucy.  She blogged about us in LA here.

October Baby

October Baby is a MUST SEE film.

It was so sweet to be in the room with three young women (who happen to be adopted) while they were processing the truths presented in this story of forgiveness.

 I had the pleasure of watching the delightful, funny, and heart-wrenching movie, October Baby.  This is by far the best Christian film out there.  I was really surprised by how good the story-line is.  I learned a lot of things during the film, but what really spoke to my heart was the forgiveness aspect of the movie.  The main character, Hannah had to learn to forgive her birth mom, her adoptive family, and herself.  Throughout the movie you watch Hannah face her battles and have struggles until she hits a brick wall.  She finally learns that God forgave her for all of her sins and she is able to forgive others.  This tells me that I can forgive anyone who comes my way, no matter our history.  God extended grace to Hannah...so how dare she hold a grudge against anyone, even herself.  Shari Rigby, a family friend, plays the birth mom in the film.  She struggled with forgiving herself after murdering her own child through abortion.  October Baby is a must see film.  I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a tear-jerker movie. - Jemima Gregg


Oh how I love October Baby! It is a tear-jerker.When I began watching the movie, anger built up inside me. What was I angry about? Who was I angry at? Hannah! I was angry about how disrespectful Hannah was to her family when she learned that she was adopted. I didn't understand Hannah's anger towards her father. I was adopted at the age of three and have been so thankful that my parents welcomed me into their home. After watching the movie, I realized where Hannah is coming from. She lived 19 years without her parents telling her about her birth. So Hannah believed she was lied to this entire time. Now she has questions with no answers to them. As to me, I've know my whole life that I was adopted. Thinking about it though, I can understand and might be angry and hurt if I didn't know. At the end Hannah learns that her parents wanted the best for her. She learns to forgive them and their friendship begins to grow. Hannah also exchanges bitterness for forgiveness in regards to her biological mother. Lastly, Hannah learns to not dwell on the things of the past but to look to the future. This is why I love the movie so dearly! - Cassandra Wilde  

October Baby is a Christian movie that is life changing. The film has heartache, resentment, hatred, grief, pain, love, and forgiveness. The main character, Hannah finds out that she is adopted. Because she is a survivor of a failed abortion she has depression, and other health problems. Hannah is determined to find her birth mother on a road trip with her best friend, Jason. After learning from the nurse who helped the abortion doctor that Hannah had a twin brother who also survived with an arm torn off and brain damage... but sadly died 4 months later...Hannah felt heart broken and guilty that she pulled through and he didn't. Hannah finds her birth mother, Cindy, who can't face the truth, doesn't want her, and pretends to be clueless or have any recollection of her. Hannah needs to learn to forgive her birth mother for not wanting her, and trying to kill her and for killing her brother. She needs forgive her parents for hiding the horrible news of her early childhood. On her journey, she realizes that she has been forgiven therefore she should forgive others. Convicted, Hannah places a note, saying "I forgive you" on Cindy's desk and is relieved as she is ready to walk into new life. Upon reading the note, Cindy cries because she knows it is time to face the truth. I about just died when I saw Cindy have her break through and accept forgiveness. I loved seeing the love Hannah's family shows her. She herself learns to love and forgive. This movie is about a girl finding out who she really is and learning to accept it. I love this film October Baby! - Galilee Gregg

Shari Rigby...the film's birth mother is a dear friend.  I had the privilege of attending a fundraiser for East Los Angeles Pregnancy Center where she was the keynote speaker.

Shari's testimony is one of healing and forgiveness found in Christ.  Post abortive herself, she shares authentically about her journey out of shame...and delivers a message of hope.

Shari's story.

and More here.


One of our daughters got up the nerve ask a very serious question last night.  It's been a season of intense ponderings lately...but this inquiry went very, very deep.  "Mom, could I be the survivor of a failed abortion?"

long pause

"It's possible because of your low birth weight...but we do not have that information."  

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh...........so maybe?"

"Probably not..... but maybe."


I cannot think of a more redeeming and life affirming way for the girls to spend their time than volunteering at our very own local Crisis Pregnancy Center.

Psalm 139:14 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Brownie

Brownie died.

It was a very sad afternoon...the one where Zion was confronted with saying "goodbye" and the very real possibility that he would not recover or be returning home.

A few days later ...after a valiant effort on the bunny loving volunteer Pet Hospital staff's part...he was indeed "gone" and Mcabe and I had to deal with the issues of picking up and disposing of the body.

Mcabe is a hunter.  He has killed many a rabbit...countless numbers of rabbits over the years.  The name of the production company he runs with his Braverijah is Dead Rabbit Pictures.

Nothing sweeter than seeing a big bad hunter who hunts big things like elk and Asian water buffalo...picking up the remains of a frozen dead bunny in a brown paper bag and trying to figure out what to do with it...so that his heart broken little sister doesn't have to deal with the trauma. 

Brownie wound up in the dumpster behind a Starbucks in Burbank. 

There will probably be someone out there who is outraged by this.  If so...I hope it leads deeper ponderings.



 

Jane Eyre

ummmmmm....

..................Zion as a Valley Girl/Mean Girl Jane Eyre.


I am dying.  She had zero direction from anyone.