Category: life

My bucket list

Im thinking that im a pretty simple guy – there is not much i want to do before i die – and in saying that, all the little things like going to Italy or to Jerusalem are all within my grasp at any time I would want to take the risk – but i suppose my list would be simple for things that are somewhat out of my direct control (although not my sphere of influence):

1. Have a carefree day – just one!
2. See each of my children commit their lives to Christ and persist unwavering
3. Dance with my daughters on their wedding days – and love the man they are marrying
4. See my sons feel they are successful in life and have a healthy God-loving family
5. Live to an old and healthy age still married to and living with the wife of my youth

Not to much to ask for right?

Adoption…

Sometimes it seems (more often than not) it seems like all the time & money & energy is for nothing… We have consistently gone over and beyond getting every single piece of the process done that we had control over as soon as possible; finding the best lawyer there was to offer, making trip after trip out of state, for single pieces of paper, throwing every resource that God has given to us into the battle for our children’s lives & safety…

When I sit back and think about it, I’m really depressed thinking about how I haven’t spent more than a day or so with my family here in Maine on vacation since we started our adoption… every time I take vacation it’s to run to another state to do paperwork, or fly to Haiti… I keep telling myself (because I know it’s true) that when the children come home, it’ll all be worth it.

But we’re going on 9 months into the process… and we’ve been done what we needed to get done (except a couple small papers) since month 3…  and I just found out today that there is a possibility that my upcoming trip to Haiti has a high probability of accomplishing nothing (even though it is taking my final full week of vacation I have available, and going to cost a large sum of money, I don’t technically have).

Sometimes it seems like the harder we try the more that gets put in our way… I can say that so far God has overcome all of our obstacles… and the simple little faith that I have tells me He will continue to do so; for His glory… but why am I still having such a hard time letting go and giving it to Him.

Today i stepped in a tar-pit and I’m sinking fast…

Maine – the way life should(nt) be…

So we drove into Portland last night, from Miami, and Haiti the day before (around 95 degrees and 90% humidity).  We were in shorts and t-Shirts, and we jumped out of the car to get a bite to eat. 

As we were sitting in the restaurant Donovan said to me:  “Papa, when we came back to Maine, there was a sign that said ‘Maine, the way life should be’; but let me tell you, Life shouldn’t be like this, unless you live in Antarctica!”.

Amanda and I couldn’t stop laughing….!

Homestudy…

 
 

It was a very humbling and emotional experience, and one that creates excitement for our future redemption! We felt going in like we were going to be somewhat on trial, everything we’ve ever done, how we’ve done it, and why was going to be examined, and dissected… and yet, the social worker understood that we were human, that we have frailties, but that we love our children, and we strive hard to give them the very best we can – both in love, and direction and in safety and health…

It was amazing how good it felt to have a complete stranger (even one as amazing as Grace turned out to be) feel so confident and be so complimentary on how we’re raising and taking care of our children’s physical and emotional and mental needs, how good it felt for someone that knows families and children to say “You are doing a good job”…

And I pause and think: if it feels so amazing to have someone you don’t even know say “Well done”, to have someone who we don’t know who has the ability to deny us or accept us, to have someone we don’t even know who could judge us, our motives, our intentions, our failures, instead look with an understanding eye and judge our successes and understand our weaknesses; just imagine, that day, someday in the future when the Lord and creator of all will say “well done good and faithful servant”.

Won’t that be wonderful!

 
 

  

Caricature of Mandy

Ok, so I really am, honestly, the worst artist in the world – I know that, I’ve accepted that… but tonight, while using Skype to talk to Amanda in the next room (to her annoyance) – I decided to draw a caricature of her. Now, the funny thing is, I envisioned this skinny lean face with this big round nose – because of the way she was looking into the monitor of the computer screen – her nose looked accentuated – bigger than it normally looks..

 
 

So I grab my pen, and start inking – and this is what I came up with… then I laughed for about 15 minutes – but apparently she didn’t find it as humorous as I did.

 
 

Oh well – not everyone has such a great sense of humor…

My statement of Belief

I believe that the creation of the universe and life is the act of an intelligent creator; that contingent beings or creations cannot be created except that there be some non-contingent being whose very nature provides and requires aseity and eternality in its nature.

I believe that true science and true religion do not contradict each other rather they uphold and support each other, and as Sir William Bragg said that Science and Religion are opposed, only such as the forefinger and the thumb are opposed. That with Science and Religion together, you can grasp anything.

I believe that the state of the world today is not as it was intended to be; the wars, the hunger, the death, pain and dying. I believe it is the result of a disobedience to a given mandate provided by the creator of life and the universe.

I believe that our cultural mandate as human beings is to work to restore the original state of creation; by learning to love and provide for other people as we love and provide for our own.

I believe that our religious experiences should not be held separate from all other experiences in our world, and that a world view must remain consistent in all areas and portions of life and existence.

I believe in life after death, that mankind was created with value that extends beyond the dust of the earth and that our experiences, our trials and our undertakings here encourage, strengthen and prepare us for a future life that will unfold through the annals of history.

Predators in the dark

Ok, we’ve seen them down the road before; and we’ve heard them out in the woods – and I once even witnessed a pack take down a deer a couple miles from here – but when they show up in your back yard, licking their chops (I have chickens and children) – what are you supposed to do?

They’re almost to magnificent to kill – but I think the winter kill of the deer last year was so significant that we’re likely to have a big problem with them this year….

Christmas pictures…

Ok, so I’ve listened to Amanda for years complain about the fact that as a photographer, she gets really good pictures of everyone else’s family; but we never have good pictures, because I won’t pay for a photographer to take our pictures (because Amanda is a photographer), and she can’t do a good job at all trying to run back and forth from the camera, or even using the remote to push the button – because she can’t see how everyone is lined up and posed.

In my brilliance (?); I suggested that Amanda call another local photographer that she knows to see if he would like to swap photo-sessions at the studio. Sure enough, he and his wife were just discussing the same dilemma, and they thought it was a great idea.

I think it worked out really well – although I didn’t get a chance to see their family photos – Amanda is a really good portrait photographer, so I’m confident that they were able to get some good pictures (as long as her backdrop was able to fit the whole family in to her Christmas backdrop which wasn’t intended for more then 4-5 people at most). And I’m pleased with our pictures – except camera’s rarely are able to capture my good looking side (I could use the ontological argument to prove that it does actually exist outside of my mind.. but what’s the point)…

Anyway, here are the pictures…