Why addendum.

It was brought to my attention that I forgot a reason I like to blog. (thanks Jen) I am competing with my wife, ***blink, blink***, Angie for hits. I have gained a much higher quantity of hits, but hers are much more diverse and widespread. She has many more countries and several more states than I do.

I also forgot that one of the other primary reasons for my blogging is to promote adoption. Many of my posts reference the adoption of my daughter from China. I want to take a moment to talk about adoption.

When we started the process of international adoption the first thing many people would ask us was, "why not a child from here?" From some people this question was not offensive. One of our best friends, Diana, was adopted. Another one of our fiends, Steve, was also adopted. From them and a few others this was an acceptable question, but from others it was delivered with an acidic tone that required struggling for grace in order to answer calmly. The answer, or should I say answers, vary wildly. First off is scripture, we are told to take care of the widows and orphans. No where in the scripture does it say to take care of orphans that look like you and live near you. Secondly, the domestic adoptions have garnered a bad reputation for taking a long time without giving good reasons, and not always being final when you thought they were final. My wifes cousin adopted and had her daughter for 10 months and then the courts came and took her away. This is not something we wanted to risk trying to survive. Thirdly, we just wanted to do something about the situation in China. Just a bit of background, due to cultural influences and government regulations, there is a huge need for people to adopt girls from China. China is a wonderful place and by and large the people there understood why we were there and although they were sad for the need of us to come, they were glad that we were doing this and appreciated our presence. As a general cultural norm, adoption is not overly common in the orient.

The second most common question we received was, "how much did she cost?" Yes, people really do ask this. There is a tactful way to do this and many not so tactful ways. We have gotten accustomed to Gracie being the center of attention in public and such not always so subtle questions. We have learned to take into account the person asking the question and we are usually more than willing to provide answers. If the person asking is interested in adopting we will usually give them the name of the agencies we used ( a link to Children's Hope is provided with links to my friends blogs) We tell them some of what they can expect and about how much it might cost. ($16 to $20 grand as an estimate if someone reading this needs to know)

Sometimes we run into the question, "Is she yours?" To this there is but one short answer.
YES. Sometimes we will clarify and say something like, "we went to China to get her when she was 15 months old, but she has always been ours."

Adoption is the most rewarding experience I can even imagine. Yes it was long and full of hurdles, yes it was expensive and risky, yes it was an exceptionally long gestation period, but the rewards are simply indescribable. I can not put into words the adventure that results from making the decision, taking the trip, and then living the new life that results from it. It only takes a moment to make the decision to do it, but the adventure that begins in that moment goes on for the rest of your life. As I write this blog it occurs to me that gotcha day is coming up in only six or so weeks. January tenth is gotcha day.

If I don't know you and you happen to land here because you googled something or linked in from somebody else. let me make you an offer. Leave me a comment with your email address in it and I will answer any questions you might have about adopting from China. If your already in the process and have questions about what happens next, I can handle that too. If you want to learn more but dont necessarily want to ask me, click on the Children's Hope link. If you email one of them, I guarantee you will here from them shortly. They are awesome at what they do.

Why?

Why do we blog, that is the question of the evening.

Well, I can only speak for myself, but there are many reasons that I enjoy the opportunity to blog. First off its an opportunity to express my thoughts and get things off my chest so to speak. It also provides me with a chance to minister to others which is something I have come to enjoy over the last few years. There is also the more carnal side of things, I find it somewhat competitive as well. I check my sitemeter regularly for quantity of hits as well as location and reason of hit. I particularly enjoy when I get hits from foreign countries. I check to see if people left comments often as well. I check the IP addresses of each hit to see if I know who it is so I can keep track of regular readers. I enjoy it when other bloggers link to mine because it always increases my hits.

The ministry opportunity is the most important one. My testimony is posted on this blog under the title, "the story of Grace". I have witnessed in several other of the titles as well. I speak on my blog about my Saviour Jesus Christ as well as my awesome God and the effects they have had on my life.

I use the opportunity to express myself here frequently as well. I talk about my emotions, my past, and other issues that make up me. My friends are not usually surprised by my candor, but people I dont really know all that well are often taken aback by what I share. I find this to be somewhat therapeutic.

As far as the competitive side of things, this is just fun for me. I have had readers from Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Britain, Canada, and Spain. I am looking forward to getting a hit from China for obvious reasons. I have gotten many hits from at least 12 different states. The states most common to view this are Louisiana and California. I am linked to two blogs in California and one in Louisiana that all send me lots of traffic. Thank you to all of them. I really enjoy it when I notice people reading it that I wouldnt guess would bother to spend their time here.

It also provides me the chance to help with issues in some small way. You will find links to several other blogs on mine, but you will also find widgets that connect you to a "free Burma" link, a link to help Brian and maybe other hurting youth workers, and a link to Youth Ministry Exchange which is a wonderful online community of youth pastors, pastors, and volunteers.

I also just learned from a friend of mine that if you post enough political opinion posts you will begin to gets hits from Congress. I will most likely take a shot at this and try and save the world sometime soon.

Well that should conclude my drivel for this evening. I must be off to bed here soon. I have made it through and entire post without using the word urinal so maybe this will raise my reading level score a bit. ( another source of competition)

Last minute

Oh my, another busy week, but this time we got some good things done. First off, we sold the other house. We are now down to one mortgage. I waited all week for the other shoe to drop and something to go wrong. I felt like nothing would go bad but I kept expecting one more hurdle to appear. Closing was at 10 o’clock Friday and I needed to leave work at about 9 so I could drive up to the house and pick up Angie and drive back to the closing. At 8:55 I get a cell phone call that is a number I don’t recognize. I answer it and it’s the title agency telling me that I need to call and get a payoff amount on the second mortgage and have them fax it to their office. I tell her I need to leave in 5 minutes to come to closing, she says without that number she cant close so call her back and then she’ll meet us there. Nothing like waiting till the last minute. So I call, get the number for her (why she didn’t do her own job I still don’t get) and call her back. After pressing “1” for English, “2” for service, entered my social security number, account number, birthday, and blood type, pressed “3” to speak to a person who would ask me for all of the above information again with the addition of my first pets name and mothers maiden name, and pressed “4” to signify that I haven’t lost my mind and hung up yet, finally I get a near human voice. I obtain the number and call the title agency back to let her know I have done her job and will most likely be late. She said that’s okay, she’ll be late too, oh joy. I was expecting the “semi-flaccid fecal projectile to reach terminal velocity as its vector attenuated towards the rotational device of vapor displacement causing indeterminate translocation of said fecal material into a polar arrayed pattern of stench.” In other words, I was expecting the *^%$ to hit the fan, and it turned out to be incredibly stupid, but not that big a deal. We closed and walked away with a little money, very little considering, but its done.
We also had some out of town company this week. Adam and Todd stayed the night with us on their way to Atlanta for the National Youth Workers Convention. It was nice to see both of them again. Adam was fun to watch because he was as nervous as a school kid getting ready to do his first oral book report on a book he only read cliff note on. That’s not to say he wasn’t prepared, but he was nervous. I think God has just really moved him outside his comfort zone, way outside. I like to see that because it’s the same thing He did to me. As an aside, both of these guys are from Michigan and were at the house before “the game”. They didn’t stop by on the way home. That was a shame.
In the way of a Gracie update, we got the Christmas card pictures done the weekend as well. She is becoming such a camera ham. I can just see her glow with pride and hear the song, “I feel pretty, oh so pretty” when she is the center of attention in front of the camera. I will post a link right here once I figure out what the link is.
Other news, check the Raising Lazarus fund, its growing, slowly, but growing.

"THE GAME"

It appears that Lloyd Carr has had enough and is scheduled to announce his retirement on Monday. As a Buckeye fan I hate to see him go because in the Tressel era, we have had his number all along. As a sports fan I hate to see him go because he is what college sports is all about, so as a gentlemen I say this. Coach, you will be missed. It has been an honor to watch you work regardless of the outcome of "The Game"

Go Bucks...........................................................................................

Cash Advance Loans

Apparently my blog is written at a level that my former Sunday School students can all understand it. This seems odd to me because absolutely none of them will read it. I dont know what that means exactly, but it is true. I did talk Lizzy B. into reading one of the sections but I know she hasn't been back, so , oh well. If you click on the badge you can enter the address of your blog or myspace etc and it will review yours for you as well. I think I might need to add some longer words with more syllables and pontificates more precisely my intentions in order to acclimate myself to a higher standard of readership. So, if you find verbiage in the future that seems verbose and persnickety, rest assured I am belaboring the words for the purely selfish purpose of increasing my score. Or the other thought is since the word "urinal" appears with ridiculous frequency, it may be the middle school humor that has the index stuck at this level.

Who's to know?

For now I will just wonder aimlessly down the contiguous infrastructure of existence.

Brian.

I would like you to meet Brian. I don't want to sound like Sally Struthers here so I am not going to beg or guilt you into doing anything. I want to introduce you to Brian and let you know what is going on so that if you choose to help, you may.

Brian is a youth worker, and has been for a while. He recently moved from the Midwest to Washington State to work on a boat. The boat happened to be operated by someone else who ministers to youth. Brian is married and I believe has children. Life was going along just fine and then something happened. He became very ill and was rushed to Seattle from his boat. They informed him his kidneys were shot and he needed a transplant, dialysis began immediately. Well he had a job and insurance, but that doesn't cut all of it, and its gonna be a while, like years, before he can work again. In the mean time, the finances are, well, lets just say its not a pretty sounding picture. Right now he is fighting for his life as well as fighting to maintain his family.

I have never met Brian in person, he is a member of YMX like me and we have chatted and debated and argued online about many things. What computer to buy, why liberals are better looking, why conservatives are smarter, we have discussed theology, economy and urinal habits together. I know Brian by the name Jespeachy.

So, what can we do?

First off, Brian is a youth minister and a Christian (duh). So what we can and should do first is pray for him. Pray for him, his family, and all of those who are challenged by this trial. Pray for healing, mending, guidance, strength, wisdom and the presents of God's hand on his life. Pray Gods will and His mercy.

Second, we can help him in a worldly way as well. At the top of the blog on the right hand side you will see something called the Raising Lazarus fund. Any money that is given through this connection from this blog goes straight to helping hurting youth workers. No administration fees, nothing. A dollar in a dollar out, period. Its done through a non profit foundation set up to assist hurting youth workers. The fund has many purposes but I put the link on this blog to help Brian. If you want to learn more about Raising Lazarus, click on the Youth Ministry Exchange link above my picture.

Praying for you Brian, Gods speed, and Gods Peace.

Ghost stories

Well, this has been an eventful week, and next week looks just as busy. First off let us discuss the most expensive part of the week. Our laptop was infected with some malware or some such cootie that has us worried about it sending out stuff we would rather it didn't send out. Not to mention the fact that it said it was running something like232 processes and keeping the CPU maxed out intermittently. So, the lap top is dead. I have never bought a computer before, our first was a gift from Grandpa, and everything behind it was hand me downs from my boss at work, including the laptop. So, I set off to do my homework, as does Angie. Angie gets some other folks involved with the decision process. These people she seeks advise from are the computer wizards and such from the YMX boards. These folks are IT guys from churches, web head ladies run the YMX board and a host of other smarter than me people. So, I listen carefully and take their advise. One of the IT people I am talking about uses the screen name MAC. So, you might guess which laptop I went with. It was a free-for-all when it came to suggesting what we should buy. They were all very helpful and Angie loves her new Mac. During this process a new phrase was coined, the "macgasm" The supporters of the product are rather rabid so I can see the point. I wonder if the term "macgasm" could be sold to apple for a advertising campaign? It might be a bit off color for that, but then again, have you seen any Cadillac commercials lately?

Next we have a visitation from the past. This was a strangely difficult experience for me for some reason. It was like I walked back in time to a place I used to be, but didn't belong now, Back to something I once was, but wasn't now. I was someplace I use to look forward to going, but now I had a feeling of anxiety and discomfort around me that made me eager to leave now. I was someplace where I used to fit in and was just one of the crowd, but I was misplaced now. This is difficult because I look around and I see a bunch of people, just like me. They are not any different than they were years ago when I used to come here. The place is a little local drinking hole named Foley's Irish Pub. A long time staple in the diet of Reading Ohio. I spent many and evening there with friends in years past, it was even one of the first places I took my soon to be wife some 15 years ago. This night I was again there with my good friends and happy for any opportunity to spend time with them because that time is more rare and more precious these days. We even got a babysitter, which is odd, because this is only the 5Th time since returning from China that we have both left the house together without Gracie. I was very happy to see my friend, at we were at Foley's for a benefit, so it was doubly nice to be out, on a date, with my friends, and doing something good for somebody else at the same time. However, before I even walked into the place, while we were just driving though the city of Reading, I could feel this shadow come over me. I felt like this was someplace I had been, but had left behind. The feeling intensified 100 times when we walked in the door. I looked around and all the people there seemed troubled, not happy like I remembered. The place reeked of stale beer, not the fresh smell of newly made hot wings like I recalled. At one point I had to go to the bathroom and take a leak. Upon completion of this task (for my long time readers, yes this is the second urinal story of the blog, I promise it will be a while before I enter another one) I happened to look down and notice I was standing in a puddle of piss about 4 foot in diameter. Nice, I don't remember that being the norm either. It was a couple of hours into the evening by now and in spite of the fact I was actually having a good time, I couldn't get past the feeling that I just didn't feel right being here, this is someplace I am not welcome. Don't misunderstand me here, I was welcome and comfortable with my friends, but not at Foley's and not in Reading. Then in dawned on me what the problem was. Ghosts. I was walking amongst my ghosts from the past. They remembered me, but I had forgotten them. They could see me, but I could not see them. This changed at one point in the evening. When I was a young man I had a small group of friend I hung around with, a posse, a crew, whatever you want to call it. Dennis, Darin, and Mike were that crew. Darin and I are still great friends, we have grown from pre-teen to responsible parenthood together. We have supported each other and helped each other through the many trials that life has brought us. Dennis disappeared on both of us shortly after I got married. Mike disappeared for the most part after he started college in his twenties. I had not seen Mike for more than a minute or two in years. This night Mike, a living and breathing ghost from the past came to pay us a visit. He walked up and I stood on my chair to give him a hug. Two grown men hugging in public, in a bar, oh well I don't care, its Mike. He talked for a while, we showed him pictures of Gracie, we talked a while longer and then we left. Mike is a high school football coach now. He works with kids, and loves his kids. He is not married, has no stable family, etc. He is stuck in time. He was very drunk this night, but he was Mike. The thing that disturbed me most was that when he looked at the pictures of Gracie and he talked about his kids at school, you could see the love and the pain in his eyes. Tonight I pray for Mike. Lord place your hand over him and guide him into the path of light. Send him a full dose of your mercy and help him find happiness and purpose within you. You have lead Darin and myself into your purpose and granted us many blessings, please Lord guide Mike and Dennis into this blessed place with us. Amen.

It will be a long time before I willingly go to Foley's again, but I hope its not so long before I see Mike again.

Then we come to Sunday at church. This is just a bit of irony that I choose to notice. One of the first series of sermons pastor Mark did when I arrived at Hartzell UMC was on the full armor of God. The last sermon I did at Hartzell also used this scripture from Ephesians 6:10-18. Today, pastor Tim used this scripture as the basis for his sermon. I took that as God telling me that as of last week when we decided to move to Crosspoint, we had indeed done what He wished us to do.

Gracie had a bad day today. She didn't want to take a nap after we got home. This turned into a feud that lasted almost 45 minutes. She said no, we said yes, the battle lines were drawn. Now, we being the parents are going to win eventually, but I thought this was going to be a border skirmish and it turned out to be more of a Long March.

On the administrative side of things, a quick thanks to my readers and you might notice I added Ythdudette to my link list. I don't think I should use her name here, but I have met her and she is a wonderful person. Please visit her when you have the time. I also would like to make a shameless plug for two other things as well. For the non regulars, please comment so I know who was here. If you have your own blog, please feel free to link to mine and let me know if you would like me to link to yours. Thanks. Chris.