Parenting with love, humor and the gospel.
"Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger."
Psalm 8:2
Jonathan Franzone 
As you all know, we are raising money so that we may adopt another baby. We are continuing our efforts with a raffle for this beautiful, homemade, Christmas themed quilt. To date, we have raised just under $4,000, which means we still need to raise around $19,000. We thank you all for your prayers and support as we pursue our God given passion for adoption. I hope that these fund raisers are a fun way for you to participate in our journey.
UPDATE: WINNER ANNOUNCED at the end of the post!
I am thankful for adoption, first and foremost, because it was really God’s idea. God first adopted us and showed us the blessing of adoption.
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
– John 1:12-13 (ESV)
We are only able to love because God first loved us. I am thankful that God showed me His mercy, opened my eyes, and saved me. I am thankful that “in love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.” (Ephesians 1:5)
Just over two years ago, Aubrey and I embarked upon a journey to adopt. In March of this year, our first adoption was finalized, and we have had the privilege of being Mommy and Daddy to a beautiful little girl from her birth. Now, we are beginning the process all over again. That’s right. We’re adopting another child.
I’ve received a number of responses when I tell people this. Some encouraging, some comical, but thankfully, none too rude. I would like to address the reasons why we are adopting again and the things that are NOT reasons why we are adopting again.
If you ever feel overwhelmed, burned out, or just generally ill-equipped to balance parenting and homeschooling and the rest of regular life stuff, then the Homeschool Teaching Summit is designed for you. It will refresh your excitement for the homeschool journey, equip you with practical teaching tools, and transform your vision for Christian education and …
The next round of adoption fundraising is here, and it is being run by our Sister-in-Love (sister in law to ordinary folks), India Gatewood. We will be raffling off the opportunity to WIN 1 MONTH WORTH OF FROZEN MEALS! No, these are not grocery store, frozen TV dinners with instant mashed potatoes and Salisbury steak …
It has been almost two years since Aubrey and I decided to pursue adoption. We have learned much during the process and it has taken quite a bit longer than we expected. Our adoption has been an “at risk” adoption. What that means is that there was difficulty in getting documentation from the birth father, …
My grandpa, Joseph Anthony Franzone, died on August 4, 2016. This is a video I made from pictures taken off of walls and out of photo albums in his house. I hope to make the photo scans available soon.
Direct Link to the Video (Right-click to Download)
What exactly is “sanctification”? This is the process whereby God works in our lives to change us and to transform us in many degrees so that we are like our elder brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. I know this on an intellectual level, but what does it mean in my life? I’ve known that this was a hard process, that sanctification can hurt. I also know that it is necessary. I thought I’d experienced the pain of this process. To be quite honest, I’d even glamorized this process somewhat, thinking that I was such a good Christian: “Look at me! I’m being sanctified… I’m suffering for Christ’s sake.” That was before this past week.
I wrote this little poem for our adoption profile book, but realized that I didn’t have it recorded anywhere else. I figure it would be nice to save it for posterity, and I hope that you may be encouraged by it. we are a happy, little family with room in our hearts to grow we …
We live in the Northpointe neighborhood in Pensacola, FL… the one that got hammered with a tornado Tuesday night (February 24, 2016). Aubrey and Ragan were away from home, babysitting for some friends while I held down the fort with my younger two children. We knew that a fairly large stormfront was coming through, but I had no idea that we would be in the center of it.