Cat Siblings

My two cats are not related (to my knowledge), yet at times they act like brothers.  The younger one, Haty, is locked up at night due to his rambunctiousness.  Indy, the older one, will search for him some mornings, waiting to play.

Other times, Indy is grumping and can't stand having Haty around, so naturally, Haty makes a point of trying to get him to play.  Indy responds by meowing and running off.  If one is eating, the other one wants some too.

As I write this, Indy is trying to ignore Haty's attempt to play by not looking at him.  I don't think Haty is buying it.

Car Shopping

I drive a nice two door car.  The difficulty is that if I have anyone ride with me, getting into the back seat can be an adventure.  As I move toward foster kids and/or adoption, I think that the car is a bit impractical for that reason.

So, I have been looking online at various car dealerships and car reports to try and figure out how big of a vehicle I need.  Should I move toward an SUV?  Gas mileage takes a hit then.  Or should I look at a car?  In that case, I probably can't haul around many kids + friends.  Mini-van?  I'm really resisting this one.

I also have a smallish garage, so I need a vehicle that is svelte.  The other issue is that the size vehicle I'm looking at will cost a bit more, so I need to factor in the car payment in my calculations.

So, I'm finding my free time is consumed by browsing the car ads, hoping the perfect vehicle appears soon.

Home Improvements

Ever since I moved in last year, I have been steadily making changes and improvements to things.  My Dad is very handy, so he has installed a dishwasher, a garage door opener, a trellis for roses, lighting in the basement, and storage in the garage.

I have put up curtains, painted, reorganized rooms, and assembled furniture.  I have managed to acquire a couple extra beds and a toy kitchen, which I assembled today.

My next few projects are the backyard and more painting.

I also suspect that I need to buy a few more bookcases, as I am running out of room. 

If I add foster kids or adopt, I need to shift a few things around.  In many ways it seem like an unending process of renewal and change.  Which is the point, change is always occurring. 

The trick for me is to decide whether the change is just because I want something new or if it is necessary for my living.  Most of the time, I think it is not necessary but just my desire for newness.

Reading the Old Testament

Last year at this time, I was knee-deep in Hebrew words and verb forms.  This year, I'm reading through the Pentateuch.  In addition, I've had a couple classes that looked at David, Jonah, and Ruth.  It strikes me that in the past year, I've spend more time in the Old Testament than I have in a long time.

Each year, I try to accomplish the "Read the Bible in a Year" project.  Sometimes, I succeed, but more often than not, I get bogged down in Deuteronomy and quit reading.  At church, we rarely look at the first Testament, and I sometimes wonder what newer Christians think about it as it is never used!

But these courses have taught me to be more intentional about using the Old Testament.  I think Christians like to toss it out, as it has a lot of hard stories.  Hard stories about death, violence, bad treatment of women and children.  But, the New Testament covers many of these topics too. 

What we miss when we skip over to the New Testament without engaging the Old Testament is the unending faithfulness of God and his desire to have his people in relationship with Him.  We see a people longing for Jesus and waiting in expectation for his arrival.  In many ways, we live with a similar expectation - the expectation of Jesus' return.  I suspect that like the Israelites, we have fallen short of the way God would have us live.  The Old Testament tells us what we can expect from God - faithfulness in Jesus return even if we are not as faithful as we could be.

Finding a New Shepherd

At the beginning of the year, the lead pastor at my church announced she was taking a job as the denomination's MidWest Conference Superintendent.  This meant that our church would need to find a new shepherd.

I was fortunate enough to be placed on the search team for this position.  So far, we have been working on gathering information, surveying the congregation on needs and desires, and preparing a church profile that reflects where we are and where we'd like to be in terms of spiritual disciplines, missions, evangelism, biblical education etc.

Tonight, my committee finally gets to meet with the outgoing superintendent and receive potential candidates for the position.  This is exciting!

Naturally, the process still has a long way to go before we have someone hired to be our lead pastor.  But, tonight is a significant step forward.

Tyler Perry's Stories

Part of the process toward adopting interracially was that I was forced to take a look at the many ways I live in a lily-white world.  I realized that I don't watch African American TV shows, movies or read African American books.  I noticed that toys in the store featured predominately white characters, and couldn't even find an African American baby doll in any department store in town.

Some of this was no surprise.  I read a book for a chick-lit club written by Toni Morrison, and realized that while there is a large level of commonality between humans, there is a definite difference between African American culture as well as North versus South culture.  I had bought a baby doll a couple years ago to send to Haiti and couldn't find an African American doll then either.

So, I decided to undertake learning a bit about African American culture by watching some of Tyler Perry's movies and TV shows.  One of the things that I really appreciate about his stories is the story lines feature Christianity in an authentic manner.  Rarely does an episode or movie slide by without a reference to prayer, Jesus and living a Christian life.  This doesn't mean the characters are perfect.  Many have deep flaws, often times brought out through sinful behavior.  But religion is not something to be made fun of, rather it is something to be embraced and celebrated.

Now, Perry is criticized for using caricatures of African Americans in his work.  And, he does.  But, his characters are typically lovable, even if flawed; realistic, even if tragic; and multi-dimensional, even if a bit stereotypical. 

But one thing Perry is not doing is making every African American male a drug dealer and every African American woman a single mother.  Certainly these are characters in some of the shows, but the vast majority of characters are parents, family members, and hard working individuals.

Daily Routines

In the past couple weeks, I've had to adjust to a summer routine.  Since my typical ministry obligations take the summer off, this means I have a few more hours during the week to, well, do whatever I want.  This summer, I've been working on a few projects at the house.  So far, I've put curtains up and removed a few blinds, cleaned a couple closets, and reworked things in the backyard.

My Dad has been very helpful as he has installed a new garage door opener, put up a trellis, and removed a hideous "fence" off of the patio.  In the spirit of recycling, the fence lattice work became the trellis!

I have also sought to discipline myself to do more bible study.  Each night, I'm trying to do some non-school reading (right now it is Bryan Chapell's Christ Centered Preaching), and do some devotional reading.  I found that if I use a daily reading (one on saints and one on contemporary issues), it helps apply some of the things I am learning in class.  I've also been reading a chapter of Romans.  While this sounds like a lot, I can do it all in less than 30 minutes.

One area I've failed in discipline is preparing for the Bellingham Bay Half-Marathon.  Hopefully, I can do a better job sometime soon!

Erasing Hell

I quickly read a book last week called Erasing Hell by Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle.  It is in part a response to Rob Bell, and in part a look at scripture discussing hell.

In the book, Chan does a great job of explaining what universalism is and the history behind the idea.  While not directly call Rob Bell a universalist, he points out that Bell's words and premise are universalist positions.

Chan explains what Jesus would have believed about hell as a first century Jew and how Jesus himself discussed hell in his teachings.  Paul also discussed heaven and judgment, but never specifically mentions "hell" (he uses "judgment" instead).

The book is a quick, easy read, but provides much information to consider on hell.

I'd recommend reading it if you want to understand the issues.

Adoption Strategies from Here

So, after I learned of the potential problems with my independent adoption from Haiti, I have been looking at strategies to fix the problem. 

1.  I can hire an agency to continue the Haiti adoption.  This solution will likely cost considerably more, although I have found a couple agencies that may cost minimally more than I originally planned.  The downside is that these agencies do not work with the orphanage that I had wanted use for the  adoption. 

2.  I can hire an agency and look at another country.  I have a soft spot in my heart for Haiti, but I also like the looks of several other countries.  Since I started this search, China has reopened to singles.  India, the Congo, Burundi, Ecuador, and others are possibilities. 

3.  I have not confirmed from the orphanage what their new policy will be, but hope that I find out more next week.

4.  I could just do foster care and try to adopt that way (which was part of the plan anyway).

5.  I could use the home study I have to do a domestic adoption.  This significantly changes things.  First, I was thinking a toddler aged child, not infant.  The cost is about the same.  Birthparents choose the adoptive parents in domestic adoption, so there is no guarantee of success.  With this option, I could use the agency who did the home study.  Costs seem to fluctuate more under this option than under international adoption.