About Us

Not too much to say (at least not yet)... no long list of credentials... just a story that's worth sharing. I'm Adam Vaughan. My wife, Kelly, will also be sharing. We have 6 children. Our two sons, Lincoln and Tucker, have gone to be with the Lord. The remaining four with us are Emmiline, Eloise, Elliott and Charli. Charli is a triplet. Her brothers Lincoln and Tucker are identical twins. They're dancing with Jesus right now, and they're not sad about it at all!

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

sweet stripes

In the dark quiet I sit.  I type.  I wonder what is in store for my princess heart today.  How will I choose to be royal.  How will I choose to feast?  Will I choose the banquet table, or will I choose to look for scraps?

The God of abundance asks me to sing deep freedom songs over myself... over my family... over you.

The song of the sweet... offered in giant love but a new taste for some...
The unfamiliar can seem scary at first.   What do we do with the new with others watching?  It's a risk. 
The temptation is to just hold the gift.  Keeping it black and white.  Keeping it safe.
Often we choose to just play with the idea of heart change instead of consume them.

But... if we only trust the loving hand and take a lick...
Our eyes will be opened and our way of thinking will forever change.  
We'll start looking and asking for more.  We start protecting the sweet that satisfies.
Our passions change, and we long to consume in greater portions...
training our eyes to see hands that seek to rob our good born from stripes.
The lick draws out the warrior in us.


Taste changes everything.  It opens new worlds that weren't an option one lick before.  
And we learn to rest in the new taste, and it marks us... and we long to share... to offer back to the ONE that so generously gives.
He receives the sticky worship with embracing arms.
He is so good... He is more than plenty.
He always wildly satisfies... ALWAYS!

Seeing...
tasting...
enjoying...
experiencing...
sharing...
offering back our all...

WORTH THE RISK!

One lick... that's all it takes.













Sunday, January 29, 2012

clothed

I am a princess always on the hunt...
I am in search of His presence... always looking for gold.
Knowing His bigness is always right where I need it...
right by my side
His glory warms and adds color to my cold dark, and I long to be cloaked in His garments.

I seek His covering on all fours...
I grip tightly and claim the garment as my own like a wild animal.

Yes... I am quite wild... but I do remember I am a princess... and the thought that I need to beg or fight for righteousness is laughable...
A change of status has occurred... my account has been maxed out and overflows.

I do have amnesia days... 
It can be easy to forget truth while fully alive in the flesh.

In the midst of sin and struggle I must not forget...
I cannot clothe myself.  I must rest in the Big love that clothes the small...
Trapped in a " I do it my way" body... my heart has to learn surrender to the arms that so lovingly dress.

My heart completely gripped by the cost of the imputed...
The beauty of The One that sheds their rights so that the naked could be clothed with the garment of love.
Ahhh... I love being draped in the presence of the BIG...

Drowning in a giant cloak that swallows the princess whole...

Resting in the embrace of The Giver that delights in the covering and the covered one.

feast

Feasting is something the Vaughans excel at.  We are just peeps that know how to eat.  We love food, and we love superhuman quantities.  I can't explain it... we just have over-sized appetites.  We hunger, and we love being filled.

There's A LOT of junk in our world.  It's garbage covered in frosting.  It attracts and many buy into its deception of filling voids.  Empty is how it leaves us.
 
Seeing God's kindness through the lens of food allergies today.  It's a call for family to read every label and protect...  a call to be aware out of sheer necessity... a call out of the norm and into the accountable.
It can be hard at times for this momma's heart to have smalls that can't partake in the norm.  Yes, they are special... and being special in this culture often means "left out."  I hate picturing them being with the masses... not being able to "enjoy" watching and wondering what it must be like.  

And... I remember the invitation to feast on Living Bread... choosing food-alive and health-protection over "popular" consumption... it divides... it feels costly.  

Even in the hard and through the tears I am thankful for protection and growing wisdom.  We are to be a people "set apart."  In the world and not of it.

Celebrating grateful smalls that take delight and see value in the whole... no frosting... just bars that fill and bring delight with the taste.
The invitation to feast is everywhere, but what we choose to feast on either gives life or over time... destroys.

Being a momma is a great privilege... it comes with great responsibility.  I am in charge of not only teaching them to nourish their physical man but more importantly their spiritual man.

Will they choose the whole or the world's fragments?

I am accountable to put healthy tools in the hands of the small.
I love watching the young royals feast.  Their eyes come awake.
Their appetites increase... until they can wait no longer.
They taste and see that it is indeed good.
Most of my life I have feasted at the world's table.  I am seeking detox from all the lies I have consumed.  Toxic foods cause cancers of the body and soul.

We must have trained minds that brush out what so easily builds up...  protecting the pure white so decay doesn't rot and dig holes deep.
We are seeking many forms of healing... some for us... some for the body.   The heart of The Father is being revealed to us like never before.  

His loving rays fill and invite us to leave the world's offerings and feast at His table... to dine by the light of His truth while being filled by the love in His eyes.
The invitation is daily, and it's for you and for me.  He fills in ways that satisfy yet entices.  He emptys the old and fills anew.  

Will we feast with the King?






Saturday, January 28, 2012

buried...

Yesterday was a wonderful heart day for Pastor and me.  We enjoyed the rare gift of unhurried to celebrate what God is up to.

Later in the day the smalls struggled with emotions and fatigue.  Debris is known to fly during these times. Yesterday was no exception, but I was not prepared for what would surface and how it would affect my heart.

This little guy has fallen in love with this little girl...
In this moment he is filled with delight... he is holding her... his strength helping to steady.  Prince Elliott is much like his father in this way.  He brings steady the wild.  

We have seen his affection grow.  It's as if he has finally given himself permission to risk and love that which was almost lost.

We must not forgot to watch our smalls... not just with our physical eyes but our heart eyes as well.

The small are prone to wear remnants of the mess.  They cannot always verbalize their need for cleansing truths.
Pastor and I see his falling in love, and we are fall too.

What I have never heard from the prince is that he still struggles with fear in regards to her.

He has proclaimed healing over Princess Charli through The Great Physician's hand...
he declared, and we agreed... she has been healed... the fruit is everywhere...  but his is still a brother-afraid.

Last night... as Charli was overly tired and WAY past her prime, we were trying to get her to finish her dinner... mouth-full and very angry she was screaming her protests... Bud's response took my very breath away...

"she's gonna die... she's gonna die."  It hit me hard... it hit me deep... like a sucker punch that makes me deal with my insides. 

He has NEVER said words like these before.  I believe it surfaced from the depths.  He spoke what we have all feared before.

It was an opportunity for us to teach, mend, speak truth, and see the lie.  The lie that steals and breaks a tender heart.

This wild monkey-panda is very much alive...
The lies must be buried with her past.

Not forgotten... just not alive anymore.

We must be faithful to declare with opened arms the truth in her story...
and in the BIG story she calls forth in us.

It is worthy of much praise.

For... in the declaration of the late dark of last night... we spoke truth...  we spoke honor and beauty over the early seed.  The seed that ripped my soil to bring life.

Charli... a princess who from our view almost wasn't... what would HOPE have looked like then?   Today I'd rather not entertain such despair... instead I choose DECLARATION!
Charli is a beautiful GIFT of color in our lives... always wildly coloring outside our lines.

Thankfully, pink has always been one of my favorite colors.  With her growing grin she reminds...

with burials comes declaration... we have much to declare... we all do.

still healing...





Friday, January 27, 2012

New Things

GP here for a change.  Large shoes to fill as I occasionally step in.

Wow... so many new things.  Different things.


This is my mailbox at the Vineyard.
My new role.  Never would have guessed this is where I'd be or what I'd be doing this time last year... many new things.  Have been really blessed as I pastor this week.  I've stumbled and fumbled, but I've loved getting to do it... very exciting to get the opportunity to be a part of many encounters that feel sacred.

Exposed to many new things lately... many new flavors.  Some of them a little strange...

Not only have I tasted this new geographic favorite (by some)... I've tasted much more of the goodness of God.  I've seen Him do things I've never witnessed.  Prepare yourself... in the last week I watched Him literally heal many significant health issues (people walked who hadn't walked in years, joints in knees of many people... even people I know closely and people with back issues were healed, people with impaired vision had their sight restored!).  That's just a few.  Talk about being exposed to new things.  Cessationalists, you're a part of the Family, but I've got a few people you should talk to.

Our staff is working together as a team to process what it means to live and function as sons and daughters of the King.  Trying to fully grasp all that this entails.

Sometimes I'm more fully aware of the rights of my sonship.  Sometimes I actually function out of those freedoms.

However...

more often than not I'm treating my royalty as if it's just meaningless words I read about in an old book.  It's as if the fact that I'm royalty... a son of the one true King... well, it's as if when I think back to when I was resting in my sonship... it's like I was just playing a character.  Feels like it was not reality.  The demands of today are feel like reality.  The pressure is on.  It's all up to me.  Lies.  Unfortunately I often function out of these lies.

I'm not the only one learning new things.  Seems my family is watching very closely.  We're learning from what we see.  We're imitating.
Walked around the corner the other day and found this.  Panda had found these gloves and put them on.
The Lord laid it on Kelly's heart and confirmed it by laying it on my heart... this is a season for so much learning.  We must be attentive.  We must watch, listen... look for... expect!

Still doing life... still enjoying things that I've enjoyed for quite awhile...

Although I'm enjoying these things, I'm not trying to find "life" from them.  Seeking more of Him.  Experiencing more of Him.  Makes me even hungrier for more of Him.  A strange cycle.

Speaking of new things... different things... well, I saw this poster when I was at the doctor's office with Bud.  Immediately, it made me think of the triplets.  Try to guess which one of the cats made me think of Charli.

Our little Charli (the cat on the far left), well, she is changing rapidly.  Not only is she making significant progress developmentally... even better news, her heart just seems to be softening.  Joy is so much more present in her life.  Affection seems to come more easily.  There's not a stingy spirit with her affections either... she's quite generous with her love.  New things... changes.  Her giggles come with far less effort from a tickling, belly-eating Pop.  So grateful for that.

New things... have been really good things.

Very curious about what other new things are waiting around the corner...

Thursday, January 26, 2012

students

even in foreign cities learning is everywhere...
the call on our lives to study... to be students... to be...
learning ones... does not change according to location.   If you are alive... you learn...

whether by accident or by intention our minds are always being fed, and we often reproduce what we see...
Kingdom learning is tricky for me... I am finding there are too few formulas... waiting on God often frustrates the plans of men... especially as we try so hard to learn...
Most often... learning catches us by surprise...

like a "happy accident."

It's important for me to be a student of remembering while learning the new.  I must remember that He is at work in my story... and He is teaching me one clumsy stroke at a time.
I must make a choice to value my scribbles as He does... I must look at it from a higher view...
working with my ALL delights the Teacher.
As my heart pours out the created speaks of the Creator... who He is in me.

Sojourning in a world that wants to rename me... label me with what it thinks I should be called...
in the midst of temptation... I am asked to put into practice what He has deposited in me... I must always ask myself... "what is my name?"
I am asked to circle and claim that which He calls me with affection...
When we learn our names of love, we can better speak out the names of others He has created...
ohhhh... the value of learning... especially our names... so amazing to ponder... this is one of the students first life's lessons... hearing, recognizing, responding, writing and embracing our very names.

I must learn so I can be changed... in the changing I teach... in the teaching they have a choice...

Will they choose joy in the learning or hard hearts?

At times, like me, they choose both...

Today I live in a land with hungry learners... 

joy abounds in the "get to's" of teaching...
and it's also abundant in the costly choice of learning.