Stay Near Me, Daddy

The last couple of nights Joshua has been extra clingy (is that a word?). He wants me by him constantly. While he is playing, he wants me by him. When he is laying down, he wants me by him. I love it, yet it is draining. Sometimes I just need to have a break. I feel drained. Yet, at the same time, I enjoy the fact that he loves me so much. All he wants is for his daddy to be around. He wants to know he is safe. He wants to know he is not alone. He wants to know I am near by.

I want to enjoy these moments. I know that one day he will be older and we will not get this moment back. He will be wanting to do his own thing and I will long to be near him. I pray I learn to embrace these moments.

As I think about Joshua’s desire to be near to his daddy, I am forced to think of my own relationship with God. We are encouraged to draw near to God (James 4:8). I have to ask myself the hard question: Am I seeking to draw near to God? DO I desire to get closer to Him each day?Do I so long to be with Him that I cannot stand the idea of not being near him? Do I, like Joshua, just want to be near my daddy? I believe God wants me to be that in love with Him. He wants me to seek Him. He wants me to love being with him. He longs for me to long after him. God is my daddy and he loves his child.

I am thankful for the lessons we learn through children. My prayer is that we can all learn to love God so much we cannot stand the thought of not being near Him. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

Leave a Legacy

There are people who have been a part of my life that have left a legacy for me. Their names have never been in bright lights. People are not surrounding them with cameras flashing asking for their autograph, yet they have left a legacy. They have made an impact in my life which I am forever grateful. It was often the small things they did that made the greatest impact. The 3rd grade teacher who gave me a Bible when I did not have one of my own. I do not remember her name or any of the classes she taught. I did not understand the words in the King James Bible she gave me, but I remember that she cared about me enough to take me to the church book store and buy me a Bible.

I recall the man who took me to the basketball games at Oklahoma Christian when I was in middle school. I don’t remember what class he taught at church, but I do remember the way he cared about me and it left a legacy for me to love others.

My parents have always cared for me and wanted the best for me. They have left a legacy for me. I do not remember all the words they have spoken, but I do know their love for me.

I want to ask you the question—what legacy are you leaving? How will you be remembered? I hope to be remembered as one who loves people. I want to live my life in such a way that all those who know me understand that I loved them. I like when people remember a sermon I preached. I love when kids remember an illustration I gave to explain a Bible point; but more than anything I want people to know I loved them and that God loves them. I want to leave a legacy. However, sometimes life gets in the way. I get so busy going from one task to the other and one activity to the other, that I fail to love. I fail to leave a legacy.

How about you? Do you find yourself so busy that you do not have time to love people? Do you find you do not have time to serve others? Maybe you are going through life staying busy and you even have your name in the paper and you make the headlines, but you are not leaving a lasting legacy—is it really worth it? We have a lot of kids at our church who need someone to leave a legacy for them. They need to know they are loved and cared for. Yet, in our busy way of life, we cannot find the time to love them. We cannot find the time share our hearts, to teach a class, to leave a legacy. What legacy are choosing to leave?

Change a Child's Life

Last month we had a fall festival at church. Kids came and played games and were rewarded with candy. We tried to be as intentional as possible about setting it up in a way that we were able to interact with the kids and their parents. I think we succeeded in some small way with interacting with the families. I got to spend some good time playing and talking with the kids. I worked three games and it was so much fun. I loved meeting the families. It seemed the most popular game of the evening was the soccer ball kick. Basically we had a goal and the kids kicked the soccer ball into the goal. What I liked about it was the way the kids took their time to aim their kick. This gave us a great opportunity to talk. There were lots of names and faces and I know I will not remember them all, but I will definitely remember one family. There were 4 kids of varying ages and a mom. They were friendly as I said hello and introduced myself. One of the girls came dressed up in a home made costume. I could tell she felt uncomfortable with some of the other kids wearing their store bought costumes and the look in her eyes told me she wanted to fit in and have a nice costume like the other kids. I could tell from her hair style and the sparkly jacket she was dressed as Hannah Montana. I watched this family as they went to various games. Understand that most of the people working were of retirement age and had no idea who Hannah Montana was. However, they could recognize Spiderman, Batman, and Batgirl This made the girl feel even more inferior. When she came to my game, I decided to treat her like a star. I walked over to hand her the ball for the game and said. "Wow! Hannah Montana is right here beside me." The girl smiled because I recognized her costume. I began to ask her what her favorite song was, what she liked about performing, has she ever done a talent show at school, would she be willing to sing for us. Her mom got teary eyed as I asked "Hannah Montana" for her autograph. As the girl walked away with a big smile, her mother stayed behind and said "thank you." The family was so moved by the experience, they stayed after everyone else had left to help us clean. We loaded their arms with left over candy and food. I walked with the family to their car and thanked them for coming. I especially thanked "Hannah Montana" for coming to visit us. Their eyes and smiles were beaming with joy and happiness as they drove off. I said a silent prayer for the family and went to hug my own kids and tell them how much I loved them.

What I did was nothing significant. I did not solve world hunger. I did not explain the deepest mysteries of life. I made a family smile. I made a little girl feel good about herself. I made a mom cry tears of joy. It was so small, yet it made a difference to that child and to that family. I often find myself around people who want to make a difference but do not know how. They feel in order to make a difference, they have to do something really big and life changing that converts hundreds of people. I understand where they are coming from. I used to have those same thoughts. I thought if I made a difference in the world - it would have to be huge and gain national attention. But the fact of the matter is I made a difference to that little girl and her family. She went from feeling awkward and inferior at the beginning of the evening to confident and filled with laughter by the end of the evening. Her mom went from feeling sad for not being able to buy her daughter a costume to feeling so happy that her daughter's costume brought her so much attention. Making a difference in someone's life is not always some big act of kindness like giving them a car or house; sometimes it's making them smile and feel good about their life. I thank God that I met "Hannah Montana." She reminded me that life is about building others up when the world tries to tear them down.

Commitment

A couple of weeks ago my parents celebrated their anniversary. They have been married for 47 years. That seems out of place in today's culture. It is hard to find people today that have been married for so many years. It speaks to me of the commitment they have had over the years to making their marriage work. They got married at a young age and have been faithfully commited to each other ever since. They are modern day heroes to me. I have great respect for their commitment. Their story has had its share of struggles. Many speed bumps and road blocks have come their way, yet they have stayed on course.

What if everyone was able to make the same commitment in every area of their lives? How much different would our world be? What would it look it? What if a man and woman who say to each other "'til death do us part" actually followed through with it? What if people could view their commitment to God as a commitment that will not be compromised? I pray that Kellie and I will live our marriage as a commitment that can never be compromised - that can never be put aside. I pray that I treat my relationship with Christ in such a way that I will not compromise - that I never let anything get in the way.

In our culture where commitments are often compromised, I pray that we stand strong regardless of what speed bumps or road blocks come into our path. May we learn to stay strong to our commitments.

Sometimes Life Hurts

Last Friday I took Joshua to a doctor's appointment. It was the routine four month check. I am happy to report that he is healthy and growing strong. A part of the four month check up is immunizations. The word immunizations sounds so much nicer than shots. The nurse came in with three syringes of various immunizations to shoot into my four month old son's legs. My job was to hold his arms and head while the nurse held down his legs and gave him the shots. He screamed a painful cry as the needle penetrated the skin. Big crocodile tears dripped down his face and then he looked at me. I am not sure what his mind is able to comprehend or how he processes his thoughts; but it seemed to be a look of "Why are you letting this happen to me?" It broke my heart. I did not want to see my child hurt. I did not want to see him in pain. I wanted to hold him and tell the nurse to keep those needles away from my baby boy. But I did not. I knew the temporary pain of receiving a shot would help him be stronger and more equipped to fight off sickness in the future.

I began thinking about that and realized it is similar to our spiritual walk with Christ. Sometimes life hurts. We go through trials, persecution, hardships, sickness, and pain. We like Joshua do not understand what is taking place and we look to our heavenly Father with a "why are you letting this happen?" attitude. Nobody enjoys pain (unless there is something deeply wrong with them), yet we all suffer pain. Nobody likes to hurt. We do not like suffering. We do not like persecution, yet we all face it. I believe the trials, persecution, and sufferings we face are making us stronger and more equipped to stand strong in our faith. They serve as a spiritual shot, an immunization, preparing us to fight against the sin that seeks to overtake us.

When the shots were finished, I picked up my son and held him close. I softly talked to him telling I love him. I sang a song to him. I let him know that he was loved. When I make it through a trial, I feel my Lord grab me and hold me close. He whispers that everything is okay. He sings over me. No, I do not hear an audible voice or feel a physical touch from God, yet I experience something much deeper. I experience an amazing renewal and transfromation that moves me closer to God.

Sometimes life hurts. It is during those times that we must learn to listen to what God is seeking to teach us. He loves us and He does not want to see us in pain, but He knows that when we overcome this temporary trial - we will receive something much greater.

Sickness

What a strange title to a blog post. Let me explain. Sickness seems to be going around our house. I was sick for a couple of weeks and when I started to get better, it hit Timothy. He is fine now, but Kellie is really sick. It is never fun to be sick, but it seems to be a part of life sometimes. I wish people did not have to get sick. I wish we could all live happy, healthy productive lives without sickness. However, we live in an imperfect world. We live in a world that is sick and diseased. We live in a fallen world.

I have learned some lessons that I think are good reminders through this season of sickness. While I did not enjoy being sick, I hated seeing my family being sick. I hate the sad look on my kids faces and I hate seeing them hurt. I hate seeing my wife struggle with the most basic of tasks due to sickness. I wish I could take it from them. I wish I had the ability to take their sickness upon myself in order for them to be free of the sickness.

I believe God has the same feelings in regard to us. We are His children. He hates to see us suffer from the sickness in our lives. Although I believe he never intended for us to get sick, we live with sickness in our lives. This sickness is much deeper than a cold, flu, or even cancer. We live with a sickness in our souls. We are in need of someone to take this sickness away. This sickness affects our families, our relationships, our lives. This sickness of sin creates a vacuum that separates from our Father. This spiritual cancer penetrates our hearts and we become termanally ill. That is until a cure is found.

The good news for us is that Jesus is the cure. God saw our sickness. He observed our pain. He looked at the tears in our eyes. He saw our hopeless situation and he responded. He sent His Son to be our cure. Jesus took our spiritual sickness and carried it to the cross. He is the cure to our soul's diseases. He is the perfect remedy to our sinful hearts. His name is Jesus - and He is our healer!

Fatherhood

Life with three boys is an adventure! I have experienced things since becoming a father that I would have never experienced otherwise. I started coaching Drew's soccer team a couple seasons back and it is now soccer season again. Timothy has really started to like soccer as well. I knew nothing about the sport until I started coaching. I could not name the positions or tell you the roles of the players, but because I was coach, I somehow had the authority. I know a little more now, but will not be coaching past U-6 (under six years old). I have learned a lot through this experience. I have learned the importance of team and the importance of example. Some parents want to win at all costs, and I must admit it makes my ego feel better when our team wins too. However, I feel it important that everyone be on equal ground. The kid on our team that is not very good and has a habit of kicking the ball in the wrong direction is as important as the kid who scores almost every time they get the ball. I realize that philosophy will not work in a more competitive age range, but I believe it is laying a foundation for the future. We are all equal. We are all valuable. We are all loved. We are all created in the image of God. I want these children to know that they are valuable and they are loved. It has nothing to do with their ability to kick a soccer ball, but it has everything to do with the fact they were loved so much that Jesus died for them.

Fatherhood teaches me a lot about life. Everything is an adventure. When we ride in our car - it is an adventure. Every time we go under an overpass, the boys pretend it is a cave. "We have to duck under the cave daddy" the boys will say. Sometime I pretend to bump my head on the cave and the boys will not stop laughing. Each time we go on a bridge the boys pretend they are running across to make it to the other side. It is quite an adventure. I believe life in Christ is also an adventure. It is an amazing journey when we walk with Christ. There are caves we have to get through and bridges we must walk across and while at the time it may seem difficult or pointless, we realize that we have gained something form the journey. The ride in the car gives me a special time of bonding with my kids. It is a great adventure that I know one day I will look back at the teenagers in the back seat with the headphones in their ears and wish for times of laughter once again. However, I pray that the journey we experience now will provide the foundation for a great future.

Tulsa Reflections

Okay, so I'm late with this post. Sorry. Our family recently attended the Tulsa International Soul Winning Workshop. This is always my favorite weekend of the year. It was a great time of renewal. It was so good to see friends that we have not seen in such a long time and make new friends. The theme was centered around prayer - specifically the Lord's prayer. The speakers were great. Some of my favorites were Jeff Walling, Patrick Mead, Rick Atchley, Randy Harris, and Don McLaughlin.

One of the things about the Lord's prayer is that it is active and contains many elements. The opening of Our Father carries a great realization to it. What if we were able to truly view God as the perfect Father? The great Abba? What if people could learn that God is a father that is unlike earthly fathers? He is a father who does not leave; does not neglect; does not fail. He is God an our Father.

Hallowed be Your name is a great term of praise. What if we truly learned how to praise God for His holiness? What would our world look like?

What I get excited about is the statement, "Your kingdom come and Your will be done..." A lot of different thoughts come to mind with the word kingdom. Some view the kingdom as already being established; others view it as something that is yet to come. My thought is I agree. The kingdom came when Jesus ushered it in, but we have yet to fully realize it.

In association with prayer, what if we learned to pray for the kingdom to come? How exciting for God's kingdom to truly reign in the hearts of every man, woman, and child. I am learning to pray kingdom prayers. I have a long way to go, but I am learning. DO you have any thoughts concerning praying for the kingdom? What is your understanding of kingdom?

You know you live in a small town if...

...two guys go through McDonlds drive through on horseback. Kellie and I are still trying to get used to small town life. In our seven and a half years of marriage, the smallest town we lived in was Lubbock, TX with a poulation of about 200,000. Then it was Tulsa, Long Island, Memphis. Now we find ourselves in Sallisaw. We like it here. The people are great. We both enjoy our jobs. Our kids love their schools, but it is different. A town with 7,500 people is much different for us. We were in culture shock as we were leaving McDonalds and two cowboys ride up on their horses and go through the drive up window. Oklahoma- It's good to be home!

Seasons of Change

It seems that life is all about change. Things change over the course of a lifetime. The shows I loved as a child no longer come on television. Those that do, I no longer enjoy like I did as a child. The music I used to love sounds cheesy - even the word cheesy is outdated. Remember how it it used to be cool to say words like "rad," "dude," and "narly." Or is it Gnarly? Anyway, things change. society changes, culture changes, attitudes change, the status quoe changes. There have been many changes in our lives lately. Adopting Drew from Ethiopia was a major change in our life. We moved from Memphis to Sallisaw. Kellie and I both have new jobs. Drew and Timothy attend different schools. Things have changed over the last year. Even since we have been in Sallisaw things have changed. The church we are working with has changed from one traditional service to a traditional and an emerging service. I began coaching soccer. Soccer is now over. Things have changed. We have one more major change coming into our lives. We are expecting a baby. Kellie is due on May 27. Isn't life fun! We are excited about the new addition to our family. We know that it will be a change, but we are excited about the change and look forward to all the exciting adventures that life has in store. Please pray for our family. These are positive changes, but there have been many in a short time and that adds extra stress to our lives. Thank you so much for your continued support.

Transition

These last couple of months have been totally chaotic. It has been traveling and interviewing. The stress of traveling with two boys and interviewing with churches and decisions as to where to move our family has been overwhelming at times. Thankfully they are beginning to come to an end.
We have not been home in 2 two months and when we finally did arrive home in Memphis, it was only to pack and move to our new home. We are still homeless at the moment as we wait for closing on a house so we can move in and begin unpacking.
After many interview, phone conferences, and submitting more resumes than I care to count, we will be moving to Sallisaw, Oklahoma. I have begun working with a small church that is seeking ways to be a beacon of light to the community. I have been brought on staff as an associate minister in charge of developing a service and outreach geared at the under 35 crowd. I am very excited about this new position and am eager to get started. Please pray for our family as we transition to a new place with new relationships and new demands. Also please pray that we are able to move into our house soon. We are currnetly staying with my parents in Muskogee and I make the hour long commute each morning. It is hard to do ministry in a city when you are not living there.
I have Internet at work and should be able to update my blog more regularly now. Thank you for your prayers and for keeping in contact with us.

More Pictures

Some of you asked for pictures a few weeks ago. So I posted pictures. For those who wanted pictures, here are even more. And by the way, yes my mouth is open. I was talking to the boys when the picture was taken. I was telling them to smile. Yes, I do look dumb with my mouth open in the picture, but that is okay because I am already the least attractive member of the family. Kellie and the boys look good in the picture and that is what really matters. So thank you for noticing my imperfections. I still love you all anyway.

Being Transformed

We have had our new son for 3 months. As you can see we have come a long way! In Ethiopia Drew did not want to play-- he cried for his care takers at the children home. He did not want us to hug him or cuddle him-- he wanted to be at home in the care center. He did not want to sleep he wanted to be at home in the care center. This little boy was so happy with his care takers, so happy with several other children, and very familiar with communicating with care givers and friends in the care center. Daniel and I seriously prayed about leaving this boy in Ethiopia. We thought about "returning" him to his care center where everything is familiar. Instead of playing ball with us outside he would kick the ball by some park cars and cry for his care givers by name. He was so happy and playful at the care center and so sad and depressed-- almost grieving-- because we took him away from his care center.
As each day brings us together closer as a family I am not only learning new things about my family and myself I am learning new things about God and his family.
Drew was so content in Ethiopia-- he had wonderful caregivers, a bunkbed he shared with four other children, three meals a day, and smaller children he helped care for. Ethiopia is a wonderful country with awesom weather, great scenery, and wonderful people.
Drew was adopted by us-- not by his choice-- (somedays we wished we did not make this choice) Drew was forced to leave his care givers, familiar bed, his friends, and customs to come to America to live a family that says, "NO", strangers that do not speak his language, and eat strange foods. Drew had to be completly transformed "over night" to adapt to our family and ways in America.
Drew has taught me so much about God's love it is hard to put in words (in a blog-- let alone speak about it).
We all heard God adopted us- God paid a randsom for us- be transformed so your life is a thank you gift to the Lord (heard these things since we could remember)
Wow- Drew you really made these principles come to life!
Many of us were content in our old ways-- I know the language of these worldly habits, I know the rules and I know how to get around these rules. Sometimes these habits and "traditions are hard to break" Drew has really taught us what it means to be transformed in the renewing of the mind-- (Romans 12:1-3).
We made sacrifices to bring Drew to America- he should appreciate us-- he owes us something-- at least five hours of peace and quiet a day---for all the sacrifices we made for you-- what does he give us-- not much. Yet, we still love him and even like him.
I think about the sacrifices God paid for us and how unappreciated we are of his sacrifices. I think about the life God wants us to experience but we hold on to traditions (wanting to do our own thing) How many times are we like Drew, I do not want to leave my comfort zone I want to stay in the care center, I don't care what will happen when I turn 14 and I'm old enough to live on the streets. Maybe we are like Drew somedays and say God, I wish you were not part of my life, I wish you did not adopt me into your family, I was so comfortable in my old ways, and yet God looks down and says, you have no idea what I have in store for you.
We have had Drew home for only a few short time and I say to myself will you please show some appreciation-- when will you pick up on our family rules-- and yet I think how God may look at me and say you have known me for how long-- will you please show some appreciation--when will you follow my family rules-- and be fully transformed.

-Kellie

Pictures

It has been a while since my last post. Things seem to be in a constant stream of "busyness." We have all been battling cold and flu over the last three weeks. We are finally all beginning to feel better. For this post there is not much to say, I will just share some pictures.

Lessons from an airplane

Okay, do not let the title of post fool you. I will not spend time talking about the airplane. I will not write of how you are putting faith in a giant piece of metal flying through the sky at 30,000 feet and how if one wire is not properly connected life as you know it could take a drastic change. Wow, now I do not want to fly anymore. I will not talk about all the people it takes to make a successful flight from the pilot, flight attendant, mechanics, air traffic controllers, ramp crew, fuel crew, wing walker, and on and on. I think there is a great lesson there for the church about how each person has a different function but a common goal of helping people reach their destinations safely. I will not discuss those things. Wait, I already have.

I want to share about an experience I had on our way to Ethiopia to meet our son. Our itinerary was to fly from Memphis to Chicago; Chicago to Washington Dulles; switch airline in Washington and fly to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It was a smooth flight all the way. When we were flying from Chicago to Washington, Kellie and I were not able to sit together. I thought I would take advantage of the situation by catching up on some reading. I grabbed Blue Like Jazz and opened the book. However, before I was able to read a single word the man sitting next to me began to ask me questions. He sat down and said hello. I said hello in return and then once again opened my book. He proceeded to ask how my day had been so far. I told him it was fine and I stared back into my book. Feeling guilty, I asked him how his day had been. He responded that it was good but that he had a long flight ahead of him. I said "Well, I wish you the best" and began to once again look at my book (I had read about five words so far and I thought I should have been finished with a few pages by now). He did not seem to care that I wanted to read. He told me he was travelling to Liberia to visit his family. I decided to put my book back into my bag and have a conversation with the man.

We talked about Africa and how to communicate cross culturally. We discussed stereotypes Americans have about Africa and Africans have about America. It was a good discussion.

He asked me what I do. I find that question funny because I have no idea what I do. I minister to people whenever I can. I teach classes at church. I do leadership development. I am a student, but not this semester. I do not get paid to work for the church. I decided to tell him that I was a minister. He got so excited. He began to talk about ministry, about how we are all ministers, about how Jesus changes lives. He talked about the need for Christianity in Africa where his family is and in Chicago where he had lived for the last 17 years.

I learned a lot from this man. I was glad to be sitting next to him. He began to tell me what he did for a living. He has a business in Chicago that cleans church buildings. He then began to teach me about discipleship. He talked about how being a janitor doesn't seem like an ideal occupation, but how he would not change his career. He said Jesus washed the disciples feet because there was a need and everyone thought they were above that job. Jesus served his disciples. He said people come to a church building and sing songs and hear good sermons and attend good events; but they often think they are above cleaning the toilet. He said if Jesus were here today, he would clean the toilet, he would mop up the vomit from the three year old classroom, he would serve because someone needed to serve. He was not above service. In fact his own words were that he came not to be served, but to serve.

I think that is an awesome picture of Jesus. Jesus serving. Jesus wrapping the towel around his waist and washing the disciples' feet. Jesus grabbing the mop and cleaning up after we get sick. Jesus grabbing a toilet brush and doing the job no one else wants to do. Jesus serving. Jesus loving. Jesus taking a cross and carrying it up the hill to be crucified because of our impurities.

I am thankful for this man. I am glad I had the opportunity to sit next to him. I enjoyed the book once I was finally able to read it. But I am so glad this man interrupted my selfish desire in order to teach me about discipleship. Am I willing to serve? Do I seek only the glory positions? Sure, I love to preach and teach and be out in front - but am I willing to scrub a toilet in the name of Jesus and consider my role just as important as the teacher, preacher, and missionary? Thank you for the lesson, Lord. Teach me how to apply it.

Timothy & Leulseged Learning to Play Together

The boys are learning how to get along. This is one of the first times they played together.

Our trip to Ethiopia

Wow! What an adventure. This journey called adoption is a wonderful time of learning. Although it is not always a wonderful experience, the rewards and the lessons learned make it wonderful. It was a hectic time because we left for Ethiopia the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We had so much to do and so little time. We spent time with family in Hot Springs, AR before we left. It was a great time, but it really made it much more challenging to get done what we needed to accomplish. We flew out on United from Memphis to Chicago to Wahsington Dulles, we transferred to Ethiopian Airlines for our flight to Addis Ababa. It was a great flight. We were able to catch some Z's and eat a lot of good food.

After going through customs in Addis we met Dagne, Job (pronounced Yob), and Kasshion (sp?). They were very friendly and loving toward us. They drove us to the SIM guest house where we stayed during our time in Addis. It was a great place to stay. We met people from all over the globe there.

We went to the care center on Monday to meet Leulseged for the first time. It was an indescribable moment. We have been waiting so long and have known about him for so long that it almost didn 't seem real. He was no longer a picture on a computer, he was actually sitting in our lap giving us a hug.

The children were beautiful and the staff is very loving and they all have a great heart for the children. We loved meeting Leulseged for the first time.

Leul is a wonderful child. He is truly a gift from God. We are blessed to have him in our life. The bonding was difficult the first couple of days and I know we will still have times of trials, but we are family. We actually left the country early to return home because it was such a difficult adjustment for our little guy. On our return trip, he was really good. We flew from Addis back to Washington with no probelems. From Washington to Chicago we had no trouble. He slept the entire way. By the time we were in Chicago for our final flight home, Leulseged had enough flying. We ended up renting a car and driving ten hours, but it was great. When it was just the three of us Leulseged took off his jacket for the very first time. That was a huge step because he was so attached to that jacket and any time we tried to take it off to change him, he would throw a fit. But when it was just the three of us, he voluntarily took it off.

We have enjoyed our time together so far. We have many adjustments to make as a family and our biological son is having a hard time sharing his mommy and daddy, but it is a beautiful picture when they are enjoying each others company. How can you not smile at moments like this?

A picture of unity

Sunday was a beautiful day. It was also a confusing day. One of those days where the worship service does not go as planned, but still created a beautiful image of Christ. We had an area wide worship of the urban congregations on Sunday. The auditorium was packed. It was an interesting mix. Inner city poor, missionaries who are working on Masters of Divinity, and people who do not speak English. We have never really had a bilingual service. It was difficult to communicate. It was uncomfortable at times, but it was a beautiful picture.

The theme of the day was unity. We were a group of people seeking unity. We were people that most would say would have nothing in common. It is true. We did not have much in common. We did not all look alike. We were not all from the same part of town. We were all different ages. We did not all speak the same language. But we do all serve the same Lord. That brought us together. We were together in the name of Jesus singing songs together. The songs were in English and Spanish and we each would sing in our own language at the same time. We were, if only for two hours, a united people. Memphis is not known for unity. It is a very segregated city. We made an effort to be a family. As our Spanish speaking brother would say "Somos familia." We are family.

Communion took on a new meaning. It was not a smooth well played out communion. We decided we would all take the communion together as a symbolic sign of unity. It took a while to pass out the trays and there was awkward silence in which we decided to sing a song that probably wasn't the idea choice for communion, but it was a song we all knew. As I looked across the audience while giving the communion meditation, I saw black, white, and Hispanic all sitting together ready to take communion with each other. It was a small picture of unity.

How beautiful it is to know that there are Christians all around this world. Brothers and sisters who do not look like me, think like me, dress like me, or share the same hobbies as I do. They do not speak the same language, but they do serve the same God! I pray for them and lift them before our Father. And I pray for unity. Unity: such a small word, but what a difficult word it is. For unity is not always popular. But when Christians unite, it is a wonderful picture.

Embassy

Well, things are coming along fast. We had our court date on November 6 and we got a call yesterday telling us that we have an Embassy date of November 28. We must be in Addis Ababa no later than November 27. Time to start packing and buying tickets and finding a place to stay. This is so exciting. We had been praying to have our boy home before Christmas, now we will see him before the end of this month! God answers prayers.

Picture Time

Since our court date was a success, I can show you a couple of pictures. Look at those eyes. We are so excited to bring our boy home. Thank you all for your continued prayer and support.