Love. Not DNA...

I got this incredibly cool, incredibly accurate, incredibly true t-shirt in the mail the other day from Laura's mom. It couldn't have come at a better time...

How stinking true is that shirt? Man - I know so many incredibly awesome dads who don't share a strand of DNA with their child but share more love than you can ever imagine. And I know some dads who share DNA... and that is it.

Want some proof of the truth of this shirt? Check 'em out...




Enough proof for ya?

DNA. It doesn't matter.

Laying Down Some Vocals

We recently hit a friend's studio to have Meron lay down some vocals to one of her favorite tracks...


She had a SERIOUS blast! Now I just have to find some time to do some editing...

Tune coming soon!

Puffs and a Pony Hawk

Rocking some freshly done hair-dos...


And THAT my friends... is a PONY HAWK.

It lasted all of one day - but it was cool while it was here!

God's Timing

Ever since Brighton went home to be with his heavenly father - we felt a massive shift in our lives. We really felt the truth in His Word and started trying to live our life a little more like this here:

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

I mean - it's in His word. James 1:27. Right there - in black and white.

So we started praying a LOT about what God wanted us to do. Like... why did He give us Brighton? What were we supposed to do with that? We were just still and listened for Him. It took a while.

Eventually we knew we wanted to make a more lasting impression. But man - satan was there at every turn. Those who know us well and were close to this story from the get go know all about it. Pain, suffering, greed, lies, lost friendships, deflated dreams, discouragement and satan, satan, satan...

But this blog post isn't about that or him. Nope, it's about this.

Today - on my way in the house after work I grabbed the mail and excitedly rushed in to the house to show Laura the envelope from the IRS. This was after I had called her this morning and asked her to call them today and pester them about our status. We ripped into the envelope and saw this:


We got it - the coveted 501(c)(3) approval letter. We've been waiting a while for this. And honestly - it doesn't mean a TON to our supporters who aren't giving based on what they get out of it - but for me - it was like final confirmation from God that the decisions we had made - terribly tough, hard, decisions that we cried and prayed over - that they were right. And it also drove home to me that His timing is always right...

We were back where we were supposed to be. An organization recognized by the federal government as a public charity trying to do good work in His name.


Even Meron was pumped and she didn't even know why! But that girl has been one of our biggest supporters and one of the biggest reasons we do what we do.

She can tell you all about babies in Africa who need to be fed, all about her brother Brighton who is hanging out with Jesus - AND she prays almost every night for "the babies in Africa without a family - that they will get a family."

So to all of our supporters, friends, families, mules and fellow fighters in this battle - THANKS FOR STANDING WITH US! We're super excited about what the future may bring for Brighton Their World and are humbled to have you guys walking with us!

Let's feed and cover babies and make a lot of noise...

He Loves Us!

That's Laura's dad right there... better known as "Poppaw" around these parts.

The girls don't get to see him nearly enough... but when they do - it's all smiles and hugs!

So thankful for the people in our lives pouring heaps and heaps of unconditional love out on our girls!

Can We Watch a Movie... Please?

Sure... no problem. it's the weekend. You can stay up a little later and watch a Disney flick...


15 minutes after it started... here we were.

Of course - not the case with this one - who refuses to even blink an eyelid if given the rare opportunity to watch some TV...


We called timeout and will resume it tomorrow... #SleepWins.

Day 4: Church In Africa

The night we arrived at Cannan's they had an ALL NIGHT worship session happening in their church... it was incredible. It was as if you could feel God RIGHT THERE BESIDE YA...

But the morning after our exciting (see also: stupid) new years eve celebration was Sunday and I can't think of anything else we needed more than some more church after almost being run down by some crazy motorcyclists about 8 hours earlier!


Heading out of breakfast I bumped into this guy - Pastor Isaac - the incredibly joyful guy running Canaan's. He gave me a quick rundown of the day (kid's church for 2 hours, then worship, then we introduce ourselves, then the message is delivered... church in Africa can be long!).

And that's when he said it:

"Will somebody on your team be delivering the message for us this morning?"

Panic. Fight or flight almost kicked in. I slowly caught my breath and explained to Pastor Isaac that this would certainly not be me but that I would check with our team to see if anybody was up to the challenge.

I walked away thinking "There is NO way anybody is going to want to do this..."

Heck - it is typically hard enough to get people to pray or share a testimony or just speak in front of a larger crowd (myself included). So in my head I had already prepared the speech to Pastor Isaac about why we wouldn't be doing this but that we were excited to hear him preach...

That's when I came across Stefan.


That's him right there - and he was the first person I asked about delivering the message. His response...

"Sure... I'll do it..."

What? Come again? Wow... Tymm - ye of little faith... one of the young dudes on the team just put me right back in my place! I was excited to tell Pastor Isaac we had us a preacher!

The next few hours were spent hanging with the kids at their church - we sang with them, danced with them, prayed with them. We listened to them recite scripture from memory and share testimonies. We shared a bit with them and I got a chance to say what I say to my own two girls every night:

"You guys are NOT forgotten. God knows all of your names - they are written in the palm of His hand..."

After a pretty amazing time of worship with the kids it was time to go to grown up church. I got called up and introduced myself and said a few words about why we were here - and then let each team member introduce themselves. After some more singing and praising it was time for me to introduce Stefan and let him bring the Word.

Wow... did he ever. I was so excited for him - I felt like a proud dad.

When church let out we spent about 30 minutes hugging every person who was there and then we headed back to our rooms to rest/change before lunch. The rest of the day was spent either hanging with the kids or trying to do some shopping (which was pretty tough on New years Day).

But truthfully - all of that pales in comparison to what today was really all about...

CHURCH IN AFRICA.