Monday, January 27, 2014
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...)
Thursday, January 16, 2014
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
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...
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...
Monday, December 30, 2013
Merry Christmas!
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.
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
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)