Meant to Be

Keri recently spoke about our adoption at a church Bible study and I made this video at her request to show at the event.  Hard to believe it's been 3 years since we stepped off the plane from China with now-not-so-little Eden Hope.  Enjoying every minute of it!

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.

One Year Later

It's hard to believe it's been a year since Keri and I stood in a rather sparsely furnished room in Wuhan, China on the second floor of the Civil Affairs Office and looked across an aisle of chairs at a little girl for the first time. She was scared to death and so were we. But we were also excited and anxious and ready to smother her with all the love we had been saving up on the 15,000 mile trip from Birmingham, Alabama.

A year later and much has changed in our own lives and in little Eden's life. We never imagined she would be so funny and smart and strange and interesting all at the same time. Those first few days were filled with sadness for her--but the Lord answered our prayers then to join her heart with ours. And God continues to answer our prayers as Eden grows into a sweet, loving, outgoing and beautiful girl.

This past weekend we took a trip to Georgia to visit the "Cabbage Patch Hospital" where the popular children's dolls are "born." We thought it fitting on the anniversary of Eden's adoption that we would celebrate by letting her "adopt" a doll of her very own. She chose a baby boy doll and named him "Moses"--I think she identifies with him when she sees him on the TV floating in a basket down a river in Egypt and being adopted by an Egyptian mother...

Here's a quick video of the experience, along with some recent pictures of Eden and our family. To all who have made the journey with us, personally and through prayer and friendships, thank you and God bless you. Our lives are richer than we could imagine and we give God all the credit for everything good He has done for us. Most of all, we thank Him for allowing us to shepherd the heart of a little girl that He brought to us from half a world away.

Summon the Gymnastics Champion

Here's a little video I took and Keri edited of Eden enjoying her gymnastics class. There's not a whole lot of form to be found, but I think it's really helping her with her motor skills development. Keri takes her to the class each Wednesday and I took off from work a little early to see her be a maniac on the gym floor for 45 minutes.

The Life of a Two Year Old

I finally got a little free time to play around with the video we've been taking of the family and decided to post a quick clip of Eden playing around the house. Nothing earth-shattering in content, just a happy little two year old being herself. She's just so fun I could watch her all day (but I won't make you do that--it's only like 2 minutes long).

Video of Eden from China

We were excited to receive a brief video of Eden from her caregivers in China...



Just a few more days now before we depart for the Far East.