Year End Review - A Layton Photo Journey

Since this year has had major happenings, and changes I thought it would be good to review all the blessings...


January 1- Kitumani Children's Home opened it's doors.  We were ready to take the first boy under two!! Our homestudy was done, just waiting for US approval.  Here are some pics from the last year.

February brought a visit from our niece, more fingerprints for the adoption, and waiting.

March no real events, just tea parties and lots of playing, and waiting and praying for who God would bring to our family.

April always includes egg dying and the Celebration of Christ's Resurection.

May brought a answer to our prayers! Mark Joseph Layton was born, and named our son!

June began with a lot of excitement, a ton of adoption paperwork, lots of birthdays, and a great family vacation!

July, our adoption paperwork was coming to a close.  Trying to figure out all the steps to finalize Mark's adoption, and travel dates for Phil to go. And of course our yearly church "Family Camp" camping trip (the highlight of the kids summer, although Adam kept asking when we were going home.)

August was the month that seemed like a year.  Phil's tickets bought and ready to leave on the 27th.  But in God's perfect plan three days before Phil was to leave, our sweet boy was taken from this world.

August 29, Phil arrived in Congo

August 30, Phil buries our son

September 9, Phil is scheduled to return to the US.  Three days before he is to leave God gives us another son.

September 10 Phil is HOME!

September 12 we begin the whole adoption process AGAIN!

September 26 we take a emergency trip to San Francisco to get my passport renewed...fast!  I spent most of the day in lines, the rest of the family got the see the sights.  Adam's favorite... what he called "The Golden GREAT Bridge".

October, we are ready for Africa leaving October 2.

October 4, I get to see Matteus for the first time!

October 5 final adoption judgment

October 7, I leave Congo to return to the US, Phil leaves Lubumbashi to go to Kinshasa.

Praise God for the Greene's!!

He is ours!!

October 26, he is HOME!!!

In the two short months that Matteus has been here God has melted and melded our hearts together as a family, and has amazingly grafted him quickly into our home.

Here are a few favorite pics from the last two months...

First taste of ice cream!

The Compassion for Congo Team

And our favorite picture of the whole year... 

The Layton Kids Get Funky

Here are the little Laytons in their Christmas outfits getting their groove on, just for fun, wishing you a Merry Christmas.

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/J4tSGqdXr0KrmvXrYfsh

Wednesday with Didier

Yesterday we were blessed to spend the afternoon with Didier. Here are the brothers, 2 shorter Layton brothers in matching shirts, and 2 taller brothers holding them in matching shirts.

He also gave our kids a drumming lesson. In Congo they can make an instrument out of anything, and they do in their church services.

Jaime's parents came into town today and my parents arrive tomorrow, and so this Sunday Matteus' grandparents will get to meet Papa Didier. He will be at Grace Bible Church Fair Oaks where he is preaching one last time before flying back to his family Monday in Congo where he will be home for Christmas.

Link to Radio Interview and Compassion for Congo site

The audio of last night's interview is posted below. Phil comes on at about the 16:40 mark.

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sermonID=127111047520

It was a brief interview but we pray the Lord may use it to move some listeners to become parents for this precious ministry and/or to help Didier and his children's home in some way. For any of you who have not yet checked out the website for Compassion for Congo (Didier's ministry, the site includes options for support and some pics and history), the link is below:

http://www.compassionforcongo.org/

Pray for Me as I Will Be on Live Radio Tuesday Night to Talk About Our Adoption

Tuesday night I (Phil) will be interviewed live on AM 710 (Sacramento KFIA) at 6:15 p.m. for a few minutes to talk about:
- our adoption and how God moved in our hearts to adopt
- encouraging listeners to learn more about adoption spiritually, and for some, to encourage them to consider adopting, and recommended resources
- how having a multi-ethnic family relates to the gospel
- more about the Compassion for Congo ministry and how listeners can help if they desire

Not Bad for a 1-year-old in first 5 weeks of a new language

A lot of you have asked how Matteus is doing and is he learning English. At first, we tried to communicate in the limited Swahili we'd learned from Didier to make the transition easier for him, but some of the early English phrases he learned and used in proper context (that I started teaching him in Congo) were "up, please" and "more, please", "OK", "cutie pie" and "I love you."

Here is some of the vocab he picked up pretty quick in the first couple weeks:

- "Tooth Brush"

- "Moto Train"
- "Moto Truck"
- "Mama moto-car" (this is #1 on the list as far as usage)

- "Cracker"

- "Milk"

- "Book"

- "Cat"
- "Dog"
- "Food"
- "Thank you"
- "Church"
- "Owie" (as he shows us where to kiss to make it feel better)

How is it going lately? Maybe the best way to answer is by sharing some things he's said in the last couple days:

- "Momma, I need my shoes"

- "I'm gonna get you" (his favorite game of tag/tickle and first long phrase)

- "Try and get me" (when it's your turn, pronounced "trawn-gimme")

- "Momma, Watch" (which is repeated many times)

- "Look" (which is also repeated many times)

- "Christ-a-mas Lights"

- "Christ-a-mas Tree"

He can mimick the ring tone on my cell phone and will come to me mimicking it to let me know that my phone rang. There are so many words he understands, it's really amazing how quickly he is learning. You'll have to forgive us if we can't help posting video footage of our 1-year-old cutie pie   

Matteus counts to ten

Now I know my ABCs

Layton brother duet "Jesus Loves Me"



I think the shorter Layton got distracted by a moto-car :)

Didier's Message to our Church Last Sunday

Pastor Didier was at our church Sunday, preaching in the morning and sharing his testimony in the evening, and it was a great blessing and great challenge to us as families and as disciples of Jesus in our use of food and time (he uses the word "Christian" for professing Christian, which He distinguishes from "disciple," a true follower and learner of Jesus). You can also hear him sing towards the beginning of the message and the end, and his testimony from Sunday night will be posted soon.

www.sermonaudio.com/gcbc

The Loucks and Wilmarths were there 2nd service, so I counted at our church service 6 Congolese (Didier, Matteus, Brandon and Kara Wilmarth, Jamie and Jordan Loucks) and 6 other Americans that have been to Congo (Jaime and I, Gabe and Josie Wilmarth, Stuart Loucks, and Ray Hill). There were other adoptive families there that day, and many who God has adopted into His family by grace through faith in Jesus, God's multi-ethnic family that is sometimes previewed and pictured on earth in the human family and church family. Alleluia.

Glory to God For Our Adoption Journey - Pics and Audio of Presentation

How do you try and pull together Layton history in Congo beginning over 110 years ago and condense all that God has done in the lastest Layton family in our adoption journey since 2010? I did my best for a special presentation at our church a couple days ago, where I shared a testimonial of our God who is able to work together good from grief, from California to Congo, and how God has been glorified in doing far beyond what we could ask or think. Didier was over at our house for lunch and as I showed him this presentation on our laptop and as he saw Matteus again joyfully interacting with his new family, Didier was visibly moved and said more than once that seeing this is what gives him greatest joy in ministry and motivates him to want to do all he can to allow this to happen in the lives of as many as he can.

Here is the audio and some of the slides/pics in PDF:
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sermonID=1121111925592

http://www.goldcountrybaptist.org/site/outlines.asp?sec_id=1477&secure=&dlyear=0&dlcat=0

To God be the glory.

Next 2 Weekends and Didier Speaking at GCBC

Some of the readers of this blog (some of whom are in different churches) have asked to be kept in the loop on when I will be sharing more about my Congo trip with more pictures and videos, and I plan to do that this Sunday night at 6:00 p.m. at Gold Country Baptist Church  (www.goldcountrybaptist.org ) with some Scriptural reflections also on the spiritual adoption journey God undertook for all his children and other things He has taught me through this time.
Also next Sunday, November 27, 2011, Didier will be preaching at the same church in the morning services 8:15 and 11:00 a.m. and sharing in the evening service at 6:00 p.m. as well. 3800 North Shingle Road, Shingle Springs, CA.

Visitors are welcome.

A Get-Together before the New Jerusalem

On the last day before the Wilmarths and I were to leave Congo in September, Kara was singing to her friends in the back of Didier's car. Didier explained she was using the tune of a song from church but she was singing words he had never heard before, but he thinks she made up. The words were (in her language) something like "Some of us are going, some are staying here, but one day we'll all be together in the New Jerusalem." Not bad for a 2-year old!

Kara had seen her friends Jordan and Jaime leave the orphanage the last time a white person was there, and she knew she and her twin brother Brandon were about to do the same while others would remain at the orphanage, including the little guy Matteus who was also there as she sang (pictured in the middle of Kara and Brandon below).

Last weekend saw Kara's sweet song realized (or previewed) in ways beyond what she may have realized at the time she sang it in the presence of her parents, Didier, myself, and Matteus. On Saturday all those same people were reunited, not in New Jerusalem, but in the new home of the Loucks, with her Congo friends Jordan and Jaime and the little guy Matteus above, and new siblings. There were a bunch of adults there but here's just the kids (Laytons, Loucks, Wilmarths - Matteus on far left)

Once again, my twin brother Didier is wearing the same shirt as me (I didn't even know he had the same shirt till I showed up wearing it that night!) In case you can't tell who's who because of the same shirt, Didier is on the left.


I mentioned the song Kara sang that last day in Congo in one of my Sunday morning messages and played the clip of it on a Sunday evening after I had returned in September. After that message a sweet lady in our church wrote me a note: "When you told the story of the 2-year-old girl at the orphanage realizing that some of them would go and some would stay, I remembered this song from former years ;)

Then she enclosed a copy from an old hymnal of this gospel song "In The New Jerusalem" written exactly 100 years ago by C. B Widmeyer:

When the toils of life are over, And we lay our armor down,

And we bid farewell to earth with all its cares,
We shall meet and greet our loved ones, And our Christ we then shall crown,
In the new Jerusalem.

Refrain: There'll be singing, there'll be shouting When the saints come marching home,
In Jerusalem, in Jerusalem,
Waving palms with loud hosannas As the King shall take His throne,
In the new Jerusalem.

Though the way is sometimes lonely, He will hold me with His hand,
Through the testings and the trials I must go.
But I'll trust and gladly follow, For sometime I'll understand,
In the new Jerusalem (Refrain)

When the last goodbye is spoken And the tear stains wiped away,
And our eyes shall catch a glimpse of glory fair,
Then with bounding hearts we'll meet Him Who hath washed our sins away,
In the new Jerusalem (Refrain)

When we join the ransomed army In the summer land above,

And the face of our dear Savior we behold,
We will sing and shout forever, And we'll grow in perfect love,
In the new Jerusalem (Refrain)



If you're an adopted child of God, you have a much greater and more glorious gathering to look forward to in the New Jerusalem with God's multi-ethnic family (Revelation 21-22). But I was thankful for a small-scale picture or preview God gave us this past Saturday with human families of Chinese, Belgian, African, and European-American elements that God has woven together. Alleluia.

From left to right: Wilmarths, Jim Hagen, Didier, Laytons, Paul Anthes, Bob Wheatley holding Jamie Louck, then rest of Loucks family, including Grandpa Loucks. Jim, Paul, and Bob are the Compassion for Congo ministry team that has helped make all this possible