Adoption and Advent

Waiting.

They were waiting for the Messiah to come and change the world. They expected him to come as a conquering hero, riding on a white horse. But he came as a child.

Our current stage of adoption is a waiting one. All the details are basically done, now on for the waiting. Waiting for a child that will no doubt change our lives.

But the Christ child, now that's another kind of change. Could you imagine waiting for THAT child to enter the scene?

And that is what our celebration of Advent/Christmas should represent. Our kids wait in anticipation of opening presents. Representative of the perfect gift that God gave us in the Baby.

adoption update

I was looking at my arm this morning after my shower and acknowledging all the pricks and prodding I have undergone in the past month. Aids test--check. TB test, check. Updated tetanus, got it. Drug test, hmm, for some reason hasn't come back yet. Hope nobody switched the urine sample!

Lesa and I also signed our "last will and testament" yesterday and named benefactors. (Wondering if you are on the list? Don't. There's not enough to go around.)

The FBI fingerprinting was all but done, but Lesa's pinky finger didn't make it, so a redo was necessary. (Dang you pinky finger!)

We had a stack of paperwork which made our home mortgage signing look like a walk in the park, but thanks to my wife, it is all but depleted.

"Home study" is all but completed too. The last step was a week ago, which included an interview of our 3 children. I was curious as to what they would ask our 5 year old Kara. She told me they asked her favorite food. Answer? Spaghettios. I hope this doesn't preclude us from adopting. I mean, what kind of parents let their kids love spaghettios?

So, many hurdles have been jumped. My arm is sore. Our hopes are high. We have a couple months before the next stage. As always, God is faithful and we look forward to where he is leading us.

Adoption

So, we're having a baby.

Kind of.

Actually not a baby at all. If God has his way (and he will...he will), it would be a little Ethiopian boy to join our family. As of yesterday, the home equity loan is approved, "the check is in the mail." This means that I will be a rich man on Monday. (But not for long, as adoption is costly.) God has given us the practical means to begin this process!

I shared at church briefly about our plans to adopt, and about the many questions I have asked God in the process. Why now? Don't you realize that we already have 3 kids that we love? Have you seen the size of our house? (I mean, come on God, really!?) Have you seen my bank statement this month? All good questions.

But none are obstacles when God is in it. Turns out he has this thing about making big things out of nothing. He did it with the earth, and the stars, and the sun. Turns out he loves to take skeptics and show them a thing or two. (Hey Moses, is that a snake in your hand?) It turns out, he laughs at our silly notions about money, security, and who's in control.

And as it turns out, he loves the orphan. And he loves the fatherless. And he loves the ones who have been left behind. I know he does because he loves me. Oh, and because he said so (Dt. 10:18).

Some people think that adopting a child from an impoverished country will change that child's life forever. But I know better. The truth is, the child changes us.

May God change all of us with his will and his mercy.

needing "the mercy rule"!

ouch. my son's baseball game yesterday was a slaughterfest. i'm not even sure if that's a word, but it certainly fits. inning 4 just didn't seem to want to end. and we were in the outfield. missing fly balls, making errors, and generally daydreaming. after a while of this (and I mean a LONG while) we finally hit the "mercy rule". you know, the point in kid's sports where the game is called because one team is up by a ridiculous amount.

some parents were mad; i thought it a good life lesson. because that's how my life feels at times. i think i'm plucking along, doing rather fine. (maybe even dong great, thank you very much!) but then out of the blue, a curveball (metaphorically speaking!). and then i am down for the count. failure, dissapointment, much grace needed.

and much grace is exactly what God offers! in the form of his son Jesus! not-even-remotely-deserved-favor. but i get it anyways--if i want it! thank God for the mercy rule!

never give up!

so i finally got to a celtics playoff game in the garden. good news, bad news.

the good news was: it was, in fact, an historic game. the bad news? well, it was the worse playoff loss in celtics history. an all out thumping.

now... if i were a celtic that night, letting those 19000 fans (including my son and I) down, i would not have shown my face in public. i mean, hang it up. it was that bad.

but, in game 5. in cleveland. against the mighty lebron--a significant thing happened. they forgot about that aweful loss and moved on. instead, they gave Cleveland an historic loss--their worst playoff loss ever.

hmmm. makes me think about perseverance. it is one of the highest human virtues. without it, we slump off and think life is a big waste of time. but with it? with it we acheive amazing things. with it we grow and get stretched from our failures.

the bible says we can even rejoice because of trials. why? because of perseverance.

so wherever you're at, never give up! see all of this as an opporunity for growth! and don't forget that historic victory may be just around the corner.

high five etiquette (with funny video)

a good friend of mine and coworker loves to slap hands when we meet. which is cool. except, i have really bad timing for this sort of thing and usually it becomes slightly awkward. ever happen to you?

or worse, he goes for the high five, and i go for the fist bump. kind of a fist-five, which is even more awkward.

well, if you've ever been in my shoes, you will find this video by tripp and tyler hilarious, but also an informative tool for high five etiquette. feel free to comment with your own tips for high fiving.

Censored!

we have an internet filter on our home computer. it's mostly to give permissions for the shorter members of our growing family. one of the quirky features that i still get a kick out of is that it will automatically censor out dirty words. so, for instance, i was just reading an article on the boston herald about how the red sox got beat by the orioles. it said they got their @#%! kicked. (naturally, i assume the word was butts.)

as a Christ follower, i wonder how often I do the same thing. i censor out the parts of my life that seem unworthy to others. i give my best face, and I keep the side hidden that only my inner circle really knows about. now i'm not talking about deep dark secrets here. just everyday stuff that i'd rather hide behind the symbols found above the letters on my keyboard (figuratively speaking).

i wonder if we are all guilty of that $#@!* (stuff)

i wonder what relationships would look like if we did a better job with authenticity?

and i'm certainly glad that God knows all that %$#!& about me and loves me anyway!

having a crazy heart

today i was out getting some hamburger buns for a cookout when i stopped over at blockbuster to swap out a video. gunna try crazy heart--only because Jeff Bridges won that oscar. i hope it isn't stupid.

anyways, while i was there, this couple was smiling and being very polite. then i realized that i knew them from church. they were encouraging and kind. they stopped to share a kind word with me.

i, on the other hand, was thinking about how humid it was...and i wonder if this movie is stupid...and why did i forget those hamburger buns in the first place.

this couple went out of their way to share some encouraging words to me, someone that they barely even knew. made my day much brighter, i must admit. i thought to myself: how many times do we miss opportunities to bless others with a smile? a kind word? or encouragment?

it's so easy a caveman could do it!

Playoff bound

so it's official. i got tickets for both Micah and me to head, with another father/son, to game 3 of the Celtics/Cavs playoffs in boston. i have wanted to go to a basketball playoff game since Larry Bird and the Celtics lost to the Lakers in '87. sky hook by Magic, eesh.

game is next friday, long drive to boston, but totally worth it. i told my 9 year old about it today, and he was ecstatic. he already made a poster that he is planning to hold up at the game. (so if you see a green blip in the nose bleed section, that might be us.) It says, "go cavs". NO, i'm totally kidding. he has green blood like me.

fascinating how a son takes after a father without there being much effort in it. seems very natural, instinctual, perhaps you could say, God-given. i guess that's why our spiritual instincts incline us to be like our heavenly father. but only if we spend some good quality time with him. maybe it's time for a "road trip" with the Father?

as much as i got hyped about the game, it is nothing compared to the thrill of being able to take my son. it is nothing compared with his face expression today when i told him he was coming along for the ride. it is nothing compared to seeing him make that poster.

i bet God feels the same way when i am truly excited to be with him.

Is Donald Miller My Friend?

i am a pretty big fan of donald miller, especially the book, "to own a dragon". reading the book made me feel like don knew me. and that, in a sense, i knew him. that's why this video that i saw on a blog today was hilarious (stuff Christians like).

even if you don't know don, i think you will find it funny as well!

the colonel's secret recipe

i have a cold. so i took some nyquil the other night to knock me out, but it didn't work. so i found myself on the couch in the middle of the night watching a biography on CNBC. i figured, if that didn't put me to sleep then nothing would. nyquil and CNBC--a sleepy combination.

anyways, i found myself watching about the life of colonel sanders. interesting guy. he came up with an 11th herb (or was it a spice?) to his already award winning chicken, wrote it on the wall of his basement, and only let his daughter see it. the secret recipe has been hidden ever since.

but as i watched, another interesting fact stood out to me. harland sanders didn't open up his first franchise restaurant until after he went broke when he was 65 years old. that's right, broke at 65, but it didn't stop him.

it turns out that the real secret ingredient in colonel sander's life was actually perseverance. most people at 65 are ready to retire. he could have accepted his failure, taken his pension, and moved on. but instead he went on to create one of the most successful fast food chains in America.

the Bible teaches us to persevere when faced with many obstacles. it says that enduring trials is the secret to spiritual progress. tough to hear, harder to live.

so if you are in a trial, ask God to help you, and hang in there. you may not end up with a franchise of chicken houses, but you still might find something else that is 'finger lick'n good'!

i suddenly feel hungry.

cutest kid that isn't mine

i have 3 children. they are awesome. people say that my face lights up when i talk (-read brag) about them. but i admit i am extremely biased.



it's interesting to listen to people talk about their own children. they could be complete monsters. they could be future serial killers or terrorists. heck, they could even like country music. it doesn't matter, the same is usually true: parents love their own children.



i remember my wife one time talking about why she hates working in the church nursery. it's simple: she can't change someone elses kid's diaper. changing her own kids? easy. changing someone elses--not so much. i have changed many a kid's diaper in my day, but all of them had the last name tucker.



all of this has me thinking of the love of God. it wasn't enough for him to have us be someone else's kid. he adopted us as his own. he loves us as his own. he is as biased about me as i am about my own children--even more so. what a wonderful thought.



here's a youtube clip that i thought was perhaps the cutest thing i have seen that wasn't one of my own kids...