Christmas Ornament Site Is Up and Running!

Our Christmas ornaments site to raise money for adoption is up and running!  Click below to visit online and purchase a handmade ornament (or two)...

The Next Five Minutes

This is a video I did that was used recently in our church to highlight the urgency of our involvement in the needs of the world. Our Pastor has been teaching on just how radical Christ's call on our lives is and our responsibility to serve the poor as an integral part of our daily lives and faith.

All of the statistics in the video are real, gathered from the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. government, Persecution.org and other sources. I thought it might be relevant to those who, like us, share a heart for those less fortunate throughout our planet.

A Christmas Prayer

Merry Christmas everyone! I am about to head off to bed and I have so much on my mind. I am so humbled and thankful for my precious daughter who will experience her first Christmas tomorrow. At the same time, I am so keenly aware of the millions of children who have not yet been adopted, and many who never will be, who are spending this Christmas in orphanages, foster homes, hospitals, and even on the streets. I am keenly aware of the birth mothers who may be faced this very night with the heart-wrenching decision to give up their babies. After all, that's how Eden started her journey to our home.

Most of all, I am comforted by the truth that God knows each of these little ones by name. He holds their future in His sovereign, loving hands. He numbered their days and appointed where each would grow up before they were born. He is the Father of the fatherless. I praise Him because He has allowed me to live this truth this year as He guided, protected, and brought Eden home to us.

I praise Him because He, too, was a helpless infant, dependent on the care of a teenage mother. He was born poor, with little to His name. He can sympathize with our weaknesses because He has been tested in every way and yet didn't sin. Tomorrow we celebrate that God came to live among us. He was born to die, and rise again. He is our living hope, and the hope of orphans all over the world. Because of Him, they will never be forgotten.

I love this photo of Eden. We received this ornament last Christmas and it has children of all different nationalities joining hands around the earth. Eden was playing with it and a friend snapped this photo without us realizing that the Chinese girl on the ornament was facing the camera. It gave me goose bumps when I saw it.

This Christmas, take a few moments to pray for the children who will not have a mommy and a daddy this Christmas. They will likely have no presents, no big meal, and no mention of Jesus Christ...and He is their hope. Let's remember them. Because God has not forgotten them.

Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Oh the Drama!

Another fabulous day in China getting to know our new daughter, Eden! On tap today was a medical exam required by the government as we near the time of our Consulate appointment. Eden has gotten pretty happy-go-lucky in the last two days, but just like any child who goes to the doctor's office, she was none too happy when the actual poking and prodding arrived. The whole thing took like 30 minutes.

Thanks to Nana (grandma), Eden was also sporting a fashionable and inexpensive stroller today. Our specialists recommend holding Eden as much as possible to begin the process of getting good eye contact. Well, we've had that from Day One, and since Eden is having no problems connecting with us, we opted to give her a nice place to sit with wheels and give mommy and daddy's arms a much-needed break.

We did some shopping--actually a little too much time-wise. Right after lunch Eden had a complete meltdown. We're talking a raging, heart-pounding, screeching, wailing, gnashing of teeth, hold-nothing-back tantrum and grief session right in the middle of the street in downtown Guangzhou.

These times are really a tough balance for mom and dad, because the idea is to let her grieve even though some of this is not grief but just a 19-month old being a 19-month old. Also, we want Eden to find her comfort in Keri first to help establish the mother-daughter bond as quickly as possible. Eden's reaction during the tantrum was interesting--she held out her arms for me or Nana, but not for Keri. So, the fact that we would not let anyone but Keri comfort her made the tantrum last a lot longer. It breaks our hearts, but it's building hers.

The afternoon was bountiful with paperwork. Nobody will be able to say of our child that she is not well documented. If at age 25 she wants to apply to be a construction crane operator for Moru-speaking people in Sudan on nights and weekends, we've probably already filled out a form for that. This evening the whole lot of us (7 families in all) had dinner at a Thai restaurant nearby.

Probably the most fun of the evening was after dinner when we headed back to the hotel and took Eden to the playroom downstairs. She had fun playing with balls, getting tickled and running around in her squeaky-shoes. (The squeaky-shoes are like a staple in China--everybody has them and all the little kids go squeak-squeak-squeak when they walk. It's quite entertaining for them and for us.)

Finally, bath time--another meltdown, but not quite as bad as a few nights ago. I think Eden is getting her sea-legs under her and learning, slowly, to trust us. Honestly, we're pooped and she's pooped, and it's just about bedtime. Both Keri and I agree that overall today was not a great day for Eden, but they'll be good ones and better ones, and that's just fine by us.

Tomorrow is a shopping day. One of the other dads figured out today why we have to stay for 2 1/2 weeks in China--apparently we have to spend a minimum amount on souvenirs before they let us come home. If only we had known! Seriously, every establishment in every city in China ends with a gift shop at the exit. Walking out of the medical exam this morning I half expected to see a display of silks, jade jewelry and porcelain tea serving sets.

This morning we saw the White Swan Hotel in all it's glory. When you see the scale of foreign adoptions as we did today, the abandonment of children in this country really comes into focus as a critical problem. I'm praying opportunities will continue to open up for the Chinese as well as other nations to help stem the growing surge of orphan children. This is a worldwide issue, not just here in Asia.

It appeared today that this entire 28-story skyscraper was built with the singular focus of processing adoptive parents and their adorable Chinese children. They are EVERYWHERE. I kept asking people with children where they were from. Indiana. Idaho. Ohio. California. New York. Georgia. Alabama. Tennessee. Texas. Kansas. Washington. Nevada. Breakfast this morning looked like the Romper Room convention. The tables in the restaurant were already set up with high chairs. Party of three and baby? Right this way... There was a whole baby food section at the buffet.

Guangzhou, Keri said, is like the Las Vegas of China. There are lots of neon lights. There's even laser beams coming from the bridge over the river at night. It's definitely the nicest of the places we've been so far. The neighborhood around the hotel is very walkable and has lots of interesting shops and restaurants. The people are very friendly and open. And most of them will be happy to give you a "special discount" on jade jewelry. Tomorrow we also get to see some friends from the U.S. who are now living in China and we're really excited about that.

Four days to go until we're home!