Beijing Olympics 2008

Interesting video segment as China is challenged with modernization and preserving their history.

Children's Hopechest and World Orphans

Two organizations making a difference for orphans. On Wednesday Matthew Monberg and George Steiner sat down with Tim Wall and me. Children's Hopechest is doing a tremendous work in Russia and Swaziland and also adding more projects in more countries. Check them out at www.hopechest.org

Paul Myhill also shared over the phone the broadening vision at World Orphans as they develop programs beyond buildings - www.worldorphans.org Their website is to be updated soon.

Heidi's Christmas letter

Hello from the Gullions!

Another year has come and gone. This year has been a blur, partly due to the speed, the rest due to my lack of memory.

Anyway, we hope you all are well. Although we had some sickness this year, we had a year with no surgeries, yeah! The kids are busy and growing. Anna Brooke will be 7 January 1^st. She is enjoying 1^st grade at Faith Christian School. She is playing the violin and just had her first concert. Anna Brooke is a bright student. She is also a perfectionist and doesn’t like bringing home anything less than 100s! Anna Brooke has continued her fundraising for the Smile Train. Seven children have new smiles thanks to her work.

Sarah Hope just turned 4 ½ . She finally reached 32 lbs. this year. This was quite the achievement! Sarah Hope has been working on the ABEKA 4K program at home. She is starting to blend sounds and spell simple words. I believe she will be reading soon. Sarah Hope and Jonathan have enjoyed music class this year. She is also continuing in speech. She works hard and is making strides in this area. Sarah hope continues to be our sweet, lively and loud girl. She has a tender heart toward God and is starting to ask questions about salvation. Please keep her in your prayers.

Jonathan will be 2 ½ at the end of the month. I can’t believe our baby boy is so big! He celebrated turning 2 with a John Deere party. He loves tractors! He also loves trains and is already talking about having a Thomas cake the next time. What can I say about Jonathan? I guess he’s just a sweet boy that loves life, balls, trains, tractors, his sisters, our dog Sydney and of course he still loves his Great Uncle Glenn. We are so blessed by our children.

Some highlights of our year were Dwain’s trip to China in February, a week at the beach with some close friends and two weeks at Camp Nathanael in Kentucky. The Kentucky trip also included a weekend at “the Blue House” near Stanford to visit some special friends and a very loved cowboy named Tex. Once again we were the missionary speakers at camp. This year we were there during Sr. High week. Dwain was also a team leader. With much work and determination his team, the yellow jackets won. We LOVE Camp Nathanael and it’s family. They have a wonderful ministry in the mountains of Kentucky.

We also spent 5 weeks in China this past spring. I think the best word to sum up that trip is memorable. We visited both of our girl’s home towns and orphanages. We were able to see many precious people from their past. We also gained a lot of new information for Sarah Hope. We visited some very precious orphans. Although we weren’t able to visit all the orphanage projects we planned and we encountered a lot of sickness, we had a question answered for us. We won’t be moving to China in the near future. We will continue to do all we can for the fatherless in China and around the world.

Dwain continues to be an advocate and voice for the fatherless. He is very involved with The ABBA Fund. They provide interest free loans to Christian couples adopting. He is also involved with several other orphan care ministries including the Family Heritage Foundation, Living Hope International (China orphan care) and the Global Orphan Care Foundation. As for me, well, I am Mama to three precious children and very blessed to be a wife to Dwain. Our life is so busy, but so blessed. As Dwain and I often discuss, life is so short, but eternity is forever. Are we doing what really counts for eternity? During this busy time, take time to think about it. Whom will you spend your eternity with? Are you making your time count for eternity? God doesn’t ask much of us…just to accept His free gift of salvation and then to be willing to be used.

We hope you have a blessed holiday season. We love you and miss you all.

Come see us! We recently had a guest quarters made in the old Bennett Feed Mill. It’s cozy and has a cabin feel to it. You’re all welcome anytime.

Love to All!

Dwain, Heidi, Anna Brooke, Sarah Hope, and Jonathan Gullion