The Christmas Song

My son wrote another song…I need to get this recorded so I can share the tune as well.

You’re beautiful.

You’re Glorious.

You’re Wonderful.

You came to save us.

You’re the Prince of Peace.

Above all things,

You’re the Lord of Lords.

You’re the King of Kings.

You’re the mighty God.

Emanuel.

The Messiah.

You make all things well.

Born in a manger,

With shepherds at your side.

Three rich kings,

On December twenty five.

Frankincense so sweet,

Gold so bright,

Myrrh in a box,

Under that big star’s light

You’re beautiful.

You’re Glorious.

You’re Wonderful.

You’re Jesus!

Popularity: 7% [?]

Waiting for a message

Our family has been in the adoption process since about October.  We already have four beautiful biological children but we wanted to share our family and our love with a child that otherwise would be without a family.

We’ve been through the process of deciding domestic or international, country of origin, and agency.  We’ve completed an in depth application with lots of questions about our motivation and heart as parents and as people.  We’ve spent hours with a social worker, hours completing a workbook and hours taking online educational courses on adoption.  Lastly, we’ve completed our dossier.

Well…almost.

As part of the background checks, Ethiopia requires a background check from every country that we may have lived since we were eighteen.  I happened to have lived in the Republic of Panama between the ages of 17-20, twenty five years ago.

In case you are not current on your Panamanian history, the government in place twenty five years ago no longer exists.

Fortunately, the US Embassy in Panama was able to declare that my background is clear and they promised to send us a letter stating that fact, about a week ago.

Now we wait.  It’s only been a week, but in the age of email and instant communication, it feels as if they sent the letter via a bottle tossed into the ocean for the waves to carry it here.

I know there will be lots more waiting as we go through this process.  Once the dossier is ready, we’ll need to wait for our agency to approve it.  After the agency approval, we need to wait for Ethiopia to approve the paperwork and approve us a fit parents.  Then we wait for a child to be referred to us.  And finally, we wait again for the Ethiopian courts to process the adoption.

We obviously had plenty of waiting with all of our biological children as well.  However, I could place my hand on my wife’s stomach and feel our child.  Our new child is thousands of miles away.  The wait is longer when you can’t see what is happening.

It’s like standing on the beach, looking out into the vast ocean, waiting for an expected message in a bottle.

Popularity: 4% [?]

What made you choose Ethiopia?

This is a common question my wife and I are asked when we share with people that we are in the process of adopting.  I wonder sometimes if there is a question behind the question.  However, I’m sure in most cases it is really an inquisitive question.  Why choose an international adoption over domestic?  Why Africa instead of Eastern Europe or China?

The reason I often give for Ethiopia is that it’s one of the poorest countries, so if we’re going to help somewhere, why not where it is needed the most.  I then explain how there may be countries where the need is greater but that Ethiopia is also one of the more adoption friendly countries, at least for now (this can change at anytime with international adoptions).

However, as our family has studied more about Ethiopia, I’ve come to realize that I am really becoming enamored with this country.  It’s a country with a rich Christian heritage to go along with it’s great African heritage.  It’s a country of great beauty as are many countries in Africa.  It’s a country with a proud history of royalty dating back to King Solomon (yep – Israel’s Solomon) and the Queen of Sheba.

A lot of countries have a great history and culture.  So why has Ethiopia’s warmed my heart so much?

Because this is my son’s country and his heritage.  That’s why I love it.

I can’t explain what has happened over the last couple of weeks.  But I’ve started to feel my new son inside of me.  I have an excitement growing as if my wife was pregnant (I know this feeling as we have four birth children).  We have not even been referred to a child, but I know God has him set aside for us already.  I can feel it.  I couldn’t feel it when we started this process, but I can feel it today.

I have a new answer whenever someone asks me why we chose Ethiopia.  We chose Ethiopia because that’s where our son is from.  Where else would we choose?

Popularity: 2% [?]

Children obey your parents

Ephesians 6:1-3 (ESV)

¹ Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), ³ “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

The bible is very clear about admonishing children to obey their parents.  In fact, this precept made God’s top 10 list.  Most people that read this blog may say “Amen” to this commandment, as many of us are parents.  But, why is this precept so important to God?

I can think of a couple of reasons.  One is that a rebellious heart is a sinful heart and rebellion often starts in the home.  While all children of all ages should be obedient to their parents, I think this commandment is especially directed at older children, those that are starting to reach adulthood and starting to think they know more than mom and dad.

God first gave this command to the Israelites.  He knew that the new generations would be tempted by the other peoples in their land.  He had warned their parents to teach their children about Him and how He led them out of Egypt.  However, if the children did not care to listen to their parents, these lessons would be lost.  As you read the book of Judges you see this happening on an ongoing cycle.

What about us older children?  Do we still honor and obey our parents or are we exempt once we get married and have our own children?  I think as mature adults it is easy for us to forget the wisdom of our parents.

The other reason I think this command is so important to God is because if we do not honor our earthly fathers and mothers, we may have a hard time honoring our heavenly Father.  How often do we choose our own way over God’s ways?

A couple of other points about my thoughts on this passage…

Sometimes, parents can be ungodly parents, even evil parents.  It’s a sad and shameful reality of our broken world.  I had loving parents so it is hard for me to imagine the pain of those whose parents really let them down.  I think God would still have us honor our parents regardless of the pain they may have caused.  However, I know that is easy for me to say, not having to experience that kind of pain myself.

The other point I want to make about this passage is the commentary added by Paul.  He says this is the first commandment with a promise.  Just what is this promise?

Some translations like the NIV and even NASB read the promise as, “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”  This makes it sound like a promise for a long life if you are an obedient child that honors your parents.  However, does this mean that children, teenagers, or young adults that die at a young age were disobedient and dishonoring to their parents?

Paul is quoting Exodus 20:12 here, which is actually being given as the sixth of the ten commandments.   The promise is that if the young Israelites obey and honor their parents it will go well for them in the new land.  Even in the NIV and NASB the word used is land rather than earth in Exodus.  I think this makes the ESV version more accurate and we should assume that Paul is quoting the commandment as stated in the Old Testament.

So the promise is not a long life on earth but a long life in the land.  As mentioned above, we find the young Israelites unable to live up to this commandment and all is not well for Israel.

The point is that this is not necessarily a “promise” for every child that obedience and honoring your parents will lead to a long life.  An early death does not mean a young person was a rebellious child.  That said, I do think this is a Christian principle.  A child that obeys and honors his parents will have a life that honors God, regardless of the the number of days on this earth.  A rebellious, disobedient child that dishonors his or her parents is more likely to have a life that can lead to an early destruction, again, regardless of the number of days on this earth.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Y-IKE-S!

Hello world… We’re still hanging in there. We had one large tree come down but it landed in the driveway and missed our house. I have many co-workers that were not so lucky. Ike was not nice to the trees around here.

We don’t have any power. However, our local power company expects to have us up this week. Those further east in Conroe could be without power for 2-4 weeks.

We have one generator that we switch back and forth from the well pump to the refrigerator. It’s like camping all over again.

We thank God that we’re doing well and praying for those close by that are not doing so well. Keep the Houston area in your prayers.

Grace and peace y’all.

Tony

Popularity: 1% [?]

Take This Road Lord? Really?

This is a guest post from my wonderful wife, Mandy.  She actually wrote it for her own blog but when I reviewed it I asked if I could post it on Seeking Things Above.  For those of you that have been following along on my journey, I think you’ll see why I wanted it over here.

Proverbs 3:5 (ESV)
⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Am I going to walk down this road?

I keep asking God this question.

He has told Tony and me that we are going to one day walk down this road. But, I have questions. My number one questions is…

Really?

I know – it’s a pretty deep question.

This road is the road that leads from a hotel in Ethiopia to an orphanage called Hannah’s Hope.

Really? Is that what you are calling us to do?

I keep questioning this because I have been positive in the past that God is telling me to do one thing, only to lead me in a different direction than I thought. Of course, it has always turned out better and I can see in hindsight what He was doing when I thought I was heading in the first direction. I am fully confident that if this is not what God has planned for us, He will use this to lead us where He really wants us to go. Until then I still ask -

Really?

You have a child that will not have any parents to take care of him and you want to place him in our family?

I don’t feel worthy of God allowing our family to participate in this awesome plan. But – Yes, Lord. Please use our family and be glorified through the entire process.

I’m pretty sure there will be some people who question what we are doing. We already have four kids, there are lots of kids in America that needs homes, our family is white and Ethopian babies are black.

Somehow, I think I can handle the critical comments better than the complimentary. What I don’t want is to be glorified for what our family has done for this child. This is what God laid on our hearts. He is clear in Scripture that we are to take care of the poor, and He put this adoption on our hearts at the same time. On all of our hearts. The kids started asking for a baby right when God started opening our eyes to this. They are so excited.

I am having a hard time getting excited over this. I just keep waiting for God to tell me this was just step one and He actually wants us to do something else. I want to be excited about adoption. I want to get frustrated with how long the paperwork takes because I just can’t wait any longer.

I will trust that God has a sovereign plan and this step is part of it. I can know that if He is going to lead us in another direction before we go through the entire adoption process, then all of this is just part of where He needed to take us first. It will be okay because God is in control. Not me.

Until then, I think I’m ready to get excited about starting this adoption process. I’m getting excited about praying for a child that may not even be conceived right now, and praying for his parents, and for our family that will see that the orphans and the poor are real people that we need to love and take care of. I’m getting excited because I know this child will be a way bigger blessing to our family than we will be to him. And, I’m getting excited about walking down that road to meet a child that God knew long before now and planned to place in our family.

This journey will take us down new roads. I’m ready to see where God leads us.

Really.

- Mandy

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Join the fight – stop TV violence

Join the fight to stop violence? Sounds like an oxymoron doesn’t it? OK, so what I mean is, join the blog campaign to at least raise the awareness that violence on TV is hurting our children and our families.

If you’re interested in joining the campaign, visit A Campaign for Non Violence on TV and submit an article expressing your concern. I’ve joined the campaign and have an article posted on the site. At a minimum, visit the blog to learn more about this important issue.

Thank you to Jenisle for sponsoring this important awareness campaign. Now that’s a good reason to blog.

Visit Jenisle’s other blogs while you’re at it.

Random Thoughts
The Little Children
Working Abroad
The Clamor of Kalingna
Gewgaw Writings

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Update on Moses

A couple of posts back I introduced everyone to Moses from Liberia (he’s the one on the left). Since that time things have changed a little bit around this story.

The Hand Center wanted to make sure that Moses’ visa could be extended before they performed any surgery. The most important part of his treatment will be the rehabilitation. If he could not stay in the U.S. long enough to do the rehab then it would not be worth doing the surgery.

God is working through this whole process. The visa was extended until November 2 which gives us plenty of time for the surgery and the needed rehabilitation.

The next big change in this story is that Moses has moved in with our family. He’ll be staying with us until his visa expires in November. My kids, as well as my wife and I, are very excited about being able to share our family with Moses for the next five months.

So far, the transition with Moses living with us has been extremely smooth. Moses gets along great with our other kids, although the four year old is still playing shy with him. However, Moses is up for the challenge. I think he’s made it one of his goals to win her over. It’s really pretty cute as he tries to get her attention and she hides her face (with the smirk that only the baby in the family can have).

I’m sure the next five months will be go by as fast as they always do. Before long it will be late October and we’ll be trying to figure out how we’re supposed to say good-bye to Moses.

Are we supposed to say good-bye?

It will be interesting to see what God has in mind.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Meet Moses

Meet Moses. Moses is a thirteen year old boy from Liberia where he has been raised in an orphanage since he was three months old. His mother died when she was shot by rebels. When she was shot, she fell on top of Moses where he remained pinned for three days. As a result of this tragedy, Moses was orphaned and his left hand was severely crippled.

Our church, Fairfield Baptist, sponsors Moses’ orphanage in Liberia. By the grace of God, we were able to arrange for Moses to come to the United States to have his hand fixed. More details can be found on the Fairfield Baptist web site.

Moses is here for at least 60 days. I think the church is trying to get his visa extended because after the surgery it would be best if he could be here for more physical therapy.

My family has been blessed by being able to spend some quality time with Moses on his visit. We home school and Moses has gone with my wife and kids on field trips, met our home school group, and today he got to see all the kids dressed in their Renaissance costumes as part of the home school groups Renaissance festival.

Up until now, my family’s interaction with Moses has been while I am at work. However, today I got to pick him up on the way home. We had some friends over and enjoyed homemade chicken and beef enchiladas. The house was full of kids and you can tell Moses really enjoys the other children. He plays with the little kids and laughs and makes them laugh. After our neighbors left, I got to play a few rounds of Uno Attack and spend some quality time with Moses and my three older kids.

I finally had my turn at being blessed.

There are going to be a lot of tears in my house when Moses goes back to Liberia and the orphanage.

James 1:27 (ESV)
²⁷ Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

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Under Appreciated

I love my wife. I think she knows that but sometimes I’m sure she has to go on faith. Being the poor wretched man that I am, I often forget to let her know how much I truly love her.

She’s not just a house mate or a business partner in the business of raising our kids. However, I know I sometimes treat her that way.

I love my wife as much as I love myself – because she is a part of me. Two become one and I could not imagine that never being the case in the future or how it was the case in the past before we met.

Maybe I fail at telling her and showing her how much I love her because she is such a big part of me. I don’t look at myself in the mirror each morning and say, “Wow, you sure are beautiful and I love you more today than yesterday”. Well that may be an excuse but it’s a weak excuse.

New Year’s is a time to make resolutions on starting new habits or breaking old ones. Maybe I’ll make a Mother’s Day resolution that my wife will never need to have the faith of Abraham to know how much I love her.

Happy Mother’s Day Mandy.

You make that lady in Proverbs 31 look like an amateur.

Popularity: 1% [?]

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