About Christy Brunke

Welcome, friends! I’m blessed to be a mom, a pastor’s wife, and the bestselling author of the fictional book, Snow out of Season. But my greatest claim to fame comes from being a child of the King. Because of that, I’m passionate about my family, unborn children, and God-written love stories. Though I used to live in China, now I love serving in ministry here in Maryland. Praying you’ll be blessed as you read my blogs, my story, and my award-winning novel!

Adopting Faith Hill, the Girl They Always Wanted

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Christy Brunke

Faith Hill. Photo courtesy of: http://www.portwallpaper.com

In 1967, six years before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion and make it more accessible for the average woman, an unmarried girl named Paula got pregnant.

When the baby was only three days old, a Christian couple named Ted and Edna Perry adopted her.

Unlike Paul and Clara Jobs—the adoptive parents of Steve Jobs—the Perrys already had two biological sons in elementary school. But they wanted a girl.

Unfortunately . . . or, rather, providentially . . . the Perrys discovered they couldn’t have any more children. So, they chose to raise Paula’s little one as their own. They named her Audrey Faith Perry, pointing to the trust in God they’d needed for the adoption.

“I . . . had a pretty amazing childhood,” the woman we now know as Faith Hill told Larry King in a 2006 interview.¹ “My mom and my dad and my brothers, they are amazing.”¹

She enjoyed a “very stable, good Christian, God-fearing home.”¹

Becoming a Legendary Singer and Songwriter

“Her parents led a simple life and encouraged her music,” Robin Roberts said on ABC News.⁴

After first singing publicly at the age of seven, Faith went on to become a legendary singer and songwriter, selling over 40 million records. She’s won five Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, and fifteen Academy of Country Music Awards.

Photo courtesy of: http://www.nfl.com

Because Faith’s father had to drop out of school in fourth grade to help feed his twelve siblings, she also founded the Faith Hill Family Literacy Project. Through book drives she’s held at her concerts, she’s donated over a million books to schools, shelters, and libraries.

Finding Her Birth Mother

Like Steve Jobs, Faith Hill always knew she was adopted, but, unlike him, she eventually wanted to find her birth parents. “I was adopted into this incredible home, a loving, positive environment, yet I had this yearning….”⁵

In 1990, while feeling lost as she chased stardom in Nashville, Faith began searching for her biological mother. Three years later, she found the woman who gave her life. “I just stared at her . . . I’d never seen anyone that looked anything like me. It was the awe of seeing someone you came from. It fills something.”⁶

Faith later told Robin Roberts, “It was all by divine intervention that it happened.”⁷

“I have a lot of respect for my birth mother and no feelings of anger . . . I know she must have had a lot of love for me to want to give me what she felt was a better chance.”⁶

“How thankful I am that she was able to give me the opportunity that I had,” Faith said on Larry King Live.⁹ “I was placed into an incredible home that . . . is responsible for the way I am today and the backbone that I have in order to do this for a living.”⁹

Faith Hill with her husband Tim McGraw on Larry King Live. Photo courtesy of: http://www.spokeo.com

Do you have an adoption story? Share it below!

Faith Hill, CNN Larry King Live, Interview with Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, transcript, aired April 21, 2006, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/21/lkl.01.html. ↩
Faith Hill, CNN Larry King Live, Interview with Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, transcript, aired April 21, 2006, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/21/lkl.01.html. ↩
Faith Hill, CNN Larry King Live, Interview with Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, transcript, aired April 21, 2006, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/21/lkl.01.html. ↩
Robin Roberts, ABC News, Part 1 of “In the Spotlight with Robin Roberts”: Faith Hill on Fears and Fame, video, 8:12, aired November 9, 2011, http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/InTheSpotlight. ↩
Leah Ginsberg, “Faith Renewed,” Good Housekeeping, (2007): http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/inspirational-stories/interviews/a15246/faith-hill-renewed-apr04/. ↩
Leah Ginsberg, “Faith Renewed,” Good Housekeeping, (2007): http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/inspirational-stories/interviews/a15246/faith-hill-renewed-apr04/. ↩
Faith Hill, ABC News, Part 1 of “In the Spotlight with Robin Roberts:” Faith Hill on Fears and Fame, video, 8:12, 11/09/2011, http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/InTheSpotlight. ↩
Leah Ginsberg, “Faith Renewed,” Good Housekeeping, (2007): http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/inspirational-stories/interviews/a15246/faith-hill-renewed-apr04/. ↩
Faith Hill, CNN Larry King Live, Interview with Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, transcript, aired April 21, 2006, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/21/lkl.01.html. ↩
Faith Hill, CNN Larry King Live, Interview with Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, transcript, aired April 21, 2006, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/21/lkl.01.html. ↩

Three People Who Passed On Steve Jobs

Posted on October 10, 2015 by Christy Brunke

Steve Jobs. Photo courtesy of techvark.com.

You probably know Steve Jobs co-founded Apple, Inc. and helped design the Macintosh as well as the iPod, iPad, and iPhone. Perhaps you know he was one of the primary pioneers of personal computers. You might even know he headed Pixar Animation Studios.

But did you know he was adopted?

Photo courtesy of ingender.com.

In 1954, Joanne Schieble, an unmarried grad student, got pregnant.

Abortion was illegal, raising a baby on your own was frowned upon, and her Catholic parents forbid her to marry her Muslim boyfriend, so she headed to San Francisco where she planned to place the child for adoption.

However, when Joanne gave birth to a baby boy, the wealthy, well-educated couple she’d chosen to raise her child decided they wanted a girl instead.

Meanwhile, a blue-collar couple named Paul and Clara Jobs had been married for nine years, but had been unable to have a child. After Clara had an ectopic pregnancy, they decided to explore adoption. Not long afterward, the baby boy was placed with them, and they named him Steven Paul Jobs.

However, when Joanne discovered the couple hadn’t completed high school, she refused to sign the adoption papers. After all, her one stipulation was that his parents be college graduates. Weeks later, Paul and Clara signed a pledge to start saving for Steven’s college education, and Joanne finally relented.

Clara later told Steve’s high school girlfriend she was “too frightened to love [Steve] for the first six months of his life . . . I was scared they were going to take him away from me.” ¹

Passing on Passion and Perfection

Paul, a machinist who rebuilt cars for extra money, hoped to pass along his love for mechanics to his son as well as conscientious craftsmanship. “He loved doing things right,” Jobs told his official biographer Walter Isaacson. ² “He even cared about the look of the parts you couldn’t see.” ² He also “showed me the rudiments of electronics, and I got very interested in that.” ²

The garage where Steve Jobs learned and worked

The garage where Jobs worked alongside his dad and later built the first Apple computers. Photo courtesy of http://mashable.com.

From early on, Jobs knew he was adopted. “My parents were very open with me about that,” he told Isaacson.² “Knowing I was adopted may have made me feel more independent, but I have never felt abandoned. I’ve always felt special. My parents made me feel special.”²

When people implied Paul and Clara weren’t his real parents, Jobs always bristled. “They were my parents 1,000%.”⁷

“He felt he had been really blessed by having the two of them as parents,” said Steve’s widow, Laurene Jobs.⁸

Isaacson describes him as the “creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.”²

Because his birth mother chose to give him life, and his adoptive parents a home, Steve Jobs went on to change history. But what if this world-changer had never been born? How different would our lives be today?

little girl Faith Hill Perry playing the guitar

Photo courtesy of: http://people.com

In my next blog, I tell the story of another celebrity who was adopted. Follow the link to read, “Adopting Faith Hill, the Girl They Always Wanted.”

Chrisann Brennan, The Bite in the Apple: A Memoir of My Life with Steve Jobs (St. Martin’s Press, 2013). ↩
Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs (Simon & Schuster, 2011). ↩
Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs (Simon & Schuster, 2011). ↩
Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs (Simon & Schuster, 2011). ↩
Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs (Simon & Schuster, 2011). ↩
Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs (Simon & Schuster, 2011). ↩
Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs (Simon & Schuster, 2011). ↩
Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli, Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader (Crown Business, 2015). ↩
Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs (Simon & Schuster, 2011). ↩

Gabriel Network: When the Line Turns Pink

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Christy Brunke

Gabriel Network.

Imagine you’re a woman facing a crisis pregnancy. Maybe your boyfriend is abusive. Maybe your parents kicked you out of the house when they discovered you were expecting. Or maybe you just don’t have the money to provide for yourself, much less a child.

But you’re not sure you want to have an abortion. What do you do? Where do you turn?

The Gabriel Network

Enter the Gabriel Network, a multi-denominational, faith-based community of churches, businesses, and individuals that has helped thousands of women in D.C. and Maryland over the last twenty plus years.

Through the Gabriel Network, women struggling with unexpected pregnancies are connected to Angel Friends who mentor and support them during and after the pregnancy. If they need somewhere to stay, they can apply for Gabriel’s transitional housing program which boasts homes in Bowie, Gaithersburg, and Ellicott City. Plus, they have access to diapers, formula, and baby gear as well as clothing for themselves and their babies.

The Gabriel Network's mission hope for women

Photo courtesy of http://liveactionnews.org/

Need help? Call 1.800.ANGEL.OK (800-264-3565) or check out the services the Gabriel Network offers at GabrielNetwork.org.

Empower Women to Choose Life

Want to help? You can volunteer, donate online, or partner with your church to “adopt” a woman in need.

The Gabriel Network 5K in Columbia, Maryland

Photo by Paula Sampugnaro

You can also walk or run with us this weekend! The Gabriel Network is hosting a 5K at Lake Elkhorn in Columbia, Maryland (9200 Rustling Leaf) this Saturday, October 3^rd.

Late registration opens at 8:00 a.m., the program begins at 8:30, and the race starts at 9:00 at Hopewell Pool. Comment below today if you’d like to join our group, or sign up on your own at GabrielNetwork.org. See you at the finish line!

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. . . . You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb” (Psalm 139:13-15).

Somewhere That’s Green: Finding Home

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Christy Brunke

In high school, I played Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, a musical comedy about a man-eating plant. A florist on Skid Row, Audrey longs to settle down with her kind, but nerdy, coworker, Seymour. She imagines their future home in her song, “Somewhere That’s Green.”

Christy Brunke playing Audrey Little Shop of Horrors

Me in Little Shop of Horrors

After high school and college in my home state of Maryland, Jesus took me on one adventure after another—to China to teach English and study Mandarin, to North Carolina to attend seminary, and, finally, to Illinois to serve at a multi-site community church and then a century-old Chinese church. In Chicago, I also forged forever friendships, met and married my incredible husband, Mark, and had two daughters.

Then the Lord led us home. (Read the story here.)

Greenridge Baptist Church

We moved to Maryland on May 1^st, and Mark became the Minister of Youth and Young Adults at Greenridge Baptist Church. Though we’ve only been here a month, we already see what a marvelous match God made for our whole family. Though Mark misses his friends, family, and the youth he poured into for six years, he absolutely loves his new job.

Photo courtesy of: http://www.greenridgebaptist.org/

The position’s perfect, he likes the staff and feels comfortable with them, and he appreciates having a ministry assistant plus great volunteers who free him up to preach and counsel more.

Because most of the congregation lives within 20 minutes of the church, he can have Bible studies and do lunch with people throughout the week.

Angelina digs the nursery and Michaela, her three-year-olds class. Plus, they love spending every Thursday with their seven Carter cousins (all under the age of five) and getting to see their Culp cousins more often.

Personally, I’m being fed by the passion, preaching, and perspective at Greenridge [tweet that!] and am enjoying family dinners and marshmallow-topped snowballs at Aunt Debby’s. Instead of stop-and-go traffic through a concrete jungle, every drive seems like we’re taking the scenic route.

My family’s excited to have us—especially our kids—and the church seems happy, too. The youth have been warm and welcoming, the pastors encouraging and enthusiastic, and the administrative assistants helpful and hilarious.

Somewhere That’s Green

During the months Mark was interviewing, I was searching for a house online. In February, when he returned from a promising weekend meeting the pastors, elders, and search committee, I showed him a beautiful rancher on an acre of land off of Green Valley Road. In March, we toured that house and, this Friday—Lord willing—we get the keys.

View from our future deck

Serving at Greenridge and living off of Green Valley Road, we’re finally settling down . . . somewhere that’s green.

“He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters” (Psalm 23:2, ESV).

A Wide-Open Door for a Great Work

Posted on April 4, 2015 by Christy Brunke

Photo courtesy of: http:/www.liesyoungwomenbelieve.com

“There is a wide-open door for a great work here…” (1 Corinthians 16:9).

I grew up in Maryland in a close, extended family with our own “compound” and big holidays and Sunday dinners.

After graduating from college, however, God led me to China, then to seminary in North Carolina, and finally to Illinois where I met and married my husband, Mark.

For years, we’d talked about moving to Maryland once Mark finished his masters at Moody Bible Institute. However, the Masters of Divinity is 90-credits, and Mark’s taking classes part-time, so six years have passed, and he still isn’t finished.

After our second daughter was born, we began praying about moving sooner, but didn’t want to waste the 60 credits he’d already earned. Two weeks after we started praying, Moody changed their masters program so it could all be completed online.

Two-year-old Michaela Brunke with baby sister Angelina Brunke Meanwhile, a church named Greenridge had posted a Minister of Youth and Young Adults position that sounded perfect for Mark.

He sent them his resume, and they set up a Skype interview with the pastoral search committee. Mark liked the search team and thought the interview went well, but then we heard little from them for three months.

Meanwhile, another church began pursuing him. We met with the pastor and his wife and toured the church. Before we left, the pastor said he was going to meet with a consultant to make sure the position was the right direction for their church.

A Wide-Open Door

We’d been praying God would open the doors He wanted us to walk through and close the rest. Greenridge invited Mark to meet the pastors, elders, and search committee in person. One week later, the other church told Mark they’d decided to hire a worship and family pastor instead.

Greenridge flew Mark out, and he had dinner with the pastors and the head of the search committee. He called me and said, “I really like these guys.”

The next day, the elders and search committee interviewed him, and he toured the church. When he saw the 3-year-olds’ room, he almost cried, knowing our older daughter would love it. He was amazed at the youth area, which included two rooms—a sanctuary with a stage plus a huge hangout room with sofas, TVs, and pool tables.

Two weeks later, Greenridge flew our whole family out to meet the congregation and, especially, the youth group. We loved the people, the music, even the “feel” of the church and could see ourselves ministering there for a long time.

My mom’s catchphrase for the weekend was “exceedingly abundantly” because God kept doing more than we could “ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).

The next Sunday, the members voted, “Yes!”

Lead Us in the Right Path

exceedingly abundantly above Ephesians 3:20 scripture verse

Photo courtesy of: http://www.biblestudyoutlines.com

Thinking about moving, changing jobs, or starting a new ministry?

God knows us and the work He’s doing around the world better than anyone else, so let’s pray like David did: “Lead me in the right path, O LORD . . . . Make your way plain for me to follow” (Psalm 5:8). (Tweet that!)

And He will.

Exceedingly abundantly.