Kay Warren Speaks on Stepping out to Help with the AIDS PANDEMIC

Oh how I wish we were all feeling ruined for God to extend ourselves to help the most vulnerable.

TSHIRT Video Kid Fashion Show - More Styles at TOBEAMOTHER.com

BEING A MOTHER My Ultimate Reward!

I have spent the day doing the happy dance because I am in shock that my book is an Amazon best seller at #1 in Adoption and vascillating between 3-5 on the Women's Issues/Christian category(right under my heroes Beth Moore and Stasi/John Eldredge) and between 6-8 on the Motivational chart (under a book I read a million times YOU CAN HEAL YOUR LIFE by Louise Hay).  It has been a blessed time and I am humbled and honestly surprised.

Years ago when I nervously chased fame believing that was the prize I was running after (burying my first dream of wanting to be a mother), I would fantasize about winning the Grammy or Oscar. I imagined how incredible that would be, how rich I would be...I spent years praying to God to somehow make me famous because I wanted it to happen so I could make enough money to have a family, house etc. I was confused.  I cried when I would not see the success I was working toward.  Then later my band developed an excellent reputation in NY and we were able to basically climb the ladder of success as a band to the stars...But I remember sitting on a stage with MY band and my company surrounded by Hollywood elite at a million dollar wedding saying to myself "SO WHAT! If this is it..it is empty!"  Then when I saw Samantha for the first time i about melted with joy. I lost my breath when Andrew was born in disbelief at the pride I felt as a mother of a son. When I saw Matea at 5 months old in Guatemala for the first time I felt like I was literally looking at a cherub that God had dressed all in white to present to me....awesome! My three Ethiopian children all filled me with awe at their constant poise in the midst of loss and grief.  My bliss was found and always has been in quality human relationships. The best being the children that just long to be loved. In extending myself beyond my comfort zone and in stretching more and more in the area of Faith...each time I watch as GOD SHOWS UP....My family is the reward.Making it to where I am today with a dirty brownie pan in the sink and a pile of laundry along side the play room that needs to be picked up is my bliss and more beautiful to me then the 15 thousand dollar cake at the wedding of the stars..

Still, God gives me a little reward in the form of a credential as a number one best seller at Amazon. I don't want to miss the miracle but I don't want to ignore the source either..God's plans have always been better than mine. And it took a fatal mistake in my life to realize that. But I will plan as best as I can and then feel the joy in the twists and turns He takes me on like some super natural joyous tilt a whirl ride at the sweetest Heavenly carnival ever....Praise You Lord..Jesus take the wheel...and I will try to have the heart of a child...trusting You and laughing with a grateful Spirit that You are on Your throne and I get to hang out at Your feet....

TO BE A MOTHER #1 Amazon Best Seller (adoption/prolife memoir)

http://www.tinyurl.com/tbamam

Hey the book made it to number one on the Amazon best seller list and has been there now for 6 hours...So busy but will try to blog later.

MY BOOK "TO BE A MOTHER" Please buy TODAY 8/24

Please buy my book TO BE A MOTHER today 8/24/09 at AMAZON . I would love to have many people buy it on release date in hopes of making it an AMAZON best seller....



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



To Be A Mother: Adopting God’s Heart

The Aftermath of Abortion and the Power of Redemption


July 15, 2009, Raleigh, NC and Denver, CO – When a woman chooses abortion, the lingering psychological effects can be devastating. Deanna Jones, author of To Be a Mother, knows too well the grief and guilt that can haunt these women. As a teenager, an abortion seemed the only answer for Deanna, but the decision caused her great pain afterward. Finally, by opening her heart to Jesus Christ, she was able to transcend her grief and forgive herself. Her memoir, published by Outskirts Press, is a story of hope that will resonate with many women, and inspire all who read it.


Deanna Jones found herself pregnant at the age of 19. In an unstable relationship, and with a musical career starting to take off, she decided she was not ready for motherhood. “No way,” she said. “This is my life, my body.” And so she made an appointment at a local clinic. But she was not prepared for the overwhelming despair that would result. After the abortion she was left with a feeling of emptiness and loss. “Legalized abortion denied me a beautiful gift from God,” she says. “The desperation post-abortion far outweighed the desperation during my brief, unplanned pregnancy, and I was so off balance that I felt as if I would never be able to hold onto anything ever again. A part of me was missing and I would never get it back.”


There is a happy ending, however. To Be a Mother is not focused on Deanna’s loss, but rather, it is a story of redemption, resurrection, God’s grace, and His extravagant blessings. Deanna found that by facing her actions and calling out to the true Father, she would be transformed, forgiven, and enlivened. With the Lord by her side, she was able to move from a difficult childhood and a painful abortion decision to the miraculous redemption of Christ and the healing joy that came from the birth and adoption of her six children.



“The poignant and compassionate words of Deanna Jones articulate America’s latent sorrow in the aftermath of our abortion culture. Deanna’s sympathetic perception is borne from a personal

encounter with grief. Listen to her and be illuminated, healed, and refreshed.”


—Troy Newman

President, Operation Rescue


“To Be a Mother truly highlights the healing presence of Christ in Deanna’s life. She eloquently travels from her painful past to her redemption and new life in Christ. This book would be an inspiration to any woman, or man, who has suffered, as Deanna has, and is searching for healing.”

—Theresa Burke, PhD

Author of Forbidden Grief: The Unspoken Pain of Abortion

Founder, Rachel’s Vineyard Ministries


“Finally, in To Be a Mother, Deanna beautifully redefines the term pro-life—pro-life and pro-adoption become one. An elegant portrayal of the choice to give redeeming love that makes receiving it in turn so much sweeter.”

—Carolyn Twietmeyer, Founder/Executive Director, Project HOPEFUL


This true story shows us firsthand that God is compassionate, illustrating the relentless nature of His pursuit to save and claim His children and allow them life everlasting. The Bible declares that the Lord will turn our mourning into gladness and our despair into praise (Is 61:3), and for Deanna Jones, this has become truth. Follow her inspirational story as she is lifted from a wounded child to a place of understanding and joy as a woman of God. To Be a Mother is a celebration of life, of motherhood, and the sanctity of life itself.



About the Author: Deanna Jones was born and raised in Rockford, Illinois, and is currently a bandleader and singer for the New York based band The Deanna Jones Orchestra. She considers her greatest assets to be her six children—two by birth, and four by miraculous adoption. Her web site (www.tobeamother.com) is dedicated to the miracle of motherhood, and she and her husband, Mark, are active pro-life, adoption advocates.

Musical Shoes...All in a Days work as a Mother...shoe policing...

Horse Poop Bird Poop...it's all the same....

Ethiopian Adoption: Domination Dog - language lesson

in case you guys ever doubted my Jared stories..here is proof

TO BE A MOTHER: Book release/radio interview on Monday 8/24

Everyone mark your calendars for Monday. I will be releasing my book on 8/24. I also have an interview on National Pro Life Radio with Day Gardner on that day. I will be posting the Amazon link and link to the radio show which will be at 5pm on MOnday.

TO BE A MOTHER Website



http://www.tobeamother.com

My Little Rascals...Darla and Buckwheat...

Now Jared and Matea....

So, it's been a really funny few days with my two youngest. First they insisted on giving me a foot rub with lotion...Then the next day I found them outside with an overturned gray storage bin as a table and a flipped over striped tin garbage can as a chair.  Andrew came in to inform me that the youngest two had decided to sell tap water to the neighbors in little miniature tea cups without washing them for a dollar.   I gather they were imitating their older siblings who had been selling lemonade for awhile..

Then Matea (Darla) came into the kitchen last night and totally really freaked me out when I discovered that she had taken a hard boiled egg from two days prior and had been taking great care of it somewhere waiting for a "baby to hatch"  ...as she handed it to me I totally freaked out. It didn't smell but it had started to get hard as a rock and I had no clue where she had been keeping it...I grabbed it and threw it away as she screamed "BUT A BABY is in it" I said "No Matea remember the Mommy eggs are inside human mothers.' THis is a chicken egg and there is no baby chicken inside there...She started to cry and then she laughed and forgot about it....

The kids are really really funny and Matea is the most interesting little girl in the world...the youngest two remind me of Darla and Buckwheat from Little Rascals....Jared came up to me the other day and said "Mom JAPANCY, JAPANCY" i said "Jared what is a JAPANCY" ...He said "MOM Comeon...it's a monkey." He was trying to say CHIMPANZEE...but described something that sounded like a japanese monkey....

Songs about Grace no Songs About Ella!!!

This past week we celebrated Ella's 8th birthday on 8/12. We had 8 girls over for a slumber party last week. Ella was thrilled. We had cake, ice cream, pizza, popcorn and a huge breakfast...Then after everyone else left around 10 we all cleaned up from the party and then I had them all clean the garage with me. They didn't enjoy that much..LOL..

Ella got some birthday money and we took her shopping for clothing. It was honestly the first time since last year's birthday that she was able to spend some money on herself. It was so refreshing!!! She walked into the store and literally loved everything. She was not picky at all just really grateful and excited. I do remember picking them up from the orphanage and having them be a little picky with their clothes..but we usually get hand me downs because I really can't afford to be buying new clothes all the time and really don't see the point since they grow so fast and many of my friends happily give us clothes...SO, she bought some outfits and looked beautiful..

Mark is working at a department store in the men's clothing department. It has been a slow year so we haven't been working much. So, he has had to work to make some money for us....So, we had been cleaning and didn't look all that great but walked into the high end store anyhow to see Mark (and hand him his keys because i had walked off with them). The kids were still all so new to the escalator that it surprised me. The were so enamored with it and equally afraid and excited of it...so we went up and down. Then I ran into one of my favorite clients but was embarrassed because I looked like I had been cleaning..which I had...

Later in the car I am singing a Christian song from the radio...Ella says "Mommy how come you are always singing about Grace and not about me???" I thought that was so funny. And Matea started then singing AMAZING GRACE...Then Ella says what does my name mean...this came after we explained what Grace meant and what Matea means (gift from God)..I told her that her name meant SHE in spanish and she was miserable..how come Matea has a special name and Grace too....Then I reminded her that she was named after my Grandmother...But then I remembered something cool that I had never thought of...Her middle name is her EThiopian name KIDIST...it means blessed...so then I said your name means "SHE IS BLESSED!!!" I am really the one that is blessed.

From our Cul de sac's to the Compound! African Teen Orphans and Adoption!

I had been in labor with my second child for several hours and then the doctor announced after the delivery via Csection "You have a beautiful baby boy!"   I was so surprised. I immediately lost my breath and started crying out of joy.  I really had never even dreamed about being a mother of a boy...And then when I first laid eyes on Andrew I continued to cry. I could not believe how beautiful he was and I still could not get over my reaction. I was one of four girls and loved it. I had a daughter and would have been elated with another girl. I was so surprised at this sense of joy, pride and awe I felt as a mother of a boy.....

When we adopted from Ethiopia I had been warned by some people about older child adoption. For many people an "older child" is 2 or 3.  Then when we adopted our sibling group of 3 my heart connected to all of the kids. But there was a knowingness in my heart that my responsibility to the youngest was somehow even more profound. Jared couldn't remember his mother. He loved his grandmother and called her 'amaya" or mommy...But he longed to be taken care of and Mothered...I was blessed again to be a mother of a boy...an older Ethiopian orphan prince...of 6.

In many countries the boys are revered so much that the baby girls are the ones abandoned, aborted or killed via infanticide. There are many cultures that believe there is more value to their sons. Ironically, in adoption circles girls are very popular. I find it interesting and sweet that the people going out to adopt are drawn to the gender of the child that is readily discarded first. However, since the "demand" is for baby girls, then baby boys, then toddler girls, toddler boys, girls, boys...then to special needs like cleft palate, "hiv+" other special needs...it seems really obvious that teens are totally not considered . And teen boys are considered for adoption last in line. What happens to girls and boys who have been orphaned all of their lives and then age out from the orphanage and then onto the streets of a country whose average life span is 45? They are poor and have no one...so fall into all kinds of bad situations and many time can die within 10 years of being out in the rugged streets of the city, where dozens of 'aged out' orphans struggle to get food, get a job, find a place to sleep and hope not to die of dehydration. Some girls are met by pimps that wait on the outside of the orphanage after catching word that 'one' is being released on a particular day.....she goes from orphan status immediately into slavery via prostitution (she is owned not mothered).

The reality is that there is so much promise and so much hope in a teen (girl or boy), But who is going to come?  The percentages in Ethiopia alone is that only one one hundreth of 1 percent of the 4.6 million children orphaned are adopted every year. Of that one one hundreth of 1 percent the special needs children and teens are the last to be considered.   One statistic is that even though many of us consider adoption only 3% of the Christians in our country adopt....most of those babies...

My husband and I have two boys  that we call our sons in Ethiopia because they are our children's brothers. They are anywhere from 14-18..not really sure. We don't really know where they are exactly or if they are okay...They are orphans and we didn't know about them until late in the adoption process and we were told that they were unadoptable....But we wonder, worry and pray for them and deeply determined to get a phone number or have someone visiting to find them so we can get a report...

I have one friend that ministers to the boys on the streets of Addis. But there is only so much he can do. There is also an orphanage called Kolfe Orphanage that my friends Eileen and Jerry have tried to raise funds to restore etc.  But no matter how many new sheets or how many new beds, books, shoes you can buy for a teen boy....it can't replace the love of a mother. So many long to be able to call someone mother even when they are 15, 16, 17...Some will never get the chance before they die at some point within the 20 years expected life span post orphanage.

What is wrong with us??? Why are we so afraid to extend ourselves in faith to love another human being that isn't wrapped up to look like a baby in a diaper commercial?  Why can't we look past our fears and look into their loss? Why can't we have confidence in our own capacity to bless, inspire and heal another human being? Why are we so self focused on our potential lifestyle losses that we can't see the loss and lack of style in the lives of the  orphans of this world that  live without anything?  We have so much that is given to us not as a result of our affluence but as a result of our ability to read about God and what he says?  We should have the faith and dictate to go to those orphans simply by our ability and blessing to hold a bible...God tells us to go to them.  Can't we extend ourselves beyond our cul de sacs and into the compounds of windowless buildings, pillowfree beds and dry wells that hundreds of children live with every day??? Just by lending a hand or an encouraging word or by giving up our 4 dollar latte's can mean life to someone.....Kolfe Orphanage

We Have Room! Adoption Video! Looks like the Falchook family!

Promo for "We Have Room" Documentary from David Watson on Vimeo.

To Be A Mother: Radio Interview on National Pro Life Radio with Day Gardner!

National ProLife Radio

I will be on National Pro Life Radio on 8/24 on Day Life News with Day Gardner (she is incredible and that is an understatement). And the show will be repeated on 8/25 at 12:30 and 5...


Because of this interview I also have moved up my book release date to 8/24...Please mark your calendar's for that date. If I sell enough on the date of release I could receive the Amazon credentials of being a best seller. So, please Mark your calendars and support the message of embracing motherhood and empowering women through motherhood....

Facebook Fanpage

To Be A Mother on Facebook

Angelic Encounter and Packing a Pistol!

Matthew 18:
10"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

Ever wonder what it would be like to see an angel? I just spent two days in the mountains..It is an incredible place, prayed up for  years or more with the place being prayer walked the several thousand acres....

Wed and Thursday I was in NY working with my band. On Friday I landed from NY at 10am and around 5:30 met some amazing women for a 2 hour drive to the mountains...I went to a Summit with 10 women to discuss orphans/adoption/sanctity of life-- mainly in Africa (go to TO BE A MOTHER for more info and pics). On the way we stopped for dinner and a trip to the Walmart for groceries. Looking up into the sky I noticed a full rainbow with a half rainbow developing next to it that lasted for at least 20 minutes.

Genesis 9:12-15 (New International Version)

¹² And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³ I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life

..I had never seen a rainbow that lasted that long..So, even with only 3 hours of sleep, I was energized the minute I showed up to the amazing guesthouse. Being with all of these amazing women was something to behold and very much welcomed since I had been revved up for the release of my book 8/30 and the new ministry that is ahead of me. My ministry with TO BE A MOTHER is to remind women to show compassion, love, and a nurturing spirit to the orphans, unborn, enslaved children in the world... In essence to remind people of Christ's ministry and to continue the ministry with life saving efforts for children and women.So, the rainbow and scripture was to me a sign of victory..."never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life." My belief and conviction is that in spite of the monumental task of raising awareness for the 150 orphans and millions of babies destroyed by abortion and children exploited and hurt by trafficking/abuse...that somehow the awesome power of God will shine forward like that rainbow to annihilate the evil that is flooding over the lives of the innocent ones in this world...

So, once in the guesthouse I was downright giddy. With only a few hours of sleep i could not rest. There was something special about this place and time. So, I stayed up chatting until 3:07 when I went up to my room...On the way to the room I glanced over to the porch on the second floor to see (what I thought) was one of the ten women on the porch in full head to toe blue luminescent scarving/gown worshipping, dancing, singing and praying out on the porch outside the door ....I thought to myself...wow how cool to have this energy to worship with such passion at 3am..I went to put my book and bag down in my room to come back to the porch to find whoever it was gone and the light that had lit up the porch with a bluish gold glow off...I had wanted to join in the singing..,But I went to bed ..finally feeling tired..my room mate and friend Eileen went into the shower..I heard singing in the woods and high pitched music along with footsteps on the porch.....I barely slept even after Eileen fell out to sleep...I kept thinking.."geez how can anyone sleep with the high pitched flutes and buzzes and footsteps going off out in the woods"(I am not talking about crickets etc) ...Remember I had slept the night before in NYC with sirens, and horns honking-- like a baby for the three hours I slept.

Around 6 am I nod off...around 9am I am wide awake with a strong command in my mind/heart..."get up and worship"...I fight it off saying to myself..."I WANT TO SLEEP"...still I get up only seeing one or two women awake ...looking for a place to worship I find the downstairs porch overlooking the woods with the mysterious ethereal party music that went on all night...I prayed and sang for about an hour...Now I am wide awake with the energy of a NYC realtor....So, we spend the day in prayer...worship, chatting...I realize about 11am the next day from the conversations with everyone that all of them had been in their rooms or asleep at 3am and I must have seen an angel...I am upset with myself for mistaking her for one of us because I would have paid more attention (still I don't really talk much about it processing the whole thing)....Around 6pm I crash for a nap with no ethereal musical interruptions...

Around midnight that night I am chatting with my friends and holding my iphone. It starts raining...Mysteriously, with no contact from me (besides I have no fingerprints and it takes about 10 touches with anything from me on the iphone to work)..my song "THE RAIN" starts playing by itself from the ipod on my iphone. I literally had not listened to the song for 5 years and didn't know it was in my iphone/ipod library...and the moment I noticed the rain outside..the song popped on my phone and started playing...

I go to bed around 2am...Eileen is taking her shower again...I am nodding off..I hear a tap at the window and the angel partying in the woods again ('hey keep it down out there I am trying to sleep") there is no angel "stopping the music" task force to call in the middle of the woods...maybe my hearing is that of a dog and i can just hear high pitched stuff...who knows...So, Eileen comes in and goes to sleep. I really had no conversations with her about my angelic encounter..in fact i kept it low key waiting for more confirmation. Eileen's life is constantly filled with supernatural experiences...God is all over her...but she is also really funny...So, Eileen startles at 2:39 because we both hear 5 steps on the porch that had an angel dancing on it the night before...Eileen says to me "Hey did you hear that?" I said "yeah it is probably one of those angels">..Eileen is from Staten Island originally...She seriously says to me "hey I forgot my gun"...Which makes me laugh really hard...but we keep hearing foot steps..She keeps saying..."Is the door locked...?" I am thinking the angel can get through the locked door and the gun wouldn't stop them...So we are really giddy and silly...we look out the blinds to see no one...We both decide to walk into the hallway...she is behind me...we are silly premenopausal Nancy Drews tip toeing looking for angels or in her mind "gangsters in angel attire who need to be shot"...we look out at the porch..nothing...we think maybe we heard something from upstairs...we peak up one flight..it is dark and silent up there...So we go back to bed...she falls asleep right away..I hear more steps and then see a figure in my room that takes away the ambient light from my computer and cell phone and then I hear a buzz around my ears while the figure is there...and then the figure leaves and I can see the light from my computer and phone again...I fall to sleep with the blanket over my eyes...wake up at 9 again...come down to the kitchen and speak to 3 other people who heard the footsteps..Then i tell everyone about my angel encounters.....and then I open my email and get this email sent at 7:22am from my friend Lori Dillard who didn't know I was heading to angel central because I really didn't know myself....

"D - good morning - just making sure you are ok. I prayed many times for you last night around midnight for your safety & for angels to surround you... let me know how you are.

Love,
LD


Sweet Confirmation....I then came home and told my kids about it..During dinner everyone was mad at me for not taking pictures of the angel and upset that I didn't see the face or go to the porch to sing with the angels...



I am not the type of person who has books on angels in my house or has crystals etc...I can't deny from this experience that I saw one and heard them...I do believe they are protecting us and under God's authority....and in doing a little 'angel googling" found out that the color blue represents the colors of archangel Michael who represents protection...but this was a girl angel maybe Michelle or Michaela...

I also think it is a sweet auspicious gift to see an angel for the first time in my life as I embark on a ministry with a legion of earthly women who have the same passion as I do for saving orphans etc....I also, have a newfound sense of empowerment having a glimpse at the awesome otherworldly aspects of my Lord God....Also, I will continue to sing in hopes that somehow they are singing, worshipping and guiding me under the direction of God above...Praise God for His sweet Holy protection in garments of the most beautiful blue i have ever seen....

(for more info on the Summit go to TO BE A MOTHER)