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Monday, December 30, 2013

Merry Christmas!

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14 


 

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Reflections

We are excited to adopt.  More importantly, we are committed to adopting Ana (and now we're approved!).

However, today has been a beneficial and reflective day for me, and perhaps it can be one for you, too.

Read this, if you have the time: http://www.heartlightministries.org/blogs/markgregston/adoption-issues/

We are blessed to have the story of the Mussers so honestly shared - we assent that it will be hard (yes, yes, nod head) very hard to care for Ana.  That's like sitting in camp and saying yes, yes, very difficult to summit Everest, yes.  We'll learn exactly how difficult when we get there.  The real issue is that this adoption, as all adoptions, must be single-minded in its focus on the good of the adopted child. 

Insofar as any readers of this blog are considering an adoption, the checks and cautions raised by Mr. Gregston are extremely pointed and important.  If you have not encountered Pound Pup Legacy yet, you can go there for a very cold dose of the evils that are done under the banner of adoption.  It is hard.

Did our home-study process screen us adequately?  I think so, but I'm not in an unbiased position to answer that question, but it is obvious that homestudies are not foolproof, and there are (apparently) enough bad agencies out there.  They did not do a hard-drive examination of all our computers, which I would do in their shoes.

Is our US agency reliable?  Our US adoption agency gets decent marks, though with one post-placement fatality from a Utah couple (meaning that our US agency did NOT perform the home study, rather a Utah agency did that; the woman pleaded guilty to recklessness out of frustration). 

Are we honestly and solely concerned with the well-being of Ana?  To this I can only answer "yes".   Having examined and re-examined the question, I am brought back to the conclusion that we should adopt Ana because we can take care of her better than the baby-house in P*.  This carries a lot of freight along with it - we should continue to live near good children's medical care, I should continue to earn a good living, we should keep ourselves physically and mentally fit to deal with the strains of care, we need to take extra care of our marriage and bio-kids to prepare all of us for the intense strain (yes, yes, nod head, intense indeed - but we'll learn when we get there).  But I suspect that, like marriage, having children, church office, or any other major "plunge", if you're not scared, you're not paying attention.  You can be informed and scared at the same time.  It's blithe ignorance that is truly dangerous.

Anyhow, I do not wish to dishearten anyone who is considering adoption, but remember that hot iron stays soft until it's dunked in cold water.  Temper yourself, let God temper you, and then do the next right thing.

Monday, December 9, 2013

USCIS

We got our I-800A approval notice!! Whee!



Praise God with us!
Dossier, here we come!

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Just wanted to share

Our littlest is now a smiley playful little guy!


Baby G is such a sweet addition to our family!

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Take Your Tater to Work Day

God is so good in so many ways.  My work these past few months has meant I spend less time with my family than when I was just a student with the concomitant flexible schedule.  So yesterday when I had to run up to our church in the middle of the day to unload chairs for our new sanctuary, Tater begged to come along.  My day was already very interrupted, so I didn't argue.  He played outside for a while and then played in the church nursery while I moved sixty new benches into the sanctuary (solo - noon on Tuesday is not a good time to ask around for help).

Then we ate hamburgers.  Nothing motivates this kid like food.  He was in a pile of toys and the bare mention of "haamboorgurs" (as he repeatedly declared) got him cleaning up in a flash.  We ate at In-N-Out, and he talked about it for the rest of the day.



He is a determined eater.  This was not the end of the meal. About half of that tomato and lettuce went into the maw, too.

Then (because he eats slower than Papa and it got late) he got to come to work with me.  This was a stressor, as it was during naptime, but he did great.  Papa had office hours and talked to students, then Tater got to climb stairs, look at the "diiinosoar", the "funny robot car" (pictured - a Curiosity replica, for you space enthusiasts), "rocks from space" and all the other fun things we have on display in my building.  (I work at a university, and the building I office in has a lot of science-trinkets). 



Anyway, I share this just because I am looking forward to having Ana home with us, and that for many reasons, but basically all the same ones I would list when explaining why I enjoy spending time with my boys: to see their joy in God's creation (and, Lord willing, in time, joy in God himself), to see what they like, to give them my time, to teach and train them.  Ana will be part of our family, and I know there will be a lot of work to do, but I look forward to little pleasures like going places with her and seeing smiles (Lord willing) and maybe even interest in funny robot cars, too.

Thank you all for your prayers for our family.  We're excited to get through the USCIS "slough of despond" process and move on to more paperwork submission, but this time for another country!

-Papa

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

I have a feeling I am doing something wrong...

What do y'all say when you call up USCIS to bug them about your I800-A?
I keep getting short uninformative responses.

Thanks :-)