Avis - The Lucky Few: Finding Gods Best in the Most Unlikely Places

PRAISE FOR THE LUCKY FEW

A page turner. A hope giver. A life changer. Lucky are those who read these pagestheir hearts will explode with the joy that we all truly get to be the luckiest of all.

ANN VOSKAMP, author of the New York Times bestsellers The Broken Way and One Thousand Gifts

I absolutely love this book. I love Heather Avis dearly, and her warmth and passion and fierce love come through on every page. This is a story about adoption, about family, about special needs... and really, more than anything, its a story about faith. Im so incredibly inspired by the way Heather listens to Gods voice, and as I put down this book, I prayed for more of that kind of faith in my own life.

SHAUNA NIEQUIST, New York Times bestselling author of Savor and Present Over Perfect

If youve ever felt overwhelmed by the task before you, you will find a companion in this book. This book details the incredible adventure of the Avis family as they face some of lifes greatest challenges and turn them into beautiful opportunities. It gives each of us hope in our own journey full of insurmountable odds.

DONALD MILLER, New York Times bestselling author of Blue Like Jazz and Scary Close

As a fellow Down syndrome mama, Heather Aviss words drew me in, igniting my heart from the very first page. Her powerful honesty and passion will light you aflame too, reminding us all that the path beyond easy and normal is the most precious. Its where we find God and become the lucky few.

REBEKAH LYONS, author of Freefall to Fly and You Are Free

When I first met Heather Avis, I was drawn to her familys story because we share a love for foster care and adoption. But The Lucky Few is about so much more. Heather shows us what it means to seek after the heart of God, and she inspires us to do the same. Youll want to buy this book for everyone you know.

ANDY STANLEY, communicator, author, and pastor

Heather is a modern-day superwoman with a heart that is brave and true. She doesnt pretend parenting is easy or that she hasnt faced darkness and been broken many times over. But she is honest. She chooses to risk every time. She chooses love, and even in the face of great struggle, she has said yes and jumped. Heathers face showed up for me the moment I was crumbling. I was scared for our daughter, and her words breathed hope into my trembling soul. This book will make your heart and arms open wide. It may cause your family to grow in numbers or move you to hold close the babies you haveplus ugly cry. It may cause all these things. This book is a testament to the power of a mothers love.

LISA GUNGOR, songwriter, musician, and other half of musical collective Gungor

What started as a social hashtag has turned into a movement for the way we look at our lives. In The Lucky Few, Heather Avis shares a story that is honest, raw, hopeful, and deeply inspiring. May we all see the worldand its peoplethrough this beautiful lens.

RACHEL HOLLIS, author and lifestyle expert at TheChicSite.com

Heather Avis is a guide for all of us lucky few walking in the wilderness. She reveals the exquisite beauty always hiding within the brokenness, the promise that in the darkness God is up to something bright and colorful. Joy is always waiting in the paths we would never choose for ourselves. As I read it, I felt like I was sitting with a good friend over coffee, letting her remind me all over again to notice Gods grace right here in the middle of my own story.

MICHA BOYETT, author of Found: A Story of Questions, Grace, and Everyday Prayer

With profound honesty, Heather Avis describes the bold journey she and Josh took into the world of Down syndrome and adoptiona journey where joy and sorrow are so perfectly interwoven. The Lucky Few is filled with metaphors of hope: beauty shaped from the shards of broken dreams, stars of light bursting through darkness, fragile heartbeats filling the lonely silence. But beneath the hopeful metaphors are the hard, daily choices to trust God with life-threatening surgeries, with unexpected birth families, with overwhelming feelings of inadequacy, with moments when bravery feels remarkably like wanting to puke. Though I intended to scan this book quickly, I found I had to read slowly, in part because the story was utterly captivating, but equally because God was using Heathers words to challenge me to be braver, to be more willing to step into the unknown, to be more prayerful and trusting.

LYNNE HYBELS, advocate for global engagement, Willow Creek Community Church

This is a beautiful and honest story about coming to grips with Gods best for your lifeespecially when societys expectations clash with your reality. Gods grace in finding perfect children for Heather and Josh Avis and growing in them the courage to become the parents these children need is witness to all of us looking for divine clarity in the midst of seemingly confusing and sometimes devastating circumstances.

MARK REDDY, president of The JUSTICE Conference

The Lucky Few is a book about the deep-unto-deep kind of love we have as parents, a love with power over fear. Heather Aviss voice is a beaming light that infuses me with courage, not because she herself is braver than the rest of us, but because she shows us in this beautiful story that we must put down our expectations and ridiculous bootstrap mentalities so we can open ourselves to the intimate love God has for us. This book is a beacon for anyone who thinks she cant do the very thing she must.

AMBER C. HAINES, author of Wild in the Hollow

Heather Avis is an inspiration as a mom and as a woman. If I didnt know her personally, I would wonder if the grace pouring through her words was authentic. But she is the real deal, and her story of love makes me want to be a better mother and a better person.

LAURA TREMAINE, writer and podcaster

Oftentimes we see people do courageous acts, like adopt children with special needs, and we assume they are fearless heroes. Heather shows us that courage is actually birthed out of fear and disappointment. You will see yourself in her story and will be inspired to move through your own fears and disappointments in order to live a more courageous life.

JESSICA HONEGGER, founder of Noonday Collection

The Lucky Few is a beautiful and compelling story about the transformation of fear into hope. As you read about the Aviss journey, youll be inspired to imitate their courageous surrender to the life-changing invitation of Jesus.

MIKE ERRE, host of the VOXPodcast and team leader at VOX Christian Community

Heather Aviss words and story exemplify one of the hardest but most beautiful truths in motherhoodthat you cannot predict the path on which it will lead you, but if you show up wholeheartedly, willing to be stretched by love, the greatest joy youve ever known is guaranteed to light the way. Im inspired to stir up more areas of comfortable noes in my life and see, as Heather has beautifully shown us, how life expands into more grace and joy with a simple yes.

KELLE HAMPTON, author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Bloom

Heather Aviss story is both exceptional and relatable. While the details may differ, many of us have found that life does not always go according to plan, and that sometimes we are placed on a path we never expected. Heathers book shares her personal journey with infertility, adoption, special needs parenting, and, ultimately, learning that our best-laid plans may be exchanged for something better than we could have ever imagined.