Kind of blah....

...that's how I'm feeling today. Not for any reason in particular, I suppose...sometimes life just has the upper hand.

We've officially been waiting 10 months for our China referral and 3 months for our referral from Ethiopia. Sometimes (though, not very often) 'doom & gloom' sets in and I begin to wonder if any of this will ever happen.

Our adoption endeavor isn't just about growing our family, it's about wanting to meet a need. And I guess because of my mothering instinct the wait is all the more agonizing! But even now, I still rejoice because I know that the intense agony of waiting is developing within me an even greater capacity to truly meet the needs our children will have. My patience is being refined, my heart is being softened, my expectations are becoming more realistic, and I am certain that God is growing me in His wisdom & knowledge.

I can hardly believe that it was 2 years ago this months that we began researching adoption. The Lord is good - time has moved swiftly - and I am learning what Paul meant by 'desiring the greater gift.' The greatest gift of all is God's presence in my life, but a benefit of His presence is the ability to 'desire the greater gift' (1Cor 12:31)...and that greater gift for each of us is the gift that God has chosen specifically for us...for me, it is the very specific gift of children that God will place in our family through adoption. God has given me a love and passion for children that I do not know...yet...so I trust the best is yet to come.

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this:
He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.” Psalm 37:4-6

Congrats Colts!!!

Rodney (Vince's younger bro, far right side) is the head coach for Bayou Academy in Cleveland, MS -- they are 2008 state champs in baseball...second year in a row!!!!

Steven Curtis Chapman's Cinderella

Devastating...

...please pray for the Steven Curtis Chapman family...
click here to read further

"Cinderella"
So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Ohh-oh ohh-oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't wanna miss even one song,
Cuz all to soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone
She will be gone.

The Lord's Prayer

THIS is why we wait...to God be the glory!

Race Matters, part 2: The Debunking

In April, Vince & I planned to attend T4G 2008 (Together For the Gospel @ Southern Seminary) -- however, due to conflicts we were not able to go. We did, however, get to listen online. One speaker especially impacted us:

Thabiti Anyabwile, pastor in Grand Cayman, shared a message entitled Bearing the Image: Identity, the Work of Christ, and the Church (you can click on the message title to find it & listen). In the midst of adopting from Africa, what Thabiti shared was not only compelling, but convicting...

Here's an excerpt/paraphrase...

Six reasons to abandon the category of race:
1- Abuse of people & scripture...Gen 1, 3, 5, 10 have been tragically taken out of context to promote man's agenda, not God's
2- It’s a very short walk from race to racism (from unity to disunity)...the word 'race' is most always used to highlight differences, not similarities
3- Race as a topic prevents/hinders meaningful engagement with others…the idea of race is inherently against ‘the man’… the topic of ‘race’ has an internal self-destruct mechanism
4- Race undermines the authority & sufficiency of Scripture…God’s Word defines us as ALL being created in His image, different skin colors are in perfect unity in God, because God is in perfect unity with himself...Race infers a genetic, biological difference among humans that is permanent
5- Race causes us to resist the Holy Spirit...when God impresses on our soul to reach out to someone of another ethnicity, race becomes an imaginary canyon we cannot cross
6- Race undermines the Gospel itself..."Go into ALL nations..."

All skin colors of humanity are...
...in union with Adam-- we are each fallen & sinful
Rom 3:22-24 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

...in union with Christ (as Believers)-- we are all being transformed into the likeness of Christ; our new self is being renewed in the image of our Creator
Col 3:11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

...in unity with the church-- the Church should display the new humanity created in Jesus
Eph 5:14-21 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

...unified in glory--
Rev 5:9-10 And they sang a new song:
"You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."

All that said, Thabiti did not undermine the beauty of ethnicity, which is permeable & adaptable -- and the supreme ethnicity for Christians is ‘Christian'.

one author's thoughts...

from Catch of the Day
Adopted - by John Fischer

His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure. (Ephesians 1:5). I know something about this feeling. We have an adopted son and the pleasure he has brought us has been unequaled. And I thought I was doing him a favor.
We have two of our own who are now adults and pretty much out of the house. This new little guy could be our grandson. I often tell people having a child at this stage in life is like being a grandfather without having to give the child up. I know grandparents are supposed to like the fact that they can return their grandchildren to sender, but in this case we are doubly blessed because that would be very hard to do, as attached as we are.
What's really going on here is something I'm not quite sure I can explain, it's just that I haven't loved anyone in quite the way that I love my adopted son. There is no question that he is mine. It's not like he's in second position or anything less than my own. In some strange way he is more mine than my own, and I know that I can't explain that. The fact that he doesn't belong to me by birth means nothing because he belongs to me anyway. I've always loved him. He has my name. I have his papers.
I grew up in a family that did not look very favorably on adoption. I had a cousin who, according to the adults in the family was always causing trouble. And I always heard she was trouble because she was adopted. Bad blood. Should have stuck to our own. Never know what you let in otherwise. If someone even hints of this kind of thinking in regards to my adopted son now, they will meet with my wrath and it will not be a pretty sight.
By the way, I haven't been in touch with my cousin very much but when I do talk to her I realize how wrong we all were about her. I don't know of anyone with more love and compassion than this person. And she will do anything for you at the drop of a hat. She has so many legitimate reasons to be resentful, but she is not.
Now here's the point. How I feel about my son is just a small picture of how God feels about you and me. We have all been adopted into the same family. No one can degrade us or take us away from where we belong. And there's a whole bunch of us who, as brothers and sisters, share this incredible privilege together. And here's the catch: God did this so we could bring Him much pleasure. I understand this now.
http://www.fischtank.com/