Adoption Update

A lot of you have been asking, “Will you be bringing Naomi home on this trip?”. I would love to tell you yes, but it simply isn’t so. We are a long way from it. Jason and I are telling ourselves 2 years. Two years from when, you ask – I don’t know. If you ask me, I will probably say, “Our hope is by the end of 2010.” I do realize that doesn’t quite add up to two years, but I can’t quite get 2011 to come out of my mouth. I am praying for 2010. Why not? God is big!! You see, as Jason has explained in earlier posts, we simply do not meet the requirements to adopt from Haiti. And to meet those, I would have to quickly age by 6 yrs, Jason 3 yrs, and somehow hide our 2 bio children. Meeting those requirements is not happening anytime soon.

With that said, it doesn’t change the fact that we have a daughter in Haiti. A daughter that we love beyond measure. A daughter that is counting on us to fight for her. And so that is the plan. We will continue on until she is home with her family.

Jason and I leave Thursday to visit Naomi. We can’t wait! The thoughts of having to leave her on Monday and not see her for unknown months, will be pushed from my mind. We are going to go and cherish the time that we have! (Then when we get on the plane, I will burst into massive tears, and soak Jason’s shoulder.) Believe me there have been many tears shed, and I know there are many more to come. But I have to keep looking forward to the tears of CRAZY JOY when we bring her home!

So that’s it. The papers (as far as we know) are at the mayor’s office. We are waiting for them to be signed on to the next step.

We appreciate your prayers so much, and thanks for joining us on this wild journey! We will not bring her home on this trip, but I certainly look forward to the one that we do!

Headed to Haiti

Just wanted to let everyone know that Sarah and I leave for Haiti on Thursday (arriving in Haiti Friday morning) and will be there until Monday.  We planned this trip the week after Sarah returned in January and it has completely snuck (is that a word…past tense of sneak) up on us.  Not that we haven’t thought about it constantly; anxiously anticipating another moment with Naomi, but honestly it seems surreal that we leave this week.

For me it will be my first chance to hold Naomi.  It will be my first time to tickle and chase her.  First chance to swing her around and run with her on my shoulders.  I suspect it might take a little longer for her to warm up to me than it did Sarah being that I am a big hairy white man…but I have no doubt that she will be  screaming with joy as I chase her around, running into my arms for a big hug before the end of our time together.

Please pray for us during our visit.  Pray that Sarah is able to reconnect with Naomi as mother and daughter, growing the bond they started in January.  Pray that I will be able to shower Naomi with love, quickly exchanging concerns of safety in my presence with feelings of safety in my presence.

Depending our Internet access, I will attempt to update everyone on our trip as we are there…hopefully posting a few pictures along the way, so please check back often.

A Journey Worth Following

Many of you follow this blog because you want to join us in our adoption journey.  Just wanted to say thank you and let you know how much we appreciate your participation.  Things are a bit slow getting out of the gate for us, definitely testing our faith at the moment, but ultimately these bumps in the road will lend themselves to a great story for our family (including Naomi) to tell in the future.

Speaking of great stories and journey’s worth following, I have some recommended blog reading for you.  Hang with me.

Sarah and I recently volunteered some time working for World Vision.  It was a great night getting to play in a small role in releasing some beautiful children from poverty.  We also got to meet Chris Hennig who works for World Vision.  He is a really cool guy, has a passion for the least of these, loves Jesus, and I suspect if our roads traveled were a little closer, we would be homeboys.  I realize I am basing this off of having known and served with the guy for about 4 hours but I am a pretty good judge of character….ok, I do realize I picked a guy called the Bearded Wonder to be my best friend, but that was about 25 years ago so cut me some slack.

Anyway, Chris is doing something that I find really interesting.  Honestly, the more I think about what he is doing, the more envious I am……in a non sinful envious way.  He decided to drop everything in an effort to strip his life down to the basics, literally, and spend the next 5+ months hiking the Appalachian Trail.  His hope is to learn a little more about himself, our God, and spread the word about all the great work that World Vision does for children around the world.   The cool thing about living in the 21st Century is that Chris is staying connected; blogging about his journey along the way.

Sorry for running on….I’m a sales guy so when I get into a pitch sometimes it takes a while to get out.  Go check out Chris’ web space.  I suspect the next five plus months will be interesting at the very least.  Encourage Chris to keep moving forward because selfishly I want to live vicariously through him for the next few months!

www.2200miles.com

Communion

Tonight we gathered for the Lord’s Supper at church….it is always a special time for me as a Christian.  A time of reflection, soul searching, repentance; a time of worship in its purest most stripped down form. But tonight it was something different.  Tonight is was something more.

Communion – an act or instance of sharing.

Yes.  Tonight I took Communion.  Actually we.  We took Communion.  My Lord, my wife, my daughter, and I…..we took Communion.

With the beautiful belief and understanding of a child, my daughter recently made the decision to spend her life pursuing a relationship with her Creator. Through accepting the gift of grace afforded to her by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ she became my sister, now the daughter of the same father.  In the amazing connection that our savior Jesus Christ has with a child, He pursued her….like a shepherd pursues a lost sheep.  Like a father a missing child.  Like a lover to his bride. Like a child to light.

Tonight we sat there together.  Holding hands.  Praying. Worshiping in our own way.

As we prepared to take Communion, I pulled her close and prayed aloud, “Father, thank you for loving me even when I mess up.  Thank you for sending your Son to live a perfect life because I am unable to.  Thank you for the blessing of a loving wife and beautiful daughter.  Forgive me for the sin in my life….for the times when I get angry over the small mistakes that Claire makes…for the times when I spend to much time on the computer and not enough time with Claire….”  And I went on and on.  Confessing sin before my God and my daughter.  I want my daughter to know that I am not perfect.  Just forgiven.  And that by choosing to lay my sin at the feet of Jesus, I am choosing to acknowledge my need for a Savior.

I finished.  She started.

She asked me if it was okay if she didn’t say her prayer of confession out loud.  She held my hand and sat there quietly, looking intently with her eyes closed.  Praying.  Confessing.  For more than a minute or two.  Then grabbed her crayon and went back to coloring.  A time of reflection, soul searching, repentance; a time of worship in its purest most stripped down form.

As we held the red wine (aka grape juice), I told her how I like to look closely at the color and think about the blood of Jesus that was taken but at the same time freely given.  I watched as she held it up to her face and looked deeply into the stain.

With the bread (aka stale cracker) in our hands, I told her how I like to rub it between my fingers and think about the arms of Jesus stretched out wide on the cross in order to allow us to come into his presence.  I watched as she moved it from one hand to another.

Before bed I told her that I enjoyed getting to take the Lord’s Supper with her.  She smiled and said, “Me too, Daddy”.

Communion – an act or instance of sharing.