Kyrie Eleison

Kyrie, eleison.
Lord, have mercy.


Son of David, have mercy.

You did not despise Bartimaeus,
do not despise Barton.

You are the Christ, who is coming into the world.
You loved Mary and Martha,
returning their brother to them;
will you love Mindy, and return her to a family?

Lord, you have done all thing well.
You are the God who works in and through suffering.
You wound and you heal.
Please heal hearts and homes and the homeless.

Let your people, who are called by your name,
humble themselves and pray.
Call your sheep to your fold,
they know your voice,
they will come when you call.


    “Is not this the fast that I choose:
        to loose the bonds of wickedness,
        to undo the straps of the yoke,
    to let the oppressed go free,
        and to break every yoke?
    Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
        and bring the homeless poor into your house;
    when you see the naked, to cover him,
        and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
    Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
        and your healing shall spring up speedily;
    your righteousness shall go before you;
        the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
    Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
        you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
    If you take away the yoke from your midst,
        the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
    if you pour yourself out for the hungry
        and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
    then shall your light rise in the darkness
        and your gloom be as the noonday.
    And the LORD will guide you continually
        and satisfy your desire in scorched places
        and make your bones strong;
    and you shall be like a watered garden,
        like a spring of water,
        whose waters do not fail."
Isa. 58:6-11

Come Quickly

As anyone who has lost someone they love will know, there are a lot of "firsts" to go through in the months and years that follow.
This will be our first Thanksgiving without Papa's dad.
He has been at Thanksgivings for all of Papa's life, and for the past nine years of mine. It doesn't really feel like it will be Thanksgiving without him.
Things that feel like they have started to heal are all busted open and raw again. We know that this is normal and necessary, but it is still hard.

Last night, I was crying about my father-in-law and checking blogs and I saw this, on Julia's blog...

Barton needs a family.

Take a look at Julia's blog. He needs someone to send their paperwork to USCIS tomorrow.
Otherwise, he will end up in a cage at a mental institution.




This reminded me that the problem is sin. Because of sin's effects, Papa's dad is dead. Because of sin's effects, Barton is an orphan who is facing rejection forever.

Did you know that there is one who conquered sin and death?
Jesus gave his life so that we might have life. Jesus saved my father-in-law from his sins, and now my father-in-law is with Him forever. Jesus can bring a family to Barton, too. Pray for Barton!

A lot of things are broken, and sad, and ugly. But Jesus promised us that He will return and make all things new:

 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
⁵ And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” ⁶ And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. ⁷ The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

Revelation 21:1-7

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

Revelation 22:20-21

God is Good.

I did not realize what a blessing Baby G was when we found out we were expecting last February.

Now I begin to realize how gently God is breaking us in.

Adding a sibling has been a little difficult for Tater; it has been such a blessing that Baby G is such an easy kid!

He sleeps fairly well at night (and during the day).

He is robust and healthy, and eats well. (He's wearing a size 6mo shirt in that picture.)

God gave us the opportunity to check out the world class children's hospital, and now I know where the emergency entrance is. Whatever caused Baby G's fever turned out to be not a big deal, for which we are so thankful.

Lord willing, this will ease the transition when Anastacia comes home. We will all be used to there being multiple children at home. Tater will be a little more experienced as a big brother.

I imagine that most of the things that I said about Baby G will not initially be true of Anastacia. Eating will be harder for her. Sleep might be non-existent?

God's plans are always good, and I am thankful for how He is growing our family.

USCIS biometrics happened

Yesterday Papa, Baby G and I trooped down to our local friendly USCIS office. Thanks to everyone who shared their biometrics experiences!

We live in a pretty large metro area where people immigrate often, so the office was fairly busy. What a great place to people watch! It looked like people were immigrating from at least 4 different countries in the waiting room where we were...

The guy who took our prints told us that he had only ever taken prints for 3 or 4 people who were adopting from Anastacia's country, and that the most common that he encountered were families adopting from African countries.

It took us about an hour to get in and out, but it was so interesting that I didn't mind at all :-)

And for people who are wondering what happens at adoption biometrics, yes, it is just fingerprints. What a relief.