Sunday, November 25, 2007

Thanksgiving Weekend...

(If you click the barn picture, you can actually see the snow falling)

Thanksgiving Weekend...in New England...Putting up the tree with the snow falling outside, crackling of the fireplace, snow ball fights, Christmas carols, hot chocolate, the bitter chill of outside...

Oh wait...that's not Thanksgiving weekend in New England...that's right here is frosty Mayberry!!!! Sweet gravy is the world all backwards. Family back home celebrated Thanksgiving in about 60 degree weather, while we here in Texas had 34 degrees, bone chilling wind and 2-3 inches of snow!! BRILLIANT!

This weekend has been great. We had our 23 pound turkey and all the sides you have with it and of course pie :). We put up our Christmas tree on Saturday and decorated the house with all the decorations. Santa's Elf made an appearance and is attempting to keep the T.o.T.'s in line. (The elf comes to our house after thanksgiving and "watches" the kids and reports back to Santa up until Christmas.). And today (Sunday), we will all sit around for the first of many viewings of the Christmas classic movie "Elf".

Uno, Dos, Tres and I started a hopeful yearly tradition of playing Monopoly. It's their first time playing it and Uno plays exactly like I did as a kid, railroads and the blue properties (Boardwalk and Park Place - ie: expensive ones). She is also losing like I did every time :). Dos is turning out to be a little Donald Trump, minus the dead raccoon for hair. We started playing on Friday night after the T.o.T.'s went to bed and have continued each night until someone wins and as of right now Dos has about 4500 dollars and hotels on 6 properties while Uno has about 200 bucks and no houses anywhere while Tres and I have about 67 bucks and a couple of mortgaged properties!

Only real bummer of these weekend is Dos has pneumonia. He was coughing and had a fever on Wednesday and went back to the doctor on Friday and spent a good amount of the day going to the doctor, the hospital for x-rays, back to the doctor then finally home. Poor guy has been coughing and having a tough time breathing...but it hasn't stopped him from kicking Uno's, Tres's and my butt in Monopoly!

Unfortunately...I have to go back to work tomorrow. Things at work have been going awful, so I absolutely dread going back. When times at home are as much fun as they have been, it makes it so much harder to go back.

But, as always...God is Good...

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Giving of Thanks

I have regressed way too much from posting about the most important thing in my life; Jesus.

By my calculations; in the New American Standard Bible, the word "ThanksGiving" appears 41 times. Mostly in the Psalms, but from the beginning of time (Leviticus 7:12-15) through the end of time (Revelation 7:12), we are instructed to give God all the Thanks.

If our mom's raised us properly, we are very quick with our thank yous. Wal-Mart, McDonalds, co-workers, strangers holding the door for us, stranger NOT holding the door for us (but that would be a very sarcastic thank you). If we can thank these random people for their random acts, how much easier it should be for us to thank our Creator.

  • When making a sacrifice, do so with ThanksGiving: Leviticus 7:12
  • When looking out into the horizon, looking out into the world God created and the beauty He crafted, do so with ThanksGiving: Psalm 26:7
  • When embracing life and the tragedies overcome, do so with ThanksGiving: Psalm 30:1
  • When singing out praises to God, do so with ThanksGiving: Psalm 147:7
  • When taking comfort in the knowledge that God is in fact in control, do so with ThanksGiving: Isaiah 51:3
  • When providing comfort and service to others, do so with ThanksGiving: 2nd Corinthians 9:12
  • When praying for yourself and your relationship with Jesus, do so with ThanksGiving: Colossians 4:2
  • When praying for others and their relationship with Jesus, do so with ThanksGiving: 1st Timothy 2:1

Let's not lose sight of the fact that Thanksgiving is so much more than the turkey, stuffing, parades and football. Christians came here to be free from religious oppression. On that first thanksgiving, Captain John Woodleaf proclaimed "Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually keept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty god" (thank you wikipedia).

I encourage you to take some time and give God all the thanks he so richly deserves. I thank God for my wife, for my children, for the life he has so richly blessed me with, for another day, for His power, for His almighty control over all, for family & friends (current and lost, far and near), for good health, for times of strife which allows me to grow closer to Him, for His listening ear and forgiveness, for the cross, for a perfect resurrection, for the Holy Trinity, for the freedom to Thank Him out loud.

God is Indeed, Good.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Boys Day Out

Has it really been 2 weeks since I last posted something, jeepers. Sunday was my birthday (and Seis's!) and I got to spend it with one of my favorite people in this world...my oldest son A.J. Not saying he is my favorite kid, he is one of the 8 most important people in my life!

When I found out the Patriots were playing the Cowboys earlier this summer, it was my mission to make that Dos's first football game. He loves football, likes the patriots because he wants to be Tom Brady (their quarterback) and likes the cowboys because when in Texas, do as the Texans do (I guess). So with approval from the president (read: the wife) I was able to get 2 tickets. I'm not sure who was more excited to be going, but I think at the end of the day, I might have been a little more excited :)
So we got up at 4:30AM to start our 5 hour drive out to Dallas. (Love living in the middle of nowhere!) Dos did great on the ride, just watched the 2004 Boston Red Sox Championship DVD (did I tell you I love this kid) and then played his game boy. Before we knew it we were pulling up to the stadium. After about 20 minutes or so of trying to find the proper parking lot, we finally pulled into a spot, which happened to be the Patriot section or something! Patriot banners and flags and jerseys were everywhere, felt almost like we were in Massachusetts again (sniff sniff...I miss home).

We then began our official tailgating party. Tailgating with a 7 year consists of grilling up some hot dogs, having a bag of Cheeto's and of course a sprite! We threw the football around for about an hour, ate up our most awesome grilled meat from the back of my truck and sat around for a while and watched all the crazy fans. Around noon or so we made our way into the stadium. After walking around for a bit we went down to the Patriots sidelines in hopes of seeing some of the players and getting autographs.

2 hours later we went back to our seats, with no autographs :). I think Dos was kind of disappointed. In his little 7 year old mind I think he expected Tom Brady to come out, have a soda with us, maybe bring us out on the field and play catch, then afterwards we'd all go out to dinner and a movie :). But, as Dos said, he got a few things that were way better than an autograph. While hanging out behind the Patriots bench one of the trainers came up to Dos and gave him an authentic NFL wrist band (which hasn't left Dos's arm yet!!!). Then a little later one of the security guards came up and gave him a stack of printouts the team uses after each play, which show how the team lined up on that play. They all have coaches markings on them and Dos was in heaven with those.

Finally we made it to our seats and the game started and the Patriots just kicked "Dem Cowboys" butts!! It was great. By the 3rd quarter Dos was ready to leave, but he stuck it out until near the end of the game. We got in the truck, headed over to the hotel, goofed off a bit and the next morning we drove back home. It was one heck of a trip.

Here are some of the notes I took during the day:

  • So we are in the parking lot. 5 hours of driving starting at 4:30am. We found a spot in patriot country here, its great. Surrounded by a whole bunch of patriot jerseys. Dos told me on the ride here that this is going to be one of the best days of his life! That's so awesome.
  • Dos is in his glory, being called "Little Brady" over and over again by Patriots and Cowboys fans here in the parking lot as we throw the football around
  • He just told me he "wouldn't sell our tickets even if the guy gave us 5,000 dollars!"
  • At the hotel now and little man is asleep, even though 18 seconds ago he said he wasn't tired and wanted to watch the football game that's on :) Reflecting on today, and this has to go down as one of the best days of my life. This is what you dream about when you have a son. Spending a day bonding and just hanging out together. Whether its at a sporting event, fishing or whatever it is you like to do. I think he had a good day. He got a little bored and tired near the end of the game, but I think he'll remember us throwing the football in the parking lot and the man on the field giving him an official NFL wristband and play sheets and us wrestling back here at the hotel. Those are the real bonding times...that and belly bumping and high fiving when the patriots scored against Dallas (which was A LOT!)

    What an awesome, fun way to spend my 31st birthday. I missed being with Wife and the other kids, but this was lifetime memory making fun today. I always wanted my dad to spend time with me, and while I hope Dos liked today, its more selfish for me to have spent the time with him.
Dads...Get out and spend time with your kids. It's not only great for them and shows how much you love them and brings you so much closer....It's amazing for you as well.

God is Good...so is being a Dad.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Whoops...Funny

So...without being too dirty here, I wanted to share this. I work in the IT department. Part of my job is to monitor how much hard drive space our servers have. For the computer illiterate that means I need to make sure there is room on the computers for people to save their files. So, I noticed today that one of our servers was very low, so I wrote up an email and sent it to the appropriate people and copied myself on the email. I proudly hit send, thinking "Man...am I on the ball today!!!" (no pun intended...you'll get that in a minute).

As I look at the email that pops into my in-box, which I had just sent to about 15 or 20 people, I notice a slight error. The subject line doesn't quite say what I had intended. My brain told my fingers to type: "Add Disk Space". My fingers decided to be funny and replaced the S with a C (and not in the word Space, but rather in the word Disk).

My stomach dropped! I immediately thought about HR coming to my office with a pink slip and a few boxes and how it would feel to be standing in line for food stamps. After that 5 second mental freak out was over, I then went through the names of the people I sent that too, and thank heavens it was only 1 woman and no major management people. I then laughed out loud at how funny that statement is, "Add Space"...that is stinking funny. Then I realized, oh crap...i need to send out another note to that same group of people and let them know I'm quite happy with....err I mean I had to email them all and apologize for that major mistake in typing.

Thankfully everyone has laughed, mostly at me, which is a huge sigh of relief. One guy came up to me and said he couldn't help me with that, only God could. hahhha. Man oh man, what a major idiot I can be...

Another funny from today...It's bathroom humor, so stop reading now if you are easily offended (as if that last story wasn't offensive enough). I went to the bathroom and the stench was just down right nasty. Too much Mexican I guess. BUT, thanks to my newest 3 year old son Cinco....through my trip to Liberia and his 4 or 5 trips a day to the throne, I was able to persevere through the hanging cloud of death and do my business. While in there, the cleaning lady knocks on the door...she's ready to clean up the place. She pokes her head in and asks if anyone is in there, which I quickly and nervously shout....Yes...SomeoneIsInHere...Don'tComeInHere!!!!!!

Be Honest now...You know that crazy nervous feeling you get when someone tries to open the bathroom door when you are in there...that "I can't quite jump up right now, so I have to shout out a garbled mess of sounds to let that person know I am in here" reaction...don't lie...we've all done it!! You end up groaning/mumbling/screeching like a rabid monkey.

Now before this lady even listens to hear if anyone is in there, she starts grumbling..."Ooooh...Good Lord...how in the world can you stand that...that is just down right nasty" and she sprayed this terrible grape/potpourrie spray stuff in the room...which stuck to my clothes. (I guess it could have been worse than smelling like the grim reaper and the death he brings) But that bad part is I still had to exit the bathroom...and now this lady thinks I have the ability to peal paint with my bodily functions...wonderful. She gave me the most disgusted look when I left.

ahhh....the things that make me laugh...I like being a boy.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Friday Night with the Kids


(More pictures below)

It's 9:24pm and all the kids have been in bed and sleeping for an hour and 1/2 now. Can I get a witness?!?! Wife is out tonight, getting a much deserved break from all the poop, pee-pee, feedings, baths, laundry and crying (mine and the kids :) ). Tonight was my night to be Dad and Mom. It went over pretty well.

I'm sitting here now with Shrek playing on the TV (yea...for me and not any children!) and thought I'd post a few notes about life. Here is how I see my children a week and a 1/2 into our "new" life.

Uno: It seems as though she is really enjoying being a big sister, especially to baby Siete. She walks around with him on her hip and it's pretty funny to watch. She's been truly amazing in how she's handled the new kids and how helpful she and Dos have been. She also had too much on her plate with the Gifted program at school. She was going to the GEM program, which is a program for the gifted kids in Mayberry. It's held at a different school for 2 days of the week. She is perfect for the program intellectually, but emotionally it took a toll on her. I was driving her to GEM on Monday and she was so worked up, she puked in my hat!! Wife and I discussed it and decided it just isn't worth the emotional toll on her. She's an A+ student at regular school, and that's more than awesome. Maybe she can try the GEM program next year. But now she can just enjoy her new siblings and be the best big sister 6 kids could have.

Dos: What an amazing little guy. He has also embraced being the big kid in the house. Watching him play with Cinco, running around the house and being boys makes me so happy. I'm so stinking happy that he finally has a brother to play with. And when Dos comes near Siete, Siete just smiles and giggles. Dos has been so helpful and has sacrificed some of his little life to help out a tired and frazzled dad a few times this past week. It's funny to say, but I wouldn't have been able to be as good a dad if it weren't for Dos and Uno's unselfishness and great attitude towards helping out! In 2 weeks Dos and I will be in Dallas to see the Patriots beat the Cowboys...I can't wait for that 1 on 1 time with him.

Tres: She has taken well to be American :) We have a good amount of work to do, in terms of manners and learning how to interact with her new siblings. I assume orphanage life does this, but she tends to be very bossy and tell the T.O.T.'s (see previous post for definition) what to do and how to do it. I've had to raise my voice a few times with her and she doesn't like that too much. We had a melt down the other night at dinner when I tried to teach her to say "Yes Sir" when I tell her something. She told me no. She promptly went to her room wailing. After about 10 minutes of wailing, she calmed down, we talked (as well as we can) and now she knows and says Yes Sir when I give her direction. All of our kids have learned...it's yes ma'am, yes sir, no sir, no ma'am. We are the parents, not their school yard buddies. That all being said, she has been so much fun to play around with. She has a GREAT sense of humor and she gets it when I'm joking around with her and she even jokes back. I love that.

Quatro: I'll say this about Seis as well...Our African-American daughters have taken to talking African!!! I guess it sounds cool or being around it all day, it just rubs off on you. Quatro has actually been a lot better since the kids came home, compared to before they were home. She's slowly embracing being the 4 year old of the house, not quite a big kid, but not a little kid either. Although she really, REALLY, REALLY wants to be Tres. It's funny to watch her walk and talk like Tres . She comes out of her room and tells us how she has pretty hair like Tres or she is big like Tres. Pretty funny stuff.

Seis: So Seis has reverted back to being in pull-ups and "forgetting" how to put on her clothes. I think her place in the family is in question in her mind. It's frustrating but understandable. She was the baby of the family and now she's a big sister and one of 3 toddlers/pre-schoolers her age. She's such a a funny little girl and has such a goofy spirit. I hope we can help her through this adjustment time and she can just enjoy being the Seis of the family. She also talks about Siete as if he is a girl..."Her sock is off...She is laughing...." Drives me nuts!! :)

Cinco: Oh our little Cinco...our little human tornado. Everything he does, its loud, messy, clumsy, boisterous and full of chaos. It's hilarious to watch him just bounce off the wall because he wasn't paying attention to where he was going, fall to the ground, pop back up and run off to play. He has no sense of pain, as Dos will attest to, listening to Cinco slam his head into his head board at night and not wake up!! I also think the boy is French. Everything is prefaced with "le"...le car, le truck, le peepee, le drink. It's funny to hear. It also makes it hard to teach him to talk normally. He doesn't quite comprehend what we say to him most of the time, so he just repeats what we say or says "yeaaaa". You ask him, how do you ask nicely, his reply: how do you ask nicely. :)

Siete: Still one of the coolest babies you will ever meet. He has learned that being an American baby means, cry for whatever you want. Granted my precious wife has fed into it...something I would NEVER do *wink. Still though, he cries when hungry (which is every 18 seconds) or if he is tired (seems to be every 18 hours!!!). I taught him how to give kisses, which is awesome. Big huge wide mouth kisses, drool everywhere, can't beat that. Wife has started teaching to wave bye-bye, which makes him smile huge. He has put on some weight since being home, he is a whopping 15 pounds now. And to keep him "distracted" (as that "helpful" lady in Liberia suggested), we have found if Siete has a "forbidden toy" he is so happy. A forbidden toy would be: a block, maybe a random sock, a plastic cup, any toy Cinco may have breathed near.

Well that's all for now. Life is still awesome. It's tiring and hectic but as my good friend Jon says:

It's Worth It.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

T.O.T's....


Quatro, Cinco and Seis...coloring...or are they really plotting against us?!?!?!?

Triplets of Terror aka T.O.T's...this is my new name for Quatro, Cinco and Seis. Named in love of course. We went from twins of sorts with Quatro and Seis to now triplets of sorts with Cinco added to the mix. They are funny and cool and just short goofballs. I also think they get together and plot against us...the plot nothing but 3 and 4 year old evil :). Lots of noise, toy banging, fighting over toys, fighting over mom and dad's attention. It's too funny watching them try to be sneaky in the things they say and do, yet be so obvious in their plots. It should be quite interesting to see how these 3 will grow and take on the world, hopefully together and not against each other.

Life has been like one big blur for the last 2 weeks. Since I got home it feels like everyday has blended into the next. Yet it feels like I've been home for ever. I think people take for granted how hard it is going to Africa and back. Missions trips are tough when you get back, dealing with what you saw, heard and experienced. BUT, this trip was 10 times harder than the trip I went on in November. I brought Liberia back with me! It's never quiet or calm in this house now :) I think it's fun and great, but it makes the time to debrief and get your wits back so much harder. I'm not saying this in a whoa is me kind of way, just being honest with whats going on inside.

Tomorrow (Monday) starts the beginning of "real" life for us. I will be back at work for my normal time and the kids will be off to school. I am praying that new routines start to take shape and people in this house understand their rolls, whats expected and not expected of them and the overall "Ways of the "

It's funny to me how easily these kids have adapted. There have been times of struggles, and thats been expected and understandable. But for the most part, Siete, Cinco and especially Tres have been doing remarkably well. Tres acts as if she's been an American her whole life. Lounging on the couch in the morning, listening to Wife and My conversations (just like her big sister) and helping set and clear the table after dinner. Cinco has had the most hard time, in my opinion. He has been very tired, very whiny at times but still gets right in there with the kids and the toys. He's the most extreme kid I've ever met...the over dramatic sadness, over dramatic happiness, the over dramatic food explosions...the over dramatic bathroom explosions :). And Siete, just like in Africa, he's the coolest dude in the house. Feed him, change him and let him be. He loves playing with the forbidden toys...Cinco's trucks...or the remote control...he's really a dare devil :)

Jsut as I was about to post this, we just had a visitor at our house...nearly our entire COM group from church. (COM group is a home group). They brought over about 15 bags of groceries!!!! Sweet gravy that's awesome. WE won't be purchasing rice until Siete graduate college!!! What an incredible blessing. Thank You guys so much if any of you are reading this. It is such an incredible showing of love and we thank you oh so much.

Till later...God is Good!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Settling In...

(too bad too it was a good picture of the fam)
(FYI...getting 8 people to sit and all smile and look at the same time at the camera....impossible!)

Wow...What a whirlwind the past few weeks have been. I think back to just one week ago and it's mind boggling to me that I was in Africa. A week ago I was ripping my hair out (I know I don't have hair, funny) with the loudness and whining of 5 kids and a baby (The Stewarts kids plus ours). A week ago I was missing my family in America, who was waiting for me to come home and start the next phase of the family. Today I'm sitting in my recliner, typing away on normal speed internet access, listening to the noise and loudness of the newly formed household.

The kids are all adjusting as well as they possibly can be. I'm actually shocked and amazed at how well everyone is getting along. After being in that African hotel room and listening to the constant cries of Cinco, the non stop calls for "beeesket" (Liberian for cookie or cracker), wiping poo-poo hiney's 4 or 5 times a day, I was so nervous about how this all was going to work out. But God is glorious. It's been pretty fun here. Kids playing, talking, laughing. Mom and Dad finding time for everyone, even though it seems like someone is always being forgotten or lost in the crowd. Cinco hasn't whined as much, heck hardly at all. Although he is still a stinking poop factory. Tres is so much more comfortable now that we are in "America". She has taken to having her room with Uno, her dolls and a virtual toy store of toys to goof off with. She hasn't had one of her wailing fits since being home. and Siete...Well he's still the man. He's learned that crying is the way to get what you want in the U.S.A! And that food is here all the time and his mouth is open all the time, what a perfect marriage.

At dinner last night, I'm looking at these 7 kids and it hit me that, there are 7 freaking kids at my table!!! Good grief. Each one has their own little personality and future ahead of them. It's going to be interesting to see how it all plays out and what the new routines will be like and which kids gravitate towards each other. We have the momma wanna be in Uno, the quiet yet confident singer in Tres, the human tornado in Cinco, the proud big brother in Dos, the confused yet goofy Sies, the want to be 9, but still only 4 year old Quatro and then the "I'm the man...feed me" Siete. How amazing is this? How cluttered and loud and congested is this? How Awesome!!

God is so merciful and gives us all we need to make it through the challenges of this life. He's given us the means to take in 7 children. He's given us the patience to get through the days of stress here at home as well as in Africa. He's blessed Wife and I with a love for each other that is like no other. He's blessed us with an instant desire to love these 7 kids, which is a miracle for me, because frankly...I do not like kids, toddlers especially. (As 3 of them are in the playroom yelling at each other and fighting over toys!).

And so the chaos of our life will now continue. It's going to be a fun, interesting, stressful, rewarding, tiring,, loving and funny time. But most importantly, I pray it's a time/life of God's blessing's on these kids. All are hand picked by God to be a part of this family, in order to bring more people to His family.

God is so Good!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

And We're Home!

Praise God We are HOME!!!

What a crazy trip home. It started out on Sunday after we went to church at Greater Love Baptist Church. Pastor Wesley preached and we worshiped Jesus together, African style. It was fun and of course pretty hot in that little church. Had some fun times talking and joking with a lot of the people we met in November on the mission trip.

We went to the Airport after church. I told Pastor Wesley we wanted to be at the airport early and he joked with me, saying I was going to be there waaaay to early. Well I'm glad we insisted on leaving at 2PM instead of the 4PM he was trying to convince us to leave at. We got to Roberts International Airport in Monrovia after an hour long drive. We made it into the airport with only a few people looking for money. When I went to check in, they told me I didn't have a ticket for Siete. I showed them I had tickets for him from Brussels to Dallas and tickets for everyone else from Monrovia to Dallas, I wouldn't have NOT purchased the cheapest ticket of them all for the baby. The fought with me, sent me to the Brussels Airline office and made me sit there for a half hour before the figured out THEIR mistake. I was already tired and annoyed, but I took my boarding pass and went back through security and got passed a few more attempts at bribes by the security personal.

While I was fighting with Brussels airline to let me get my baby on the plane, Kevin was fighting with the Liberian Customs and Immigration people. They wouldn't let him past the passport stamping process because he didn't have the "adoption packet" that all adoptive parents have presented to him for the past years when they leave Liberia. We were on the phone to Addy's Hope and eventually the man and Pastor Wesley talked and Pastor Wesley was able to get us through. For about an hour or 2 we all thought we were going to be trapped in Liberia for who knows how long. But God is gracious....and we were allowed to pass through and by the time we all had made it to the waiting area, our flight was boarding. Had we waited until 4, like Pastor Wesley wanted, we would have been stuck there even longer. Thank You God!

Finally after all that, we got on the plane and started our 28 hour or so travels home. The flights were decent. God put in our paths some great people who were naturally curious why a few white guys had a gaggle of brown children making lots of noise and running around. So many people helped out at different times on different flights, giving the kids some distraction from whatever was making them sad.

Each flight got progressively worse for Tres. She naturally got more tired as we got off planes, waited in airports, got on planes and move all about. She ended up having some large meltdowns on planes and in the airports. But again different people helped out, and having a stranger come up and talk nicely and trying to comfort her helped so much.

When we finally landed in Mayberry, it all made sense. She asked me if we were in America? All those flights, taking off and landing, she was sad we weren't in America and was questioning if she was ever going to go to America, which is what she was promised by Pastor Wesley.

Today being home with my family, it's so much fun looking at my kids and seeing the future of family name all together in one house. Communication is a little difficult, but Cinco and Dos have been playing, Tres has been looking at books and dressing her new doll, all the kids have been playing in the playroom. I know, as it is with all kids, there will times of stress and craziness, but I am so glad to call this crew my family. God has blessed me so many times over I don't even know how to express to Him in prayer or action how in awe and grateful I am for the opportunities he has given and allowed us to do for Him.

Brown and white faces, boys and girls, Liberians and American....Our's.

Praise God!

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Last post until I am home!

Today we went to the reception with the birth families. It was awkward but not too bad. Tres's mother and aunt were there and were very outgoing. They were very happy to see Tres going to America to have a good life. Cinco and Siete's mother and his father (or so I think) was there. Their mother seemed very quiet and it was awkward. The father was more outgoing. They took turns holding the boys. Cinco had a great night after we got home, Tres had a meltdown, but recovered and went to sleep. I am sure it was an emotional day for all of them. Siete still has very wet poopy diapers, so pray that it gets better for the plane ride.

This is the last time I will be able to post until I am home. We are flying out Sunday night and will be in A CITY Monday night, then Mayberry Tuesday morning. Pray for a smooth flight.

I Love You Guys!

I Love You God!

Friday, September 14, 2007

Visa's in Hand!!!!



Praise God we have our visas. Not without some drama, but they are in hand.
Pastor Wesley came by at 1 o'clock like he said he would, to bring us to the Embassy to get the visas. Only he was pretty flustered and talking about 3 hours of traffic and how Fanny (one of the other kids being adopted by the Stewarts) needed to have her finger prints done. He wanted to take me and fanny to the embassy to get her prints done and for me to pay my last fee. I told him heck no, we were all going. The whole ride there and wait I thought her prints needed to be run by the US government. After waiting outside for about 30 minutes at some restaurant while Pastor Wesley and Fanny were in getting her finger prints, we finally were allowed into the Embassy and we waited for the visas and our immigration packets to be processed. Thankfully the visa for Fanny wasn't held up because of her prints and everyone left with an immigration packet and visa. Turns out, since Fanny's passport says she was born in 1993 (absolutely no way she is 14 years old), she had to have finger prints done. New policy for anyone 14 and older coming in the country. So since her paperwork says she is 14 (again...she must have been born in 1993, not 1998) she needed finger prints. While waiting of course Siete had a sloppy poopy.

Spent some good time with our friend Matthew tonight. We met him when the missions team came to Liberia in November. He is a solid guy and working hard to finish his degree in Accounting. It was good to spend time with him and hear his stories of life in Liberia. We all sat around and talked tonight; Ryan, Kevin, Matthew and I. It was fun to share our stories and life with each other.

Tomorrow is our day of fellowship at the church. It should be interesting. We will be meeting the birth parents of the children we are adopting. Those who know me know, when I say it'll be interesting, I mean I think it's going to be weird. I pray that it will go ok. I'm told that the relationships with the parents and kids aren't like they are in the US. Still, if the kids see their birth mothers, it could get awkward and potentially sad.

Random thoughts about Liberia: All the wood carvers make the same stuff...are they really wood carvers? Or is there a wood carvers outlet somewhere?It's the rainy season here...probably should have packed a parka or 2The roads here are a major mess. Holes the size of Rhode Island!! (For you Texans...that's like the size of a most hats worn in the Lone Star State)The electricity here in the hotel stays on consistently for about 18 minutes.Ryan looks pretty stinking funny holding baby...19 years old and wiping boogy noses and rocking babies to sleep. He is so freaking incredible.

Thanks Jon, Sara, Mike and Chuck for stopping by the house! You guys are awesome.

Love You Guys....Love You God

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Made it Through the Embassy Appointment

Thank God, We made it to the embassy...filled out about 4 million forms...didn't know what to put in most of the boxes on each form...fudged our way through it all and God willing we will have visa for all the kids tomorrow at 2PM. It was a long hour or so at the embassy with 6 kids and 4 guys packed into a very small room and the kids getting tired and bored, but once again Ryan was a champ and kept everyone as calm as possible.

So only a few more days and we'll be on our way home. Kids are napping now...by kids I mean Siete, Cinco and Ryan!! :)

Not too much else to report from here. We have been spending time in the hotel. The kids all play together. I think having Charles, Giftie and Fannie here has been a great help. They all get crazy and loud at times, but it gives them all people to play with. Hawa and the Stewarts kids play all the time so it seems fun for them.

God is so good to me for allowing me this opportunity, I just pray next time He'll allow Wife and I to do it together. Adoption is a God ordained WE thing, but this trip makes it feel like a ME Thing, so sorry for hogging all this stuff Wife, you can have the first week home with them :). But I don't question His plan for us and this trip. I haven't had as much time to spend in the Word as I wanted to being here, but He has full on shown Himself to me through these little people. It's amazing how, through all the bodily fluids and stresses, I immediately have a love for these little ones. I can't explain it except to say...that's how God loves each and every one of us. He shakes his head at us and says why oh why....but I still Love You.

No pictures this post...the internet here is so darn slow. And we keep losing power. It's like I'm living in Africa or something....

oh and will someone...Jon, Mike, Chuck...someone PLEASE check in on my beautiful wife. In one day I hear about a flood in the kitchen and a fire in the oven. I'd like to make it home, to a home and a family!!! :)

Love you Guys!
Love you God!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Wednesday


I am putting this up for Randy
---Wife

Just a quick post tonight. Today was out chill out day at the hotel, which went surprisingly well. No one really got too restless and we all played together, napped a little of the day away, ate some snacks and colored.

I did get to enjoy the wonderful experience of cleaning up vomit. Tres ate too many different snacks and ended up toss her snacks into the sink. It's like I can't avoid puke with my kids. Here and Uno should get along just great!! I had to transfer her tossed cookies from the sink to the toilet, because, well because of it's consistency. Ended up cutting a water bottle in half then scooping it out and moving it to where it belongs. Stomach's starting to hurt thinking about it!!!

Siete is still very congested. He is sneezing out HUGE boogie strings, which anyone who knows me knows, I can't handle boogies. give me the puke, but the boogies and *shivers.
Tomorrow is out trip to the embassy. Pray for a smooth process. Some stories are good and others are bad about the lady we need to deal with, so I pray this all goes smoothly and we get the visa on Friday morning. I'd rather not spend more time here.
Love you Guys!
Love you God!!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Just another Tuesday in Liberia

PICTURE REMOVED
We went to the Greater Love Children's Home today. We took tons of pictures and handed out gifts to the kids. It was a mad house!!! It was fun to be able to give to the to-be adopted kids the packages their new families sent for them. The older kids seemed to "get it" but the little guys and girls had no idea what I was about :) All the kids really like looking through the photo albums families send. It was tough leaving though, so many kids were crying, thinking that this was their turn to go home. One little girl kept hugging my leg. I also felt bad for Tres (our little 6 year old girl). She was crying a lot before we left and she was really clingy to Ryan and I when we were at the Children's Home. I'm not too sure bringing them back there is a smart idea, but it seems like that is the customary thing to do.

Pastor Wesley has done some great work at the orphanage. There is a cement wall that now surrounds the facility and an additional class room was built. BUT, more importantly is the new well on the property that a previous adoptive family raised the money to have drilled. Now, instead of walking 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile to get water, they can just go right outside. Thank God for that!

Tomorrow will be a hang out day at the hotel, Which really means, scramble to come up with ways to keep the kids entertained :) Glad I brought Ryan. Hopefully the DVD's I brought and music and toys will keep them entertained. So far the kids have been pretty good. Kevin and I keep our doors open for most of the time we are here, so the kids run around from room to room and play together. I'm glad Kevin is here adopting his 3 cute kiddos. It's helped having another person to talk to, but even more so it's helped the kids (mostly Tres) have fun playing with her friends.

As far as these kiddos go...I'll tell you what, it is EASY to fall in love with Tres. She absolutely precious. She acts like a 6 year old and has a little bit of a selfish side (to be expected) but she is so mild mannered you can accept it and still want to give her a hug. She accepts a short "Don't do that" and moves on, usually with a smile. Only time she won't respond to me is when she is sad, which has only been 2 or 3 times so far. Siete is just a cool little dude. He is sick I think but he just hangs out and rarely makes a noise. He is however in that I want to reach out and touch everything in and out of my reach and whine if I can't have it stage. Also playing the drop my toy and daddy will pick up game....I love that game...he usually wins. Cinco...I'm still confused about. I'm not sure if he is just really good at playing the whining game or he really is THAT whiney :)He can be and is very adorable but he is absolutely stubborn. If he can't have his way...then he'll just whine and cry and still try to do what he wants. Oh and the kid can eat!!! Unfortunately the by-product of that is: 5 trips to the potty and all I can say is it the most unHOLY of experiences.

FYI: I didn't proof read this, so I apologize for any misspellings or weird looking sentences!!!

Thanks for all the notes guys....We love it and can't wait to be back home.

HE Is our Solid Rock!

Monday, September 10, 2007

Day 2....


Today we went as saw the medical clinic. It was so awesome to see how much has been done. They were in the process of tiling the floors so there will be no more cement dust for the patients. Also they have started to build a radio station for Pastor to broadcast his sermons.

He also showed us the building that will be known as the Marion house. It's the infant home for the babies to stay in, away from the older children and potential illnesses. It is named after a baby girl who was going to be adopted, but got sick and passed away a few months ago. Her to be adoptive parents have raised money to help build it. It's being built on the property that Pastor Wesley and his family live on. It'll have a place for the infants, an office for Addy's Hope as well as a second floor for visitors, missionaries and most importantly adoptive parents.

We are spending the rest of the day today at the hotel and man, 5 kids and a baby...that is one loud combo. We did have one "emergency" after breakfast when Ryan picked big Z out of his stroller and dripping out of his pants was a mustard looking, sulfer spelling substance. It was absolutely nasty. He had exploded all out of his pants and up his back. Ryan and I both kind of froze, he held Siete out with two arms and just held him there...I...well I just stared for about 30 seconds. I had no idea what to do :)...finally I came too and got the wipes, cleaned up Siete's legs and stroller then up into the shower we went...oh the joy of diapers.

I realized today that most of the clothes we brought Quatro and Siete are just way too big. the shorts I put on Siete today he needed a belt, so I think this will be a week of onsies and 1 piece outfits. Too bad I didn't bring him a nice pant suit.

It's going to be an interesting dynamic when we all get home. I know Dos and Uno are going to want to play with Tres and Quatro and I'm sure they will do fine, but the Liberian kids are very hard to understand. And the way these kids interact with each other, it's like they lived in an orphanage or something. They are surprisingly sharing, but also very territorial. If a toy or food is dropped, they will yell at each other to get it back, but if they feel like sharing, they'll offer up the same toy that they just fought for.

Today Quatro has really come out of his shell, almost too much :) He is one of the louder kids and very vocal with what he wants. I was able to make him giggle and he responded to tickles. I was so nervous last night that he was going to be so quiet and withdrawn, but he seems like he's going to fit in just right as a .

Tomorrow will be a day at the children's home to visit and give out the adoptive parents gifts they sent to their new children. Wednesday is a day to just hang out at the hotel (which could be 1 loooooong day), Thursday is our trip to the embassy, Friday back to the embassy to pick up visa's (God willing), Saturday there will be a fellowship time with the biological parents and members of the church (not sure I knew about that and trying to figure out how comfortable I am with that), then Sunday we start our short 2 day trek home.

Last 2 things. 1. Thank you all for the comments and emails...nothing like being a 30 yr old guy along in restaurant, weird techno music playing in the background, in the middle of Liberia Africa....wiping tears off my face. I love it!! and 2. God is so stinking amazing...He sent with me the most incredible friend in Ryan...he's 19 years old and is making this trip even more fun than it would have been by myself. I absolutely wouldn't have been able to do this with out him!!! Great job Reich's in raising one heck of a kid!!

Getting pictures up here is so tough, I apologize for not having more. The internet connection is amazingly, painfully slow.

Love You All!

We Made It!!

Well it's 7:45AM Monday morning and Ryan and Tres are still sleeping, Cinco is laying on the bed but wanting nothing to do with anything and Siete is sucking his fingers laying next to me.

We made it! Mayberry to Don'tKnow to Washington to Brussels to Monrovia....30 whatever hours later, we are here. The flights were for the most part, not that great. There was a lot of turbulence and at one point on our way to Brussels, the plane dropped a few feet unexpectedly, which promptly made people scream and one person called out to Jesus. Scared the junk out of me. Once in Brussels we met up with Kevin, who is one brave man. He is also adopting 3 children through Addy's Hope, only he came here alone.

We landed in Monrovia and didn't have any troubles getting our bags and getting through customs...that right there is 1 HUGE Praise God! Met the kids last night and took "ownership" of them, not too sure how else you say that. We went to Pastor Wesley's house after checking in at the hotel.
Tres seemed very nervously excited. She wanted to come and be by my side but didn't want to make too much eye contact. Cinco wanted nothing to do with any of us. Seite came right to me and just chilled out, but he's a baby and that what they do best. The 3 children Kevin is adopting seemed to accept him as soon as he got there. IT was very dark out and a lot of people were all around, so it was hard to keep straight everything that was going on.

Afterwards, We brought them back to the hotel to get some dinner. Ordered up 2 plates of Liberian style chicken, which I forgot is pretty spicy. BUT...Cinco and Tres ate it like champs. Tres almost ate a whole plate by himself. Tresput back her share, but she didn't eat as much as I thought she would. I sat with Seite on my lap the whole time, no high chairs in Liberia I guess.

After eating and talking with Pastor Wesley, we finally came back up to the room for the night. I will tell you the next hour and 1/2 or so was one of the most stressful, doubt filled times in my entire life. Cinco and Tres were very quiet and didn't seem to want to have anything to do with us. And Seite....he cried...and cried.....and cried. He cried through a bottle, a new diaper, new pjs....he just wailed. I had no idea what to do....this would be the time I would say Wife....here! He finally fell asleep as I rocked him, but man I thought he was going to cry all night long.

So now, when everyone wakes up, we'll go get some breakfast and maybe head over to the medical clinic to drop off the medical stuff Kevin brought with him. After that I'm not sure what the plan is. What I do know is I didn't plan on the rain. It's is pouring out and I don't have anything to cover us.

Stupid battery in the laptop is dying....I'll try to get more pictures up later.

It is indeed worth it.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

And We're Off....

4:30 AM....not fun. But neither was 2AM, 2:15AM, 3:06AM....you get the point...I was up a lot last night...I'm ready to go.

Spent last night with Ryan and his awesome parents. It was fun sitting around, eating pizza and laughing together. It's easy to see where Ryan gets his incredible spirit and love.

OK I'm off to go give my kiddos some last minute hugs and kisses. Oh and wipe away the tears Dos has running down his face!

God is AMAZING!!!

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Tick Tick Tick


44 hours and counting. Packing has been funny...I think I've counted my outfits about 30 times and I'm not even close to being done packing my clothes. I just want to be sure I have enough outfits to not have to worry when I'm there, but don't want to carry more than needed.

All the logistical things are starting to weigh on me a bit. Like, what exactly am I supposed to be getting after I go to the embassy? How early do I need to be at the airport when we leave Liberia? How can I be sure the hotel has a confirmation for me? It's not like we used Hotels.com to book the thing :). Did I bring enough snacks?

I am realizing through all of this though, I love it. I love the fact that God has empowered me and prepared me to be strong enough to travel to Africa to pick up 3 children. The "stresses" of doing this all could be so much more damaging had God not hand picked me to go to Liberia last year and gotten my international travel feet under me. God's made me such a closet Type-A person...I've got my lists, my itineraries, my lists about my lists, my printed emails, items in zip lock bags with labels on them and more lists about my lists. It's awesome.

I still giggle at the thought of two guys walking up to the embassy with the 3 little kids saying..."Yes, We are here to adopt them"...it's a very "happy" thought....if you know what I mean. So many of my friends in Massachusetts would be sooooo proud!

I think one of the neatest things I have been given the opportunity to do is to hand out photo albums and gifts for some of the children being adopted by families here in the U.S. I hope some of those kids will understand what the pictures mean and start to get that excited feeling, that they will have homes soon enough...no more cramped living and sleeping...no more wondering about how much food or water there is...no more wondering who their forever family is. God is so Awesome to give me this opportunity!

Totally off subject...if you haven't seen Wild Hogs and/or Blades of Glory...you are missing out. 2 very funny movies.

Post more soon!
God is Amazing in all He does in our lives.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Random Thoughts from the Past Month


I really have been meaning to post more, but life has gotten so busy, so here is a recap of random things I've wanted to share:

Fantasy Football Time is here!!! I drafted my "important" team...it's pretty good, hopefully I'll finish in the top 3.

I miss home. I hear New Hampshire is really nice this time of year!

Red Sox are leading their way to the playoffs. 1 month left and they have a 6 game lead. Sure it was once at 14 games, but I'm not panicking.

Had Dos's friend birthday party this past Saturday. I pretty much just lived the kid birthday party of my dreams, through my son! He wanted a sports party, so I painted a 50 yard football field out in the back yard (end zones and all), set up a kickball/baseball diamond, put up the volleyball net, horseshoe area and water balloons. The football field was fun and Dos seemed to like it. That right there is what being a dad is all about. Giving your family all that you can and trying your hardest to make their lives happy and dreams to come true. I love that part of being a Dad and Husband.

One full suitcase is packed now. For the record, I'm bringing a bunch of stuff. Donations for the Children's Home, snacks for us and the kids, 9 outfits per child (that's 27 total outfits for the multiplication impaired), diapers, pull-ups, books, toys, extra socks and undies for each child and stuffed animals. And I haven't even thought about putting my stuff into a suitcase yet. 2 gynormous suitcases, a stroller and a huge backpack...awesome :)

I'm really feeling God in me the last few days. Leading up to this trip, I was feeling Him moving in my life and some how, as the trip became a reality, with real dates, I kind of took over and allowed the stress to come into my days. Sunday at church, God just slapped me in the back of the head and set me straight. The trip will be stressful, but I have a peace and excitement that I didn't have a few days ago.

Weight Loss Update: I've lsot 6 pounds so far. Could have lost more, but frankly some food is too good to pass up. Still trying to pray my way to 185.

All for now...More updates as the trip starts.

HE is the Solid Rock

Ryan and Randy's Excellent Adventure


Ya dude....Down to like one gnarly week....AIR GUITAR!!!!

Been a month since I blogged here....and now it'll be like a flood of info. Ryan and I are leaving in exactly 1 week. Visa's, Passports, Malarone....all are in and ready. One big suitcase is packed, another is partly packed. It seems like we've been waiting forever to finally go and now the date is 1 week away!!!

I am so blessed ot have an incredible friend in Ryan to share this experience with me. He is a champ and a half and has his head on straight with the Lord. I can't wait to spend this time with him. I'm nervous to see how Cinco, Seite, and Tres respond to us, but I feel good knowing Ryan absolutely loves kids and kids love him immediately. So even if they are freaked out by me, I know they'll respond really good to him.

On the home front, we are pretty much prepared. Just finished putting the crib up. Installed the car seats earlier this week...(Have been asking God to forgive me for the swears...stupid things...). Going to help Wife build up a stand up thing for Seite to play/sit/stand in. Still need to get a couple of dressers. Lots of clothes have been donated/bought. I think it's safe to say...we are ready! not sure we will feel ready those first few days, but we are ready. God has prepared us and given us all we need for this next stage of life.

I find myself doubting a little, how ready I am to travel around the world with 3 little ones I don't know yet. It's going to be pretty interesting trying to understand who these 3 little humans are, get them to trust who I am, feed them at the right times, bathroom breaks with a 6 year old girl, going through customs, trying not to sleep on the plane with them with me, being the person in charge, taking all the pictures and notes to document the whole thing properly, hand out the gifts for the next adoptive families. It's official....I need a list!!

As the date to leave gets closer I'll be posting more up here. While on the trip, I should have internet access, so I will be posting up pictures and thoughts for that day. Please keep track of our trip and and comments would be great. It's great to hear and feel the encouragement.

God is truly Amazing!

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

August 2nd 2007


Today is Emily's 29th Birthday....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVE!!!

Thank you for all that it is you do in all of our lives. You are an inspiration to me and I have learned so much about life through you and how you deal with all life throws at you. You have touched more people's lives then you will ever know.

I Love You.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Random Thoughts


I've been wanting to post something up here for a few days now, just couldn't get all my thoughts in order. When you have such a gynormous brain, it tends to happen. :) Here are the things that have been going on/I've been thinking about.

  1. Daughtry's song "Home" - Heard this on K-Love the other day. FOR THE RECORD: I have been talking about the incredible Christian lyrics in this song for weeks now. It's not technically a Christian song, but is it ever a cry out to heaven. I'll post the lyrics up one of these days.
  2. The Bible tells us that we will lose friends and family members when we choose Jesus over the world. I read that and comprehend it, but it really hit home recently. The one person other than my wife, whom I love and trust more than anyone else, has pretty much up and forgotten our friendship. Having moved 2,000 miles away doesn't help in keeping friendships as they always were, but you'd think the 2 of us being 30 would make it a little easier. I consider my friend as close as family, if not more so. The contact between us gotten more and more sparse and I don't know how to make it come back. It stinks to see him related to his MySpace "friends" more than his so called "brother".
  3. So one thing that has been on my heart for a few weeks now, is the topic of Spiritual Leadership in the home. God has been laying on me the idea of how the Man is the one responsible for the growth of the home. Men are, by Biblical standards, the Spritual Leader of the house and the wife is to honor and respect the husband. I gotta tell yea, that is some awkward stuff right there to write. How easy it can be for a man to take advantage of this "power" and honor God has given us. How many men claim to spend time in the word and prayer and are truly seeking out God's will? If a man does this, God will make His will known to the husband and wife. If a man isn't seeking God's will, then arguments and strife will overrun the house. Someday I'll expand on this, but in short it's my belief that God has given men an enormous responsibility to set order in the home and the only true way to do this is through time in God's word and prayer.
  4. I've started reading 4-6 chapters a morning of the bible. My good friend Chuck gave me the book "Cultivating a Life for God" by Neil Cole, which talked about reading the Bible daily in large doses. Pretty much the theory is: If God can't change you through his Word and prayer, no man can. I agree with that to an extend. I think God can use others to change a person's heart or at least get into a persons heart. But all in all I agree with the books thoughts and I have been reading 20-30 chapters a week. It's been interesting and I think a part of what I wrote about the Spiritual Leaders of the home is a result of my quiet times.
  5. Adoption Update: Siete has been released from the hospital and is now staying with Pastor Wesley at his home. We feel so blessed that Siete is doing ok. Last week another baby in the orphanage went to the hospital and the illness overtook her and she went home to heaven. Please pray for these children living in an area where dehydration can kill them. We are still waiting for the official "OK" to travel. Feels like we have been waiting forever for this process to come to an end. In HIS time I know, but I'm human and can't understand His time sometimes.
  6. July 31st: Baseball's official trading deadline. Looks like some deals will be made, but nothing will ever be like 2004 when the Red Sox traded fan favorite Nomahhhh for a couple of players who 3 months later propelled them to their first championship in 86 years.
  7. Lastly...I'm praying my way to 185. I've put the pounds on again. God tells us our bodies are a temple. I realized the other day, this temple now has a garage and barn!! Time to get myself down to where I should be. I'm aiming for a weight I haven't been in my adult life. Through prayer, God has worked in me to remove other junk from my life, and I'm praying He will push me and give me the strength to lay off the extra cookies or large lunches.
Until Next Time....He is Our Solid Rock!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Holy 409


Aaaahhhh...to be so new to it all. It's happened a few times now, I read something or learn something new at church and it hits me like a ton of bricks. My eyes are opened and I feel like a new creature in God again. This happened a few weeks ago as our pastor taught through Psalm 51. I hear it, I feel it and I start praying it and God just fires me up with his amazing lovingkindness. I then run to people and tell them all about it and how amazing it is and how it can too change your life. Most people down here are life long Christians and they give me a look like "Boy...you ain't from 'round these parts are ya?"

Have you ever taken time to read through Psalm 51 ? If not I recommend you sit down for an hour or so, read through it, pray it out loud to God. He teaches us to pray back to Him His word and Psalm 51 is a perfect piece of wisdom to pray right back to Him. I've asked God to take out the Holy 409 and clean me even more on the inside.

-----

A whirlwind of family times came to a close on Monday. During the last week in June we had my father in law and his wife in town for 5 days. It was great to sit and talk with them at night and just share our new family with them. It's always a treat for me to get some time with my father in law. He and Wife's mom were always amazing to me, in every way possible. (I still say to this day I never technically lived with them after Uno was born, but I can only say that because I didn't have mail delivered there...I did have my own room though.) It was great to talk about God with them and get a glimpse into their lives and relationships with Jesus. It's such an inspiration to me to see others living out the life God has put before them.

Then last week we had Wife's brother Andy come stay with us for a week or so with his wife Maureen and daughter Ashley. It was the first time I got to sit with them as a Christian and listen with an open heart, their views and thoughts and share my thoughts and views of Jesus and our lives here on earth. We got to share how God is working in our lives, prayed together and just hung out for the week. There was a lot of sore arms and necks from playing games on the Wii :)

I realized a few things from these visits. First, God is amazing and so in control of everything everywhere. Hearing stories about my father in law being talked to by God in the middle of the night and working on new ministry ideas. While doing that, God is pushing Andy to start his new life at a new church and giving him the peace he needs to make that transition. At the same time He is working on Wife and I with the adoption and patience. From Tennessee to Massachusetts to Texas, God is right there in control of it all. And that isn't even beginning to think about all the people all over the world God is with. Psalm 121 teaches us that God does not slumber nor sleep...think about the enormity of that.

Second I learned that God has really worked in me the last year or so. Biblical knowledge I didn't think I was retaining is actually in there. God has really opened my eyes to how He expects me to live and raise my family. I was so afraid I was going to be "different" when the family was in town, but I feel like I am really building a foundation on solid rock and not sinking sand. I don't know if we will ever be called to move back home or anywhere outside of where we are now. What I do know is, if it ever happens, God plan for us being here is working and we are so much stronger in Him. I believe He moved us down here, to remove us from all that kept us from Him. I can't wait to see how He uses us as we continue to grow.

----
Adoption Update: If you haven't been reading Wife's blog, you should be :). Seite is in the hospital and that is absolutely nerve wracking. He has been throwing up for a while now and they brought him to give him fluids and medication to try and stop it. It all sounds so basic and trivial, but in Africa it isn't. Too many babies, children and adults die of dehydration.

Cinco and Tres, from what we have been told are doing good. We got a new group picture and we can see Tres (fingers in mouth and all) and Tres in it and they look pretty good. Seite couldn't be found in the picture, we think we can see half of his head behind someone.

We are getting closer to traveling. Our paper work is moving along and passports are in. We are now just waiting for the "OK" to travel. I'm taking one my friends from the Liberia mission trip with me. He's going to help out with the 3 little ones. He's an amazing young man and I feel honored to be going with him.

I think that's all I have for now. Stupidly long post today, sorry. :) Hopefully I'll have more in the next few days.

All to His Glory

Monday, June 25, 2007

8 Years and Counting


Your deep beautiful eyes
Your most genuine smile.
Your touch that makes me melt
Your hug that comforts
Your heart made of gold
Your soul - hand picked by God
--Just for me--

How lucky am I?

Today marks the 8 year wedding anniversary for Wife and me. It is also the 12 year and 1 day anniversary of us dating. We are quickly approaching the point where we can say we have lived more of our lives together than apart.

I thank God for the wife He has put on this earth for me. I haven't always been the best at hearing His desires for me, but I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Wife was made to walk hand in hand with me for eternity. Together, as we continue to grow up together, I learn each day how amazing our Father's love is for me, just by looking at my beautiful Wife.

Happy Anniversary My Love. We've been through so many darkest valleys and highest mountain tops and I can't think of anyone else I would have wanted to be on this journey with. I am by far the most blessed husband. You are a picture of everything God teaches us about a wife.

I Love You and dedicate my life to being the best husband God wants me to be, for Him and you.

Together Forever....right? :)
Randy

A Blessing I Didn't See...Until Now


Ever have a blessing stare you in the face, and you thought you were seeing it, only to have God rip the scales off your eyes to expose His true beauty and grace? The following was sent to me by my friend Tricia.
________________________

Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
"the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks"

June 18th

He chose us in Him before the foundations of the world.
Ephesians 1:4 (NKJV)
Search the faces of the Cap Haitian orphanage for Carinette...The girl with the long nose and bushy hair and a handful of photos...The photos bear the images of her future family. She's been adopted.

Her adoptive parents are friends of mine. They brought her pictures, a teddy bear, granola bars, and cookies. Carinette shared the goodies and asked the director to guard her bear, but she keeps the pictures. They remind her of her home-to-be. Within a month, two at the most, she'll be there. She knows the day is coming....Any day now her father will appear. He came once to claim her. He'll come again to carry her home. Till then she lives with a heart headed home.

Shouldn't we all? Our Father paid us a visit too. Have we not been claimed? Adopted?... God searched you out. Before you knew you needed adopting, he'd already filed the papers and selected the wallpaper for your room.
Come Thirsty
Max Lucado

©2000 - 2007

Courtesy

Oak Hills Church
San Antonio, Texas
and NET-IMS, Inc.
________________________


Tricia has no idea how God used her to open my eyes into deeper truths about the life God has given me. The calling he has put into Wife and my lives to adopt, and I have said it a million times, is such a picture of our relationship with Jesus, as HE has hand picked us all and adopted us into Heaven through his death on the cross.

After reading this, I cried and I felt the love of God pour over me. What an amazing blessing I have been given. Any time now, I too will appear to take Tres, Cinco and Seite home. Their earthly daddy will be there to bring them to the home their Heavenly Daddy has ordained for them here on Earth. God has entrusted the lives of these 3 children to me and Wife to raise in His name and for the purposes only He knows. It's my prayer, that Wmilt and I will raise all of our children according to His will.

It's amazing to me how God just speaks to you, right through all distractions, right when you need it most. I've been struggling with having no father in my life. I have occasional email conversations with my dad, back in Massachusetts, but it isn't real. We never have had that Father/Son relationship every boy wants in life. I never knew my biological dad and my step-dad worked and had issues growing up. For whatever reason, this all has been on my heart and hurting for weeks.

I thank God for the very fact that even thought I can't pick up the phone to talk to a Dad here on earth, HIS phone never goes to voice mail. As a friend of mine says, and I just love it so much, he is my Papa. I have vowed to God, that I will too will live with a "Heart Headed Home".

I thank God for God. He used my friend to speak 2 truths into my life:
  1. He has entrusted me to raise His children
  2. I am His son and He loves me.
...All other ground is sinking sand...

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Cowards of the Keyboard


We had our yard sale this past weekend. Friends from work and church were just incredible and donated items for us to sell. We ended up making over 800 bucks towards adoption fees, which is an awesome blessing. Thanks to everyone who helped out or came by and shopped.

In preparation for the yard sale, Wife posted it out on the BuySellTrade Yahoo group, explaining it was to help raise money to bring our kids home from Africa. Who knew it was going to start such a problem? We got roasted something good by people asking who we were and how people could know we weren't trying to scam them?!?!?!?

Here are some snippets of emails we received:

"I'm so sorry, I just remembered that you outright tole me that this adoption didn't go through and how upset and sad you and your husband were about it. I'm not gonna start anything here, but I will end with this, if you are lieing (sp?) to me, how do the rest of the people in this group know weather or not you are even telling the truth about adopting at all? Just something for everyone to think about. I for one DONT believe in lying.
Victoria"

"
I am interested in knowing if you are the person that has been accused of scamming members of buyselltrade in reference to your adoption. My feeling is if you need money to adopt three children then you can't afford them in the first place. I have three adopted children so I know how expensive it can be. But if what you are claiming is not true then the kind and generous people in the Mayberry area need to know. I will help get the word out and I will also help you clear your name if your claims for these children are ligitimate. Please let me know. Eldora

My Reply:
"Here is the deal folks...As the moderator has already mentioned, keep
your personal feelings off this board. While I find it commendable
that Victoria and Eldora feel the need to inquire about 1. the
authenticity of a member on the board and 2. the financial status of
a member, lets remember it's none of your business.

A yard sale is a yard sales folks. Would you rather a family raise
funds to offset some of the costs to give kids a home? Or is it more
acceptable in this "me me me" world to have a yard sale so you can
purchase a new big screen tv?

I find it so amusing that you will question a family for doing the
right thing, behind the privacy of the internet. You know the address
of the yard sale, so stop being cowards, stop on over to the yard
sale and ask your questions face to face.

Moderators: I apologize for posting this, but as the father of these
3 children in Liberia and the 4 children already home, I felt the
need to put a few people in their place. I fully expect this post to
be removed, so please do accept my apologies.

Last note to these keyboard cowards, I think proper etiquette for
questions of such personal nature, is to email the person privately
and not show how ignorant you are to the rest of the community.

Thank you for your time. And I thank those of you who came out to
help us with our adoption, you are true blessings.

Randy ."

Amazing. What kills me is not one of these Cyber Cops showed up to talk to us in person. Unfortunately for them (and me) I loooove arguing :) We got a bunch of emails, some supporting us saying we are doing the right thing, others telling us we are scam artists and too poor to adopt..blah blah blah. Thankfully I know we aren't in the business of making people happy, just our Father.

Make me think about Saul. When he was hunting down the believers, non-believers were cheering and supporting his efforts. As soon as God removed the shales from Saul's eyes and he started preaching the Good News, his supporters wanted him dead as well. I guess today it's ok to raise money for self pleasing reasons, but attempt to do God's work and Satan has full control over people and attacks.

That being said, it was fun going "Boston" on them. I'm still trying to figure out what "Going Boston" means, people at work tell me to "Go Boston" all the time. I tell them after I eat a huge lunch..."That's going Boston"....or when I finish my work..."That's going Boston"...or when I get cranky and grumpy...."That's going Boston". It's fun.

On a totally different note...I bought the Daughtry CD...Yes..Chris Daughtry...from American Idol...and it's awesome. I hate to admit that, because I promised myself to never buy an American Idol CD...and I did. And I may buy Blake Lewis' Cd as well.

What a girl I have become.
--
His lovingkindness is Everlasting

Monday, June 11, 2007

Couldn't Stay Away...

Like a boomerang....I'm back.

I found myself thinking in terms of "that would be a great blog post" or "That's funny, I should post that". That and I have been "tagged" which I guess in the blogging world is like those goofy emails where you need to tell something about yourself and mail it everyone you know. The emails that irritate the junk out of everyone, yet everyone still reads them and does them (even if you don't email it out, you know you have thought about your answers to the questions in them....favorite ice cream, what's under your bed, chocolate or vanilla....)

So here, and I'm not proud to continue this tagging game along, but here are my 7 things you may not have known about me.

1. I used to have hair...and a lot of it. When I met Wife, I had a full head of hair and it was long enough to reach my chin.

2. Growing up, I had a dog named Buttons. Buttons was a mutt, but awesome. The last few years of her life, she had this weird fetish where she would rub her back on our coffee table and in the process removed all the hair from half way down her back to the end of tail.

3. In the 7th or 8th grade, I finally managed up the nerve to ask a girl out, in typical middle school fashion, via a long 3 page note, given to her by a friend. She promptly wrote me back a note which stated: "Randy, No. Janine". Not bad - 3 pages given for 3 words received.

4. I used to rush home from school so I could watch Santa Barbara. If you don't know who Eden and Cruz are, you are no friend of mine.

5. It was (and still kind of is) a dream of mine to be on Saturday Night Live. Up until about 3 years ago, I would practice writing stand up bits in hopes of someday having the nerve to do stand up comedy, just so I could be the next Dana Carvey or Mike Myers.

6. ESPN and the NFL Network aside - HGTV has quickly become my favorite channel on TV. I'm secure enough in my manhood to admit that...really I am.

7. When I was somewhere between 10 and 12, an eye doctor told me I needed glasses. I wanted nothing to do with them, so I asked them give me clear rimmed glasses, because I thought they would look invisible to people. They were the most gynormous and obvious things I have ever seen. I wore them for about 8 seconds and never wore them again. I also have pretty good eyes, so I think that doctor was a quack.

I guess this is where I "tag" someone else. Melissa....You Are It.
--
His lovingkindness is everlasting

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Last Post


Hi all...I've decided to stop blogging :). I'm not really sure what my purpose is in doing this and I find myself as the biggest reader of my own posts which is really bizarre :)

God is Good!

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Easter...He is Risen Indeed

So naturally my follow up post to my last "whoa is me, is God real" post is one about Easter :). To keep this real and (hopefully) short...You do realize that with out Easter Sunday, all this is a total farce and a sham? Without the resurrection of Jesus, we are just following the Bible as a nice life reference with no real solid foundation to it.

Our pastor spoke this morning about all of this "religion" stuff being a big fat lie if Jesus wasn't brought back from the grave 3 days later. Because Jesus was raised up after 3 days of being dead, we are truly saved from all our transgressions. How amazing is that and how blessed are we?
The torture, betrayal, beatings, lashings, whippings, humiliation, and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. A life no other man could have ever lived. A life that brought total and complete division to the world, yet that brought eternal freedom from the bondage's of this world.

Lord, I am in total awe of all you do. I publicly confess my life to you. I publicly confess my pettiness and selfishness in all of the things happening in life. You are the one in ultimate control and I am merely a sinner attempting to follow your direction. I thank Jesus for the cross, but more so I thank you for the resurrection of you from the dead. Without You Jesus, and without you being raised from the grave, I would be worth no more than any other animal on this earth. BUT through you and because of your deeds, I have life and a hope. I love you Lord.

He Has Risen INDEED! God is GOOD.

Friday, April 6, 2007

Wandering in the Desert

Time to blog again. I haven't bored all 3 of you in a while and it's not because I haven't had thoughts, or things going on in life. It's just I have felt pretty removed from God lately and have been trying to pray and read my way through it all.

Losing those 3 kiddos crushed me more than I ever thought it would have. Which stinks because we are now in the process of trying to bring 2 little ones home. I am excited...but I am cautious. I don't feel like that is truely walking by faith, but I don't know how to just be overjoyed and excited about our new children, until I see them in the flesh in our arms. The 2 little guys are Blessing who is 2 or 3 years old and Messiah who is 5 months old. How exciting it'll be to have three boys in the house and one of them a baby. (I Love Babies...). As excited as it all can and will be...I just pray that these 2 are God's will for us.
It's such a weird time for us. I have been doubting the role God has in my life these last few weeks. Such great things are happening, while such hard things are happening too. It's so confusing. I feel like we are trying to be prepared for whatever new children God has for us by finding a home that is a little bigger or with more room in the yard and that doesn't have the safety issue of a pool that can't be fenced in. In doing so, we have had 2 houses lined up, but both have fallen through. We can't seem to sell our house which means we need to put offers in on houses with a contigence that our house will sell. The last house we lost (it has an acre of land, perfect for 6 or 7 kids to go and play in), had another offer come in with no contigencies, so naturally he accepted that offer and we had to back out. It felt like God had hand picked that property for us to raise His children, but of course I was wrong.

But then at work, I have been given a new job which has the potential to get me into a management position. My new job has me interacting with more people, being the sole person responsible for a piece of software the company uses, and I am on track to move out of a developers role (which I have never been a big fan of) and into a position of leading people. These are answered prayers, that really came out of nowhere. So this is amazingly good stuff.

So see, I'm so confused as to what the heck God's plans are. "Adopt these 3 children", "Here is a house to raise them in"...oh wait, never mind, these aren't your kids, a bigger home to raise them isn't needed (even though I led you there), here is another house, no wait never mind, here is a new job, here are 2 little guys. How is in the world does this all add up? I'm totally confused.

I keep praying for God's will...I think I "get" what it is we are supposed to do, then it's not what we are supposed to do at all. I know God's will rarely is on par with our will, I just want to do whats right by and for Him. Everytime I feel like we are, something else happens. Am I taking too much control over my life? Have I put my hand on the plow but looked back? (Luke 9:62).

All this being said, I am excited about what could be. I'm excited to see how this whole time in our lives is going to play out and what it is I am supposed to be learning. I know there is something here and really instead of coming on here and whining like the baby I am, I should be reading and praying and listening. How hard it is to focus on those things when you feel like you have been yet life doesn't seem to going the way you thought God wanted for you.
Till Next Time.