Mr. Zip Exonerated

I did that thing.  That thing where you don't think, and merely send some paper (to its end?) by standard US Mail.  Three weeks or so had passed, we called the Feds, who said "No luck, it isn't here, try there" and so we did.  Praise God, today it cleared (the check enclosed), and we are cheered, and Papa knows that if you care about arrival anywhere, you spend the dough and make it go straight to the second address, which will say "ATTN: Hauge".

For Their Redeemer is Strong.

Mr. V.P. annexed Crimea.

There are orphans in Crimea.

There are (were?) American families pursuing those orphans for adoption.

Now, they cannot.

Russians cannot be adopted by Americans.

Why?

Because, amid the serious business of jockeying for power and (mostly) appearance of command, our president, Mr. B.O., has been rolled.  Again.  And again.  And again.  How serious the dungaree phone call photo-op was!  Too bad for the little people.  They get lost in the cracks between the egos (or the ids?).  But anyway, they couldn't have voted for him (whom? anyone?) anyway.  They weren't that important, you know.  Not like the clashing paper titans, the shadow-puppets of geopolitics, projecting themselves onto a blank world (or was it inhabited?  hmm, didn't notice, must not have mattered) and squabbling just as jerkily and inconclusively as a two-bit wayang-kulit. 

But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields. - Eccl. 5:9

Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart. - Zech. 7:9-10

    Do not move an ancient landmark
        or enter the fields of the fatherless,
    for their Redeemer is strong;
        he will plead their cause against you. - Prov. 23:10-11

Kyrie, eleison,
Christe, eleison,
Kyrie, eleison,
Kyrie, eleison.
 Glória in excélsis Deo

et in terra pax homínibus bonae voluntátis.

Laudámus te,

benedícimus te,

adorámus te,

glorificámus te,

grátias ágimus tibi propter magnam glóriam tuam,

Dómine Deus, Rex cæléstis,

Deus Pater omnípotens.

Dómine Fili Unigénite, Iesu Christe,

Dómine Deus, Agnus Dei, Fílius Patris,

qui tollis peccáta mundi, miserére nobis;

qui tollis peccáta mundi, súscipe deprecatiónem nostram.

Qui sedes ad déxteram Patris, miserére nobis.

Quóniam tu solus Sanctus, tu solus Dóminus, tu solus Altíssimus,

Iesu Christe, cum Sancto Spíritu: in glória Dei Patris. Amen.

Dominus vobiscum.
(Et cum spiritu tuo.)

I am a lame blogger

We are all still alive here, enjoying summery weather while the rest of the country is cold...

All our docs are in (or on their way to) Ana's country and we are now awaiting travel dates. We need to figure out which and how many of us will travel as well.

Both of our boys are doing well, and I am very thankful for that. I expect a difficult adjustment when Ana comes home and it is good to have some time to establish a rhythm and convince Tater that I still love him even though I had the audacity to give birth to baby brother.

I am honestly a little scared; how will I be able to show love to all of my children if I am stuck in a hospital with Ana for weeks on end? Or just completely overwhelmed by every day life? I am praying for both my little boys NOW, that God would prepare them and strengthen them. I know God will not put us in any situations that He will not also give us the grace to survive (and give Him glory while doing so ;-)

Also, a friend found a dictionary in the language of Ana's country (not so easy to find!) so I have been enjoying that.

For now, enjoy my busy boys :-)

Rejoice with those who Rejoice!

The Huizingas, I mean.  They have their girls home safe and sound, praise God!

We are so happy that Penny (who was the first little girl on our radar) has a happy, safe, God-fearing family to be a part of.

Our paper wheels continue to turn slowly, we think.  There's a document (HS amendment) to apostille (when isn't there?), so I need to get down to the capitol sooner or later...

Please join us in prayer

that a certain ministry in a certain country would find a certain paper that they ought to have in their possession. Also that, if not, we can find a manageable backup plan in time for said ministry's 31 January deadline (can you even DO 2nd-day-air to this country?  On to the FedEx site...)

Early Morning Blessings

Short-sleep frazzle-face shambles out.
I put pencil down and close the book,
enfold a tiny person in my arms,
as back to bed she goes.
Smiles swapped, grins given,
no more study for now,
we will off to the grocer,
just the morning, the infant, and me.
Apples, oranges, spinach,
and so much more, one-handed,
careful not to bump or drop
the produce or the person
cuddled elbow-close and
open-eyed amazed, the big wide world
has piñatas on the rafters!
Back home, clear morning light slants and brightens
the world we have enjoyed together.
And he watches me make breakfast
for his brother and his mother and for me,
selfless, I suppose; he cannot yet eat omlets,
delicious though they are;
so working, I sing God's songs
to my morning son, and he smiles,
more reward than I deserve,
O gracious Father,
thank you.

A New Year's Experiment

We have started 2014 off with the first serious attempt at getting a routine in our house.  Papa gets up at 6am so he can drink tea and study (or go teach his M-W 7:30am class which starts next week).  Mama and boys get up around 8am, and if Papa is still home, he has breakfast ready around 8:15-8:30am.  Dinner is around 6pm, (it had been slipping later and later since Baby G. came), and we start bedtime around 8:30pm (which means lights-out closer to 9:15pm, as we do our family worship at night).  This means everybody is rested adequately (except poor Mama who is up feeding Baby G. a couple times per night - but this, too, shall pass).

This is a sea change in our house.  I've never been good at routines, so we are very curious to see how this one plays out.  However, it was adopted for a few good reasons (and not the bad one that wants us to feel in control of every minute - we've learned (and will learn) how laughable that idea is).

1) We were feeling stretched but not really doing that much (though with a newborn, which does count) - this is a cue for organization

2) Eating late was not healthy, and made it hard to get to sleep at a reasonable hour (which cascades to the next day, etc.)

3) Our older son is like a combination of me and one of Mama's brothers - he's particular, likes predictability, and gets upset when reality does not match the vision in his head.  So we want to cultivate a vision of a "normal" day and then meet it pretty regularly.  Christmas nearly ruined him - our schedule was whacked out beyond recognition, between visits to family, illness, church services on TUESDAY! 

So we began our experiment on Monday, and so far, so good.  We almost got in trouble Monday night, when we tried to do both laundry (coin op, requires some planning and effort) and Costco.  We got to bed half an hour later than we wanted to, but seemed to recover yesterday, and agreed that we should only do one thing after dinner.  Yesterday that was a trip to Home Depot for more renovation supplies, today that's Papa off on diaconal work.

As a rather damning side note, Tater gleefully declared "Costco says 'cost-cost-cost'".  How true...