I am Jacob

I was thinking (and that should worry you) that it might be a fun idea to take a look see at our lives and try to match ourselves up with a biblical person. So, as a call to my blogger friends, which person in the bible most accurately portrays you, your life, or your circumstances. It could be anybody, you could me Mary, Joseph, Peter, Moses, Hagar, Isaac, Paul, pretty much whomever you feel you most identify with while reading the text. You could even be Jesus perhaps, not that your feeling all that righteous right now, maybe your just feeling like you spend all your time being chased by crowds, dining with tax collector and hookers, and praying about your impending end. Anyway, to my few faithful readers, who do you feel you are the best reflection of (leave comment) and why (blog if you will).

I’ll go first (like that was an option).

I am Jacob.

Not the most wholesome choice, but sometimes the truth isn’t always pleasant. Some of you know that I came to the church and became a Christian, or follower of Christ as some like to say, or born again as others prefer, only about 7 or so years ago. Before that time, I was not always the most transparent and genuine of people. I had issues that I hid and controlled through defense mechanisms, personal barriers, and careful reality denial. Jacob, in its original language means something like deceiver, swindler, huckster, liar, cheater. That was me, BC. My whole personality was a carefully constructed hoax. I manipulated situations and minds to protect my shortcomings and frailties. I would lie, cheat and steal to maintain the façade. When you read the story of Jacob, in the beginning he was deceptive to his family, in particular his brother, then the story about what he did with breeding the herds to assure his flocks grew. The first time I read these passages I found myself thinking Jacob was doing things in the same manner that I might have done them. I don’t say that with any particular pride, just recognition of character. Then when he was, well, nevermind, if you don’t know the story of Jacob, go read it real quick and watch carefully for his manipulations of people and things to further himself and protect himself. This was my story from age 10 or so till my mid to late 20’s. (I want to mention that a few close friends knew the real me, but most everyone else, including family, had no idea who I was. People would call me arrogant, conceited, and other such things not realizing that they were 180 degrees off base from the frailty and worthlessness that really made up who I was) What happened next to me was the same thing that happened to Jacob, except for the timeline. I found myself in a wrestling match. I fought and fought against the powers that are. I resisted at every turn and pulled against every push. I was clueless as to what I was struggling against. I called it the battle that is life, when it was really my pulling away from the Spirit. My wrestling match lasted for years as opposed to the night that the scripture speaks of, but metaphorically speaking I can say I wrestled all night and was just as stubborn as Jacob. Just as with Jacob, morning was coming and the fight was still going on. Just as with Jacob, God has had enough of being patient with me and now He is going to thump me and wound me. Just as Jacob carried his wounded hip around the rest of his days, I will carry the scars of this battle around with me as well, they remind me daily of from wence I came. My battle ended, in my most humble opinion, in an arena in Charlotte North Carolina. I tossed up my hands and gave up my life to Him. I was tired of the struggle and tired of not having a purpose for my life. I was tired of the deception and the manipulations of life. I was tired of the baggage I was toting around all the time, the weight was getting to be too much to carry. In a moment, a mountain top moment, a moment of epiphany, I gave up. I expected to feel dejected and failed, but instead I felt the Holy Spirit rush into me and fill me with purpose and plans and power and I felt the hand of Jesus reach into me and tear away all the baggage leaving behind only two things, the battle scars from God and the Peace that comes from Him. I was changed, a new creation, old things had passed away. My name was changed, not to Israel, but changed none the less.

One other overlap worth mentioning between Jacob and I. I have a daughter named Grace, as most of you might know. Grace did not come easily, she is the end of the rainbow (reference to promise is intentional) Grace is blessed by her maker since before she was made. I have a short Gracie story for you. One evening I was sitting watching Nemo with Gracie on the couch. Mom was off with the girls getting a much needed break from the constant chatter of Grace. ( this little love bucket has a hinge that connects her eyes to her mouth, if the eyes are open the mouth is a floppin too) Anywho, we were snuggled up under a blanket and watching Nemo and she started to get quiet. This means she is falling asleep, praise God. I don’t get too much snuggle time because that’s moms job, I am the play thing and provider of stuff, so I am really enjoying this time. She turned around and looked up at me to tell me it was time for our nightly ritual of hugs-kisses-high fives. This takes place every night before bed, sometimes 2 or 3 times depending on how much she wants to stall. When she turned around and looked at me with those happy and tired eyes of hers, I looked deep into them. What I saw made me understand what it was like to be Jacob. I looked into those big brown eyes of Grace and saw love, I saw what love is, I saw Love, for God is Love. I looked into the eyes of my daughter and saw God looking back at me, happy in His knowledge and expectations. I felt a cold fire like a fever rush through my body, tremendous joy and fear and trembling. Awe is not a strong enough word. I felt like Jacob and know how Jacob felt for I have looked into the face of God and been spared.
Genesis 32: 22-32


He struggled with Esau in the womb and got his name Jacob.
He struggled for the birthright and had succeeded.
He had struggled for the blessing and had succeeded.
He had struggled with Laban and had succeeded.
He had struggled with God and failed (but his failure was his success).

Jacob's new name's purpose

Jacob’s name was changed to Israel so that he would never forget that it was not he who was to be in charge and decide things but instead it was to be Him who would order and command the affairs of life. And Jacob, Israel, kept his limp as a reminder of who he once was.
Jacob’s name was changed to Israel so that he would never forget that it was not he who was to be in charge and decide things but instead it was to be Him who would order and command the affairs of life. And Jacob, Israel, kept his limp as a reminder of who he once was.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
"I Have a Dream"

delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.
We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. *We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: "For Whites Only."* We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."²
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!³







Has his dream yet been fulfilled? Are we yet an unbiased people? Has the ugly head of discrimination been removed from the serpent who brings fear and jealousy? Can the Jew and the Gentile, the Protestant and Catholic, the white man the black man the Latino man and the oriental man set and break bread together. I would like to say that things have progressed a long long long way since 1963. By and large no job, no lodging, no place is held away from somebody based on their race or religion. A glance at modern politics will show you just how far we have come. We have a black man, a women, a Mormon, a veteran and a baptist pastor running for president. We have come a long way, but we are not there yet. As a very white male who has always lived in white suburban Midwest America, it is easy for me to say racism is dead. I dont see it, cant feel it, and when I look for it I cant find it, or at least I couldn't find it. Now, after adopting a daughter of the orient, I am continually surprised, and occasionally pissed, at how often racism pops its ugly little head into my world. Lackadaisical commentary from well meaning folk is the best evidence that racism is wounded, and maybe even on life support, but as a culture we have not yet pulled the plug. Listen to people talk about our nations immigration problem, listen to what people say about new building projects, listen to what people say about some businesses. Their kind are not welcome here, I don't want them living that close to my school, those Chinese folks sure can cook and make stuff cheap too, to bad its all junk. (that slick computer your on was made in the Orient you dork!) If you read your Bible carefully you will find that even Jesus addressed racism at some points. The women at the well for example.

My point is this,

Stop it.

I know your used to me being a little more flamboyant, a lot more sarcastic, and usually not too serious about most things. I am serious, I am not kidding, your out there and you may not even know you hurt people. Take a look at how you feel and think about others who are different than you. Whether it be skin tone, religion, economic situation or even political belief, you are no better than anyone, and as for your own self esteem, no one is any better than you.

Stop it.


Get off their backs. Let the Muslims be Muslims and let the Jews be Jews. Let the Catholics and the Protestants alone too. Let the white man and the black man and the Hispanic and the Oriental man make their own way as best as they can without impediment of racial discrimination. Let the men and the women work together to the best of their ability, and let the straight folk and the gay folk live in peace without conflict brought forth by the other.

Stop it.

Above pictures are just in case you have forgotten what biggotry will lead to. And to make it more personal. Look at it this way, all of the above men would have liked to have killed my daughter. How would they feel about yours?

Randoms, conspiracies, and follow throughs.

First, I feel obligated to update you on my good friend Fernando. I recently received my latest Nissan bill (see post called Nissan Calling) and wouldn't you know it, it only took Fernando two months to get the errant charges removed from my bill. Fernando is my hero. To give him even more credit, last month bill was most likely already printed when we spoke so the very next new bill was correct. Fernando did what all of Nissan America could not, he took care of me. When I look for our next car I will have to have the dealership call Fernando to inform him of his success. I will call him myself this week to thank him for his diligents. It is a wise idea to stay on the good side of someone as powerful as Fernando. All hail the Fernando the Great. All hail.

Okay, enough of that. On to the conspiracy. Today I made a long overdue observation. Something is missing. Something terrible has happened. Some time, some place, some one took something from us. The truly sad thing is that no one seemed to notice. It was a small thing, an easily overlooked thing, an infrequently used item even, but now its gone. I had no idea it was missing, but upon further review, it has been gone for a very long time and I just know noticed its absents. Somebody decided I wasn't using it, so they took it from me, but not just from me they took it from you as well. It was stolen right out from under us and we didn't even feel its absence, until now. I am writing this as a call to arms, a call to write your senator, a call to write your congressman, a call to boycott somebody (I just don't know who yet) Today I was typing a little note that included a price. I typed it first as $12.12 but that was not emphatic enough to make my point, so I changed it to $12 dollars and .12 cents.

Observe.

$12 dollars

a symbol followed by a number followed by a word.

.12 cents

a number followed by a word.

something is amiss.

I quickly corrected it to read $0.12 cents,

but this is also not correct.

ah, I need the cents symbol which should be right over here next to..........

where are my glasses, I don't see my cents.

I don't see it because it is gone, taken from me without my consent. I did not sign anything allowing somebody to take my cents away. I want my cents back. Put it back in its proper place and I mean right now. I went online shopping for a keyboard that was complete and had my cents included but its not for sale out there anyplace. I can by a keyboard with Yiddish subscripts and I can buy a keyboard with the Spanish tilde, but I cant buy one with any cents. Who took my cents and why did they do it. I want to know who thought I could just do without cents and thought I would never notice. Granted, I have done without cents for a long time, but sometimes you just have to have cents and now is one of those times. I demand and inquiry, I want to have somebody to blame, I want my cents back. What happened, did they figure there was not enough room with all the other things on the keyboard? I don't buy that, look over the number 6 and what do you see? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^that's what, what the heck is it and who uses a ^^^^^^^^^ for anything. I could live with things changing, or ostensibly improving, but to make off with my cents is just not right. More important, when did this happen and how long have I been without my cents. I know I am getting older, almost 40 and all, but really. I remember LP's that played at 33,45, and even 78. I remember reel to reel and then 8 track and then cassette, I even remember cassingles. We are now transitioning from CD to Ipod technology as we speak the CD is dying. But, as I look back fondly on my LP of Tone Loc I can appreciate the advancement of modern technology. The trick is that as the old items left the knew items came in, bigger, better, faster, cheaper. The Beta gave way to the VHS and then to the DVD. AM and FM gave way to Satellite. Each has its day. I even remember those old glass coke bottles that have been replaced by plastic with twist off lids. My child will grow up never having seen these things. Gracie will never know vinyl LP.s, glass coke bottles, rotary phones, or cassette tapes. This is sad indeed, but its progress. What exactly will replace cents. That is the question. Somebody took it from us and I want them to put it back, if not for me for my little girl. I cant bear to think of a world in which she grows up never having cents.

American Famly Politics

I will refrain from comment and let your opinions fill in the blanks.

Gotcha

What were you doing on this day 3 years ago? Can you remember? I know exactly where I was and what I was doing right now. First, let me confuse things, it is January 9Th in the late afternoon right now, so its January 10Th in the wee hours of pre-dawn morning in Changsha China. I was lying in an all too hard and uncomfortable twin bed 6 feet away from my wife, who had her own twin bed, praising Him for the blessings that dawn would bring. I was prayerful and anxious enough that I didn't sleep. Those of you who know me know I can almost always sleep, standing up if needed. I was full, ___full, shaken down and overflowing_____ with the abundance the near morning light would bring. Today is gotcha day. Today will be the day I meet my daughter for the first time in the flesh. We had already met in the Spirit. Today would be the Light and the blessings at the end of a long dark tunnel. Today is the day that as a person and as a family life has changed from a candle flicker guiding through darkness to a blinding radiance of Glory. I have gone from a lonely, dark, depressed, single Godless boy fully into a married, happy, glowing man filled with the Holy Spirit, and just to overflow the cup, in a few hours I will be called a dad. In just a few hours I will hold Grace.

Pause for a minute to digest that.

If your an evangelical you smile right here with a knowing sense and you might even sigh. If your a charismatic you shout Amen right here and go running down the aisle waving your right hand the whole while saying 'God is good to me'. If your an unbeliever your most likely clueless of what just was said, but keep reading you'll understand most of the rest anyway.

A few hours from now I will be standing in the lobby of the Dolton hotel under a 2 ton chandelier that looks particularly sparkly this morning. I will be laden with enough baby stuff to go hiking through the Rockies even though we are only going to be on a bus for 30 minutes or so. I will be with 9 other families who are having their own 'moments' right now.

Next I will be riding next to my wife as we struggle to survive the bus trip through the city to a non descript government building.

Some short period after that we walk into a room that has something like 20 families and 20 babies and 25 or so other folks.

Our coordinator calls out the name Yi Meng Chang (pronounced e-mun-chung) and looks at us. A wonderful little girl whose name God changed to Grace was handed to Angie. This is the moment of Gotcha. Grace, or officially, Marilyn Grace Wilson, was not real happy but she was home in her mommas arms. Her face was chapped and her cheeks are red and her tears are flowing. She is way overdressed in a snow suit and several layers of clothes. All this I remember like it was hours ago because it was a moment of clarity. A moment of epiphany. A moment frozen in time for all eternity as the beginning. A moment called Gotcha.

Now Grace is 4 years old (she was 15 months then) and full of life, love, and energy. She knows of China and she knows of her 'sisters' (the other 9 families who walked through this with us) but nobody knows just how much she remembers and understands. All that matters though is she knows she is loved and she is ours, forever and ever amen.
One quick addendum. She is now and always will be our little Gracie, but within hours of returning home we took her and laid her on the alter at church to return her to God. She is ours in flesh to love, care for and raise, but she will always be her Fathers child in Spirit.

" I know the plans I have for you, to prosper you and not to harm you"

"you are fearfully and wonderfully made"

"and I will give you the desires of your heart"

Prognostications

What do we have to look forward to? When I look back at 2007 I see a year of trials and a year of changes and a year of growth and a year of survival. I see a year of getting my hands dirty and my back tired and face sweaty. I see a year of conflicts and a year of conquests. When I look forward to 2008 I wonder what God has in store for the next year. I believe I will try to digest it all one day at a time, but I am now going to try and prophesy (pronounced Prof-e-sigh) what happens next.

1) Gracie will grow older and wiser at a pace that is astonishing, but she will still struggle with the concept of being silent, or a least quiet. Much to the chagrin of her parents.
2) We will meet up with more YMX folks, or internet stalkers as I like to call them.
3) We will have another tearful reunion with at least some of the Hunan Honeys at some point this year.
4) I will find a new ministry outlet.
5) I will make concrete plans to invest in business dealings that lead to me taking over the world.
6) I will attend 2 funerals and 1 wedding and celebrate the birth of one new life born to a friend. This new life will be a miracle all of its own, not just because life is miraculous but because this life already has God’s fingerprints on it.
7) We will have influence over another adoption story. We have adopted once and assisted once, and counseled many times, this year will bring even more influence in adoption stories. This may even be the ministry outlet I am being led toward, but this is not for me to decide.
8) People will complain about the BCS and we will have no clear champion in college football.
9) The New England Patriots are upset and fail to gain the perfect season. Their season ends on a dropped pass by Randy Moss.
10) Osama Bin Laden comes out of hiding after the elections are over and unleashes a wave of bombings across Europe.
11) A US leader is assassinated and we try to blame it on Jihad, but it turns out to be domestic.
The stock market crashes, drops below 10000 in a month of sharp declines as the price of oil hits $150 a barrel and interest rates soar.
12) Angie will acquire 9 more Vera Bradley purses, two new coats and a new kitchen in an attempt to stabilize the world economy.
13) Gracie will increase her fan club south of the border as we will finally make it to Mexico. Her fan club will not however be increased by the passengers in the flying aluminum echo chamber that transports us to our destination. An increase in birth control device sales can be tracked to people on flight 603 out of Cincinnati to Houston and flight 214 from Houston to Cozumel.
14) Angie will pray with another infertile women who later becomes renamed by God as mom.
15) Cell phone usage linked to carpel tunnel, estuation tube cancer, cervical abnormalities, and IQ loss in teenage girls. The AMA sites over usage of phone, texting, and poor storage methods for the pandemic.
16) Gracie takes her first bus ride and goes off to kindergarten. Mom cries.
17) Chuck Norris is appointed as secretary of defense under the Huckabee administration.
18) Michael Vick is charged with gambling and racketeering. He is still behind bars when these charges are filed. Something about cockroach races. He is accused of setting up an international ring of prison gambling.
19) Michael Jackson is charged with child abuse in Singapore. He is sentenced to hang by his willy until dead.
20) The Pope resigns.
21) Peyton Manning retires.
22) George Forman comes back, again.
23) Parcells comes back, (oops that already happened)
24) Rambo comes back to theatres ( opens Jan. 25th)
25) My blog hits 10000 visitors and I start making a small fortune with annoying little ads all up and down the sides. I even get my own pop up on myspace, the home of all annoying ads.
26) Our household is picked for a make over by HGTV. They contacted us citing that the Neilson ratings from our house state that HGTV is on an average of 12 hours a day, so as a thank you they want to redo our kitchen. Once they realized that Angie can recite every episode of design star from memory, they decided to hire her as an advisor.


Okay, some of these predictions might be a little out of line. I mean, Gracie might not go to kindergarten and a YMX friend might not visit this year, who knows. I am expecting to at least get a Christmas card from HGTV though. Whatever happens this next year, I look forward to it.

Be Blessed and Bless others.

A year in review.

Well this may be boring to most of you as you most likely have done the same thing in the last few days, but I have been reflecting on the past year of life. The Wilson's have had an interesting and trying year in 2007. In no particular order because my brain cant handle that much organization.

1. Bought a house and sold a house, eek.


2. Painted most every room in said house for sale, cleaned, scrubbed, and payed two mortgages for six months as the price kept falling falling falling, love the housing market.


3. Moved into new house, former owners are still in it, were supposed to be gone by noon, they are still here, taking the curtain rods down and removing plants from the yard, sigh, didn't like their curtain rods anyway.


4. Speaking of moving, packed and moved and unpacked whole house with help of one adult for 2 hours and three 14 year olds, two girls and one boy for one day. Them was some tuckered out teens but the girls were priceless and Jack was da man of the day.


5. Mom was given narrow odds of surviving a few more weeks, went to Cleveland Clinic and had surgery in spite of prognosis and is doing better now than she has in years. I road tripped up and back this summer in a day for the surgery.


6. Started this blog, yes this is a highlight because once I printed the 'Story of Grace' here it afforded me new ministry opportunities. I got to drive out to southern Illinois and tell this story (my witness) at a revival retreat of sorts at the invitation of a Pastor friend from YMX.


7. Was blessed with the opportunity to give the Sunday sermon once this year, but it was bitter sweet this time around. I felt like this particular message was one I was driven to give, but on the lead up to it things started getting strange. Once it was passed I could see it was time to move on to a new setting. I was done here. I want to be clear, I have no hard feelings toward the church or anyone in it, that's not what it is about, I was just done and need to move on someplace else, I still don't know where that new place is yet or what the new mission will be yet.


8. Gracie has grown so much and changed so much in the last year its not even something I can describe. It will be 3 years since gotcha day come January 10th. Look for an overly mushy emotional blog around that time.


9. Angie and I are still growing up and growing old together and our marriage evolves and grows every year. I do think we are growing old too fast some times though, but that's more of a commentary on Gracie than us.


10. Speaking of my wife "blink.. blink" she has taken a job as a pre-school helper. She works with around 30 four year olds on MWF. It has taken its toll on her this year. She has developed a twitch in her right eye that seems to get worse as the day moves on. She has sudden loud bursts of cursing for no apparent reason. I find here cuddled up on the couch with a bar of chocolate rocking back and forth saying "find a happy place, find a happy place" over and over again. She has begun to recognize these issues and has decided to seek help through a stringent regime of retail therapy usually at places selling those atrocious little quilted purses. I hope she recovers soon.


11. Last Chinese New Year we went to St. Louis to see Gracie's "sisters". It is almost time to make that trip again and I am so looking forward to it. Many of the girls that were adopted with Gracie, from the same province and from the same orphanage and about the same age came home with us all together. We are trying to keep as close of contact with them as is possible since we are scattered all over the country. We get Christmas cards with pictures from most of them every year and we send them to all of them every year. I keep the cards in the safety deposit box so Gracie can have them when she grows up. I have not shared any pictures of the other girls because I don't want to violate anyone else's privacy but I might ask for permission from a few of them to share their princesses with you sometime in the future.


12. As for my personal life, nothing too notable here. I have had some pruning take place that has strained some relationships with some friends. I think this has come to an end now and my old friends are still around and things are once again normal. Some people I believe have chosen to leave us behind but right now I am okay with that too. I have struggled through some issues of anxiety and depression that are still making their presence known on my physical body but this is not something new and it will soon pass.


13. We are attending a church called Crosspoint and we may or may not join it, time will tell.


14. Cancelled trip to Mexico due to bosses health issues, rescheduled for later, cancelled a trip to Mexico due to bosses health issues, rescheduled for later. Yes I know I said it twice, because I did it twice. Last years vacation will soon become this years vacation. We are scheduled for February 13th right now. The day before our 16th anniversary. I hope we spend it on the beach.


15. All in all this has been a good year, we have a wonderful new home in a marvelous new place with awesome new neighbors. We have be blessed beyond any good reason. So with this I will just say Happy New Year and to God be the Glory, Amen.