"People Think We Are Crazy"

I have been reading a lot of other blogs lately that Pam has linked to ours or of those who have commented to our posts. I see a recurring theme. Most of us have been told by family, friends and co-workers that we must be crazy to want to adopt these kids. "It's a lot of money." "These kids have problems." "They will disrupt your lives." "Why are you doing this at your age?" "How are you ever going to retire?"

If we thought like the world, then we wouldn't adopt. We would be worried about climbing the corporate ladder and our 401k account. We would be keeping up with the Joneses and going on vacations in Hawaii.

In Romans 12:1 & 2, Paul writes, "...present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

Doesn't James 1:27 tell us what is "good and acceptable and perfect" in God's eyes? We are to care for the widows and orphans!! That is our living and holy sacrifice. Those of us who are adopting are merely mimicking what our Father in heaven has already done for us. He paid the price Himself by the sacrifice of His Son, brought us into His house and adopted us as His sons and daughters. Shouldn't we sacrifice, bring them into our homes and make them part of our families?

I'm not crazy. I'm just doing what my Father taught me.

Kevin

Bittersweet

Today is a wonderful day! It is our daughter Morgan's 10th birthday. We had the opportunity to throw her a birthday party yesterday and celebrate the day of her birth. Today is our future daughter ______'s birthday also. Last year we got to celebrate it with her, while she was visiting America. I am celebrating and sad at the same time. I wonder if anyone said "Happy Birthday" to her? I wonder if she got our gifts? I wish we could call her but she isn't available because she is at camp. Little one, we want you to know you are in our hearts right now. We are thinking about you on this day. We love you so much already and can't wait to be together as a family forever!

This is my prayer for you my little ones. I want you to know this always and take comfort that your life was not an accident. God surely does cares for you too! Someday I will read this to each of my children and prayerfully it will be a great comfort to them as it is to me.

Psalms 139:1-18 O Lord, You have searched me and know me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged my behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me," even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You.

You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me. When as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.

Pam

Little Wonders

I have been frustrated by our choice of music on our blog. That might sound trivial but I am the kind of guy who remembers special moments and times by the music of that period. I really like Third Day and other Christian rock bands and Steven Curtis Chapman's "When Love Takes You In" and "Cinderella" can make me cry but they are on everyone else's blogs. I wanted a song that was ours that expressed my feelings about life and family. We chose Rob Thomas' "Little Wonders" from "Meet the Robinsons", which is one of our family's favorite movies. I hope that you will pay attention to the lyrics, especially when he sings:
"Our lives are made
In these small hours
These little wonders
These twists and turns of fate
Time falls away
But these small hours
These small hours still remain

Let it slide
Let your troubles fall behind you
Let it shine
Until you feel it all around you
And I don't mind
If it's me you need to turn to
We'll get by,
It's the heart that really matters in the end"

Our lives here on Earth are small hours in our Lord's hands and these orphans are some of His little wonders.

Psalm 127:3-5. "Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed

Kevin

Looking for name suggestions

Not much exciting to post right now, still waiting for the filing. In the meantime, we have been trying to come up with names for the kids. Garrett and Morgan are so frustrated with us because we change the names constantly. It is common for people to change the children's names to an American name. We also would like, as their parents, to be the ones to name them. The children usually look forward to having American names. So we have gone from Joseph to Daniel from Tara to Jesse to Jena to Paige to Ana to Hannah to Rachel to I don't know! I am looking for good name suggestions if you have any!! I am out of ideas. This is what I do in my spare time. Sad isn't it? I do have two middle names: ________ Frank Greer and ________ Hope Greer.

Well, today I hit a milestone in blogging. I figured out how to insert pictures in my blog. I can't believe what I was doing before. I was going to the layout and adding a page element and couldn't figure out how come all my posts were together! Now I realize the insert picture is right on the posting screen. When all else fails, listen to the tutorial.

Pam

Round Three Finished!

I think I got our dossier complete again! I shipped off the last of my paperwork yesterday and hopefully everything is good. Now we just wait for August 7th to get here. Please pray that the paperwork passes and that our dossier is accepted the first time.

Kevin and I just got back from our vacation in Mazatlan and are refreshed and ready to go! (You can read more about that on our other blog) We couldn't help but imagine how our family will change in the near future. We are excited to see what God is going to teach us in our journey. It amazes me to see how He has softened our hearts in so many ways. He has challenged our thinking about what is truly important. I am going to start a blogroll which has some very inspiring stories. You can see what I am talking about when I say God is speaking to our hearts.

Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Pam

Mercy & Grace

Pam just called me to tell me that we have our submission date on August 7. I don't have much to say since I am in shock with the reality that we could be going to Ukraine this fall. I am overwhelmed with emotion and can almost feel them in my arms and hear them say, "Papa!" God proves again his mercy and grace!

"Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:16

Kevin

We Got Our Date!

Wow, we have waited so long to hear that we have an actual filing date! I am so excited I can't believe it. We are going to file our paperwork on August 7Th! Please pray everything is good on it and there are no other delays. This is the real beginning of this whole long process. After we file our dossier on August 7Th we will get an invitation to go to Ukraine. Hopefully, that won't be too long. It can be as soon as two months and as long as five. We would love to have the kids here before Christmas. It was hard enough celebrating the 4Th of July without them. Thanks for your prayers. Did I tell you we really get to file on August 7th?

Pam