One of the stories that was hard to even put in the liner notes, because it would take - I mean I think I could write a whole book on this story, but we really have seen God leave us just little evidences of his hand, and we've kinda called them bread crumbs almost in a way for our journey leading to heaven that we almost feel like God and Maria left for us. God let Maria kinda leave for us. And one of those most profound incredible bread crumbs, if you will, was the day after Maria went to heaven we came back to our home to get some clothes together for a memorial service, and you can imagine. Maybe some of you can literally imagine, cuz you've walked through something like this, but coming back into our home for the first time knowing that Maria's laughter and her loud voice wasn't gonna be here anymore was really unbearable.

I mean it was so hard and so painful, and yet we knew we had to walk through that front door. And we had friends kinda on all sides of us kinda holding us up, and as we walked from room to room grabbing what we needed and just crying and just collapsing for a while, we ended up, I ended up walking in the dining room where there were two little art tables that Maria and Stevie Joy would spend hours and hours drawing and coloring, especially for Maria it was cutting and gluing. She loved to cut pictures out and then glue on top of them of each other, and she would have eight and ten layers of things glued together, and there was one piece of paper. The art tables were all cleaned up, but there was one piece of paper on Maria's side, on her table.

And I looked at it. Of course my heart just kinda leapt and dropped at the same time in a weird away, because it was something that you know was so special. It was a picture that I knew she must have been drawing on the morning of the accident, and it was a flower. It was kind of Maria's signature flower. She drew it on a lot of things. In fact we've gone through books and found this same flower drawn in different ways, and it was her little. It was a six-petal flower, but only one petal was colored in, so it looked like when I first saw it an unfinished picture, and I thought she must not have have gotten it finished. She ran outside and got diverted.

But I noticed as I looked at it, cuz she had done it with marker. There was something bleeding through the paper on the back kinda coming through, so it made me curious. I turned the paper over, and one of the, kinda have to back a little bit, cuz one of the things that we had just been longing for in those first 24 hours when Maria went to heaven is just God please let us see something. Please let us have a dream. Please let us have a vision. God, whatever we can bear. Will you please give us something that tells us in some tangible way that what we believe in faith is true, that Maria is with you. That Maria is okay, and God we just need something.

And there hadn't been you know any dream that night or any real vision. Some friends had shared a couple of different friends and in fact Mary Beth's dad that really felt like God had gave them a vision of Maria going with Jesus to heaven, but for us we were just like God please let us see something, so here I am standing the next day in our dining room looking at this flower that Maria had drawn. And I turned the page over, and on the back of this paper, Maria had written a word, and it was a word that to our knowledge none of us had ever known Maria to write before. She knew three or four words. She knew how to write I love you. She knew how to write mom and dad and her name Maria, and that was it. And she had written a three-letter word, and it said SEE. The word was see.

And immediately I mean I you know it was again I just started to sob and just from you know from joy and just heartache, because I knew that Maria was saying to us and God was saying with her see it's okay. It is exactly as you hope and long to know it is. Maria is with Jesus. I felt like Maria was saying see dad I'm okay. See mom I'm okay. And it was just incredible. It was such a gift, and there was a little butterfly that she had drawn and colored right beside the word see. And so we ended up, that flower you'll see it on the album cover and different places throughout the album, and you'll also notice that the word see along with a song called See. The word see is throughout the album capitalized in all capitals, SEE, just the way Maria wrote it.

That's become a very important word to us, and the flower has become a very important symbol for us, because what we realized in looking at it more is that it's a six-petal flower, and only one petal was colored in, and it wasn't Maria not getting finished with it. I believe, we really believe that God let her leave that message for us as a way of saying you know there's six petals here. You got six children, but one of them is whole. One of them now is complete.

Maria's favorite color was blue, and she said I'm coloring my petal in blue, cuz I'm complete. I'm whole. No more pain. No more tears, and the rest of us are waiting for our color. Waiting to be filled in. Waiting to be made whole. But that's been just obviously very important, hopeful thing for us to be able to hold onto.

Well the song Beauty Will Rise is really you know as I've shared some of the, our connection to the earthquake in China and how in a way connected to that tragedy and the devastation of that in the lives of so many. There was some kind of a connection in our hearts to that and to that tragedy, and so our as I was really praying about going back to China and even praying for the people of China. The song Beauty Will Rise really kinda came out of all of that. Just that in some way that pain being something that I could connect to and rather than go deeper and deeper into this deep dark place in my soul, I was able to sort of channel it in the direction of the people of China and say, "God be with them. God comfort them with this comfort that is keeping us alive through this."

And as I kinda connected with their loss. The song, really the lyrics in many ways for that song kind of came out of me just pondering that, wrestling with that the day that the world went wrong, and just screaming literally 'til my voice was gone, and I did so many times in those first days and weeks and just screaming, screaming, crying out to God 'til I just couldn't even - I just didn't even have any voice anymore. And yet believing and knowing and already beginning to see God's promise that he will bring beauty out of the most awful, just horrific circumstances as he has shown himself to be faithful to do throughout history. Say what the most evil, awful thing I will use - I will turn for good, and will you trust me in that?

And I think for me, for my family and I to say God, we don't understand it. We don't even know how, and we're not gonna pretend and stick a band-aid and go oh good beauty will come out of this. It wasn't that at all. It never has been that. It's just been God this is the only way we're gonna survive. We trust and believe that you will bring beauty out of this, and we will dance among these ruins, and we will see the joy that you've promised. That even though the weeping lasts through the night, that joy that's coming in the morning, and God has begun to let us see little glimpses of that beauty. Little shoots kinda coming up you know out of the ground of new life and beauty and Maria's Big House of Hope.

Going to China and opening this place that now bears the name of our daughter. That gives us a joy and just to watch what's happening there. That's been one of those to hear stories, so many stories. In fact, this is one. The choir that sang with me on Spring Is Coming. It's a choir of orphan children. It's called the Children of the World Choir, and it's made up of children that are orphans from Asia and India and some from South America that come together. And I have done some things with them through our organization Show Hope, and I really wanted them to be the ones to sign on my song on Spring Is Coming, and I wanted a children's choir.

So they sang with me. That group - they change the groups out every year. That group went back to their home. Went back to the children villages that they raise the money for through their tours and their recordings, so they went back and a new group was coming to do a tour. And I wanted to connect with this new group to do the song Spring Is Coming live, to sing it live at our Show Hope gathering that we do every November, so this group is learning the song Spring Is Coming. And in the process of learning this song that the earlier choir had already sung they, the director Tiffany and Steve, were explaining to them where this song came from and explaining our loss of our little Maria and why I wrote this song and how it symbolizes that there is life that is gonna come even out of what looks like death, because God has conquered through Jesus death and the grave that we will live forever.

And spring is coming, and so they were explaining that to them, and they said that they told them the story of Maria, and seven of those children who have heard about Jesus and even singing these songs, but in the process of hearing that they said, "We wanna be where Maria is. We wanna know this life." And prayed to receive Christ. Seven of those orphan children. And that's just one little story of just how God brings beauty and is bringing beauty out of this, and as my wife says so tenderly and beautifully and with brokenness. She says, "You know if in my flesh and my humanity as a mom, I would turn all of that around to just have my little girl back." It's not like oh okay you know because that's happening we can - that it's in some way okay.

It's still so hard but to begin to see God redeem and bring these things out of this hard, hard place has been part of the hope that I feel like even getting to share in this album, getting to share these songs with others who maybe have carried a grief so deep in their heart that they've never been able to articulate or never been able to bring to the surface enough to even present it to God to say God heal me. Begin to do a work in my heart. Maybe these songs will be a part of that, and that'll be part of the beauty. And I'm sure that we will rejoice with Jesus and with Maria sitting on my lap and on her mom's lap, and we'll get to hear the stories of how God really did bring beauty out of these ashes.

Well yeah, there's so much that's gone on with Show Hope and so much of the beauty that's come out of all of this. People that loved on us after Maria went to heaven and that wanted to send flowers and send gifts, and we just said, "Look, we're gonna set up a fund in Maria's honor called Maria's Miracle Fund that's all gonna be followed through Show Hope, our adoption assistance and orphan advocacy organization." We're gonna just give all the money there and let it go to care for orphans in Jesus' name and in Maria's memory, and over $800,000.00 came in. I mean just mind blowing just how people poured out love for us and how then we're able to turn and say all right God use this for your glory and for - .

Well you know what has been one of the most amazing ways that we have seen God bringing beauty out of the ashes has been what's happened with Show Hope in the last year-and-a-half. You know a lot of people have heard me talk about Shoahannah's Hope, and we kinda shortened the name and changed the name, because the scope of it has grown so much bigger than we ever even imagined, and now we're calling it Show Hope.

We started out giving grants to Christian families that are in the process of trying to adopt and just helping them financially thinking at the beginning, you know six, seven, eight years ago, gosh if we could help 100 families, that would be amazing. Help bring 100 orphans into families. We this year gave our 2,000th grant given in October 2009. It's just an incredible miracle really, and in addition to that you know building and partnering with a doctor and some friends in China and building Maria's Big House of Hope and now seeing that as this amazing place of literally of hope in China.

It's just been such an incredible thing, and you know we've got Show Hope sponsorship now. People that are able to just journey with us in a real monthly kinda regular basis and hear updates about what's going on at Maria's Big House of Hope and hear updates about the families and the children that have been adopted and hear the miracle stories. That truly has been for Mary Beth and me and our whole family has been one of the most amazing, encouraging, really comforting things I think in our journey over the last year-and-a-half.

Well we're still talking about and thinking about you know what to do with touring and you know all of that. My boys have been out with me, Caleb and Will, and doing a lot of their own things right now, and Caleb's got his own music that he's starting to do, which I'm excited about and sad about at the same time, because that means I'm losing them some.

But as far as you know plans for upcoming plans, something really exciting is that Mary Beth is actually gonna be joining me on tour for the Women of Faith Conferences in the fall of 2010. Very excited. And she's very nervous but very excited about that too. I really believe God has just given her an incredible story. I mean that's been confirmed even in the last few days in some unbelievable ways of what just seems like God is just calling out of my sweet wife's brokenness and pain to share her journey, and we'll be doing that together and maybe even on my tour. I'm hoping she'll be there with me on my tour, and we'll just do it side by side and be able to you know share our story and our journey, and so I don't know what all is planned but definitely gonna be out and you know doing some concerts and kinda sharing this with people.

Emily is married. Tanner and Emily are married. They got married in October of 2008, and they are living in Northern Ireland right now. They're going to Belfast Bible College and just it's awesome. It's so great to see what's going on with them and to just hear what God's teaching them. And of course Emily's very involved with Show Hope and working there. Tanner is a gymnast and helping run his family's business of gymnastics gym in Franklin, Tennessee, but they right now are studying.

And Caleb is married to his fourth-grade sweetheart Julia. They got married in May of 2009. And two amazing celebrations that God let us have in the first year after Maria went to heaven, and it was such a gift, and Caleb and Julia are just madly in love. And it's just crazy that my son Caleb, my 20-year-old son, is married and has a house and you know all this kinda stuff. Mowing his yard. It's just crazy, and he is doing, again, great. His own music that he's in the process of writing and recording, has an EP right now out and working on a full album coming soon, so watch for that. Check him out on very exciting, and I'm so proud of Caleb and Will.

Will Franklin, my 18-year-old, mighty warrior. I mean he is just such a man of courage with all that he has been entrusted and all that he's walking through, and we're just so proud of him and so thankful. And he is a world-class drummer on top of all of it and still the greatest big brother to ever live, as his little sisters would tell ya. And I'm so proud of Will.

Shoahannah's ten. Doing gymnastics. Playing basketball and doing so great, and just please continue when you think of her. Pray for her. Pray for Stevie Joy, seven-year-old Stevie Joy as they continue just to walk through you know how to live this life and live out their life with this huge hole in their soul and in their hearts and missing their sister, but they're doing great, and we're just again so thankful for the prayers of so many.

Well listen I wanna say thank you again. Just thank you for your time. Thanks for letting me ramble on. I mean when I start talking about this, I feel as broken at times, as disconnected as ever, because I'm just so trying not to be on you know answer doing an interview but just share and talk from my heart and from my family's heart about our journey and hopes that God really will use it to encourage those that hear it, and so thank you for giving me, again, the chance to do that. And thank you for your prayers.

As you think of us you know every 21st of the month, that anniversary is always hard. Please continue to pray that we'll just be - we'll know how to steward what God has entrusted to us. This pain and this loss but also just this incredible hope that we have that we'll be able to share it clearly and that we'll just be able to continue to do the battle that we have to do against the enemy and the doubts and the fears that rise up and try to you know just do, reek havoc on our life and our family and our marriage and all of that. Just keep praying for us as we come to mind. If you hear one of my songs, man I'd love nothing more than if you'd just you know pray for us and just lift up a prayer for the Chapman family.

But thank you so much. God bless you, and yeah let's just together just watch, watch for the beauty that God is bringing all around us. And just keep your eyes open and ask God Lord let me really see today. Let me see you. Let me see with eternal eyes and see what you're doing. God bless you. Thanks so much.