The Nicholas Tribe

On Adoption and Changed Plans

Posted on September 23, 2019 by Jason Nicholas

We welcomed our sweet Gracie girl into our family today. Gracie Mae Nicholas, we love you and are so thrilled God entrusted your life to us! What an honor.

MY plan, MY big picture was always to have a son and a daughter in that order(which I have)I honestly never wanted 3 kids. I was happy with my nice little family that I had dreamed of all wrapped up in a nice bow. I always felt like if I had 3 I would have to have four because odd numbers bug me. And there was no way 4 was on my radar. We went about life, loving these two kids God had given us all the while tossing around the idea of fostering. I was kind of ok with only talking about it at first and relieved when another fostering class was full or it didn’t work with our schedule. See my husband has to always gently nudge me out of comfort. Comfort is for me what it is for us all, a safe, secure place. I liked how my comfy family looked and operated. Fostering meant too many unknowns and a possible roller coaster of emotions and heartbreak. And who wants to sign up for that?

Once we moved to VA we met several people who had been fostering and felt it was time to put action steps to our words. And so we began the process(a little hesitant on my part, because, well, my comfort and all.)

In May 2018, a sweet little girl showed up on our door and we haven’t been the same since. We have had a great fostering experience with a few bumps along the way but nothing major like some foster parents experience. So fostering was step 1. Step 2. They approached us about adopting. Of course our immediate answer was yes and then I continue to think of all the ways this will change OUR plans. I calculate how old Jason and I will be when she graduates high school(we are no spring chickens here), I calculate how old her grandparents will be, I think of how old I will be when she starts Kindergarten, I think of going to playgrounds and petting zoos again because we haven’t done that in 10+ years. I over think about it all. Obviously!

But then I also thought, in 4 years our daughter Jada will graduate high school, go to college and we will then be “Empty Nesters??” Umm what?

What would we do with ourselves? I honestly can’t imagine how different our lives would look and honestly, I feel a little too young to have that title! Ha! But adopting a baby means starting the WHOLE process of raising another child again. I wasn’t sure we were up for that either? I wanted to be, prayed I could be, but I knew it would be a process of dying to my selfish self. With almost seeing the finish line of getting Jonah and Jada through school, here we stand with with a huge life changing decision.

When I look at Gracie and see how God has woven her into our story and how he has a plan so big for her that I can’t begin to see, all the thoughts of how this affects me/us, they all seem to melt away. He is sovereign and knows exactly what He’s doing and He’s writing her a beautiful story. Our answer was always yes but yes, doesn’t mean there’s not a struggle in the process. We are choosing to surrender (our word for the year, isn’t God funny) a life that we had all planned out to say Yes God, wreck all our plans in the best way because you know what we need even if we don’t.

Gracie Mae has filled our home with a joy we didn’t even know we needed and that is Gods exceedingly abundantly more than we could have asked. She makes us play again and sees everything as new and exciting and wonderful! I can’t wait to watch her grow!

So I guess the point of my forever long story is to say raise your hands in joyful surrender, even after you have gone through every possible scenario, rhyme or reason, surrender to Him. Just do it! He formed you, loves you, fights for you and wants the best for you even if that may look different than what you think. Be open to him and the life he has planned JUST for you! There’s no way you’ll regret it!

Brandi Nicholas

No Pain… No Gain

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Jason Nicholas

There’s a phrase that you have probably heard, seen on a gym wall or maybe even on a shirt.. NO PAIN, NO GAIN. I’m not sure about you but when I hear that slogan I picture this massive, ripped guy at the gym tossing the biggest weights around in straight beast mode just yelling because he is so pumped up (Insert loud grunts)

We have just wrapped up the series, Love Like You’ve Never Been Hurt. This series has been so helpful in many different areas such as forgiveness, learning how to deal with difficult relationships and even working through our issues or hurts we may have towards God. A few weeks ago we learned that God doesn’t waste our pain. When I first heard that phrase my first thought was “who wants pain?”. I mean for real, no one is saying ” man I sure could use some more pain in my life. But the more I thought about it the more I realized that it’s in my pain whereI have learned the most. I bet if you thought about it, you’d probably say the same thing. The situations or life circumstances that have been the most painful are the times I now can look back on and see where I have gained the most. It’s in those times where I see my faith grow because I’m digging into the Bible more, spending more time in prayer and worship and I’m putting all my focus on Him.

In Romans 8:18 (NLV) it says “ I am sure that our suffering now cannot be compared to the shining-greatness that He is going to give us.” Remember, God doesn’t waste our pain. If you feel that you are in a painful season, know that you are growing. Know you’re faith is being strengthened, know that joy comes in the morning and that He will see you through. A “Shining-greatness” is in your future. Just like the shirt says.. No pain, No gain.

Duct Tape Faith

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Jason Nicholas

In 1942 the US military needed a way to keep moisture out of ammunition casings and hired Johnson & Johnson Co. to solve this problem. Know what they invented? Duct Tape. Soldiers soon realized it could be used to fix guns, vehicles and even airplanes! Today duct tape is a house hold product that is used to fix everything. Have you ever considered our faith is a lot like Duct Tape? Its an all purpose product used to hold us together, patch things that are broken and seal out harmful elements.

In Genesis 6:14 God told Noah to build a boat and put 2 of every animal on it and they hadn’t even seen it rain! I bet Noah would have liked some Duct Tape for that project. We all have had situations in life that we feel like have no hope, situations where we need some sticky faith to hold ourselves together.

There is 3 things that faith and duct tape have in common.

#1 Its all Purpose.- Life can seem hopeless and like its all falling apart. Faith is what keeps us connected to God and Duct tape holds everything together.

#2 It’s not always pretty- Faith is not something we see. It’s choosing to believe no matter what it looks like around us. When you tape something up it’s not going to look like its brand new but it will be fixed up, it will hold together.

#3 It gets the job done- People will fail you, but God never does. We have to trust what the bible says about our situations no matter what we think is going to happen. Duct tape holds things together that we think are falling apart.

We need sticky faith. Faith in God will hold our lives together. When situations look hopeless, wrap it in duct tape like faith knowing God will keep it all together.

Almost Time!

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Jason Nicholas

In one week we officially begin at Elevation Church!! We are so excited that its finally here! This past weekend we were able to go as a family and the kids loved it! There were over 18,000 at all the campuses for the weekend experience. Yes, you read that right!!! I am still blown away that God would allow us to have a part in something like Elevation. Thank you to everyone that has been willing to be in this with us. We couldn’t be here without your prayer and support!

We had to wait in line just to get in!!

Love, Lead and Play

Posted on June 14, 2014 by Jason Nicholas

Being a Dad is hard. You have to learn when to discipline, when to encourage, when to love, when to play, when not to embarrass, when to embarrass and do all of those at the exact same time in different ways, in different places for your different children! As Father’s we are helping shape our children (either good or bad) whether we realize it or not. Much responsibility is placed on the Dads in our culture and rightly so. When people excel they thank their Dad. When things go wrong they blame their dad (Same can go for Mom’s too but since its Father’s day you get a break).

These statistics show just how important Fathers are in our society. (Now I understand that there are single moms that have no choice because of a father leaving and are doing an amazing job raising children without a dad!!)

78% of the nation’s jail and prison inmates grew up in a fatherless household.
80% of young gang members are out of fatherless homes.
64% of girls are more likely to have premarital sex when there is no father figure.
63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes.
80% of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes.
85% of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes.

That is sad….

Now there are always exceptions to those stats of people who got out of theses situations or decided they wouldn’t allow family to dictate their future but for the majority having a Dad matters. I’m not talking about a Dad that was man enough to help create you, I’m talking about a Dad that is man enough to be a Father and that is there for you.

If you’re a Father, or if you ever want to be a father, take responsibility now. Learn to communicate with your children and wife and learn to say I’m sorry. Being a Dad and a Man are 2 different things. Your children (and even wife) need to hear you say you’re sorry for things. Asking my children for forgiveness for blowing up or for saying something hurtful is very humbling. It also shows them I care for them, love them and I’m leading the way in being willing to apologize.

I have 2 children. Jonah is 12 and Jada is 9 and they are so different. I can see my strengths and my weaknesses in them. Everything I do or say can influence them now and for the future. Whether we like it or not, we as parents, are raising mini me’s everyday!!

What to do now….

Love, Love and Love some more. Men, the way you love and treat your wife will be an example to your son. He is learning how to treat a woman from you. Your daughters will look for a husband that loves and cares for her as we do. It’s ok to have feelings and to show them to our kids.

Lead strong. It’s not too late to start no matter what age your kids are. Lead them to Jesus, lead them to church, lead them with everything you are and even with the things you are not.

Play, wrestle, do nails, Xbox, dolls, sports and everything else your kids like to do; let them win some too. Sometimes Dad’s are tired and we just don’t want too, but for me those are the times where I end up having the most fun.

Just be encouraged on this Father’s Day to be the man, the father and the dad that God created you to be.

Go Dad Go,

If you need any kind of photos you need to get Spanglish Studios!! Follow the link to the website!

Photo by Spanglish Studios

Concrete Jungle,Bird Funerals and You

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Jason Nicholas

Our church parking lot which is also our “yard” has turned out to be the local hang out of 2 -25 kids at any given time. At any moment there could be a Basketball game, Lacrosse, soccer, water gun fights, Nerf wars, hide and seek, tag or all of them going on at the same time. You can image 20 or so kids with bikes at one time……its cray cray.

As a follower of Christ we talk about living out the Gospel and walking out our faith and a lot of time if were honest, it really is talk. I think these kids have really helped my family and I walk it out and live it even more. It took some time to build relationships with them and we really started to see them grow when they would invite other neighbor kids to come and play. I think we doubled in numbers every couple of days. Now there’s a knock on the door almost everyday from someone , kids are waiting for our car to pull up so Jonah and Jada can come play. In our house we will have boys playing Xbox or girls doing nails and makeup. We have even had a funeral for a bird that was taken out by one of the kids.

If there’s one thing I can see in all of them it’s that these kids crave attention and love. In some little way I really believe my family has loved them. They come to our house to have me fix their bikes or to help work out fights. Little kids yell across the street asking If I can come to their house and play! I’ve seen my son and daughter be an amazing example to these kids and they don’t even realize the growth and training they have gotten from it. This is in no way a pat my family on the back because were awesome post. There are times where I wish I was there Dad so I could whip them (don’t freak out and yes I spank my kids). There are times where I have to go talk to parents. There are times where I don’t want to play or I don’t want them in my house but I have to remember it’s not about me. These kids love being around our family. I am bias but I think my family is special, they love the people who some would call un loveable. Brandi and I have tried to be and example of what a Mom and Dad should be to their kids and how a family unit actually looks like. It’s not easy and it takes time but we are doing our best to love them.

So what is this all about anyway?

Is your house the one the kids run to or run away from? Are you the person that complains about what they have done or are you giving out the full size candy bars on Halloween?

Here’s a quote from Maya Angelou that can summarize it all up.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

People want to feel loved, especially kids.

Bottom line….

If you can impact your Neighborhood, You can Impact Nations.

Jada

Bird Funeral

Emotion

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Jason Nicholas

Music evokes emotion.

Could be good, could be bad. It can bring up memories of all sorts of things. Maybe its an old song that reminds you of your glory days, maybe its a song that reminds you of a girl or guy, heartache, love or a God moment. I dont know about you but I love music.

My wife and I had the chance to go see Mumford & Sons (one of my favorites) in concert at the Iconic forest Hills Stadium in Queens. Dang….First there was 17,500 people and It was way over packed. Yea I saw drunk people and there were plenty of weed smokers but I also saw people worshiping. I know what your probably thinking and no they werent worshiping the devil. They were letting go and singing at the top of their lungs. They were jumping with their hands raised just all out letting go! It doesn’t matter if its Mumford or a guy on a home made drum set on the street, music evokes emotion.

Something to realize—-

Worship leaders you have the chance to set the atmosphere for an entire service. How you’ve prayed, practiced, prepared and planned will show up on Sunday. You have a short time slot in someones life each week and we as worshipers should make the best of it and never take it lightly.

What would you do differently if you knew that all you had was one chance to impact someones life on a Sunday Service? What would you add, what would you not do?

Willing to change

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Jason Nicholas

Are you ok doing things differently than you thought?

Can you minister to people that aren’t like you?

Can you preach a message or sing a song thats not in your normal genre?

Are you willing to change?

Ive had to try things new. Ive had to sing songs I never thought I would. Im doing ministry like I didn’t expect.

I like it.

Im growing.

Im learning.

Is it easy? Nope,

But I’m being made into who God wants me to be more and more everyday.

Trick or Treat….DON’T HIDE!!

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Jason Nicholas

Tonight is Halloween. ooohhhh aaaahhhh

Guess what? You probably don’t know your neighbors but tonight they are going to come to your house. That’s right they are coming to you!

Please… Don’t turn off the lights, Dont’ hide, and don’t disappear to a Hallelujah party or a fall festival (yea I said it).

Turn your lights on, sit on your front porch or open the door every time someone knocks.

Give out candy….Good candy…Don’t be cheap or stingy.

Heck, If you have kids, go Trick or Treating. Meet your neighbors… Talk them (oh yea, I said that too)

It’s not going to be evil, you’re not going to go to hell and your kids aren’t going to worship Satan after the nights over.

You will meet new people, your kids will see you being friendly and you might have the chance to invite someone to church. Better yet you will have the chance to talk to people and show that you are normal.

Do yourself and the “church” a favor and get out there where the people are.

Here is a great little video for you to watch too!

Jesus Verse The Devil