National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption Month. I am an advocate for adoption and believe that all children deserve a permanent, loving home. Adoption is a big part of our lives. Paul and I both have experienced the blessings of adoption through having cousins who joined our family through adoption, both domestically and internationally. I've worked in the field of adoption social work for 6 years. Paul and I have served children who come from broken homes or who have been orphaned. And as a reader of this blog, you know that almost 6 months ago, Paul and I become parents through the adoption of Kenyon Belachew.

Since adoption is something that I am passionate about, I often have a hard time understanding why more people do not adopt. I've talked with families who want to adopt, but are concerned about finances or don't think the timing is right. I've talked with others who are strongly pro-life and care about children, but don't feel "called" to adopt. I think the decision to adopt is very personal and I do not want to judge others' hearts, but I do wish that more people would take the time to really consider it.

For those of us who are Christians, we are ALL called to care for the orphan, to defend the cause of the fatherless. I would like to challenge you and ask, what does that look like for you? For those of you who do not feel called to adopt, there are so many other ways that you can care for orphans. Become a foster family and provide love and stability for a few days, weeks, or months for a child who needs it. Sponsor a child through a program like HopeChest, Compassion, or Mission to the World's StreetChild ministry. Become a mentor through Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Tutor at-risk children at a local school. Go on a missions trip. Encourage a family who is in the process of adoption by praying for them or sending them a card. Financially support organizations that care for orphans. Find your passion and talk about it with others. And pray. Commit to praying for children in your city and around the world who are in need of permanent, loving families. Pray for their protection and safety, for them to know and feel God's love, and for God to provide a family for them.

Once our eyes are opened we cannot pretend we do not know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls knows we know and holds us responsible to act.
Proverbs 24:12

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

My dream house

After months of looking, hoping, and praying, our contractor closed on our new house yesterday! We started the process of looking for a new home 15 months ago. We have had our hopes up many times, only to be disappointed and frustrated. Yesterday was a big day for us and we are so excited that this house is ours.

It is not much to look at now, but it has great potential. This home is still in the area we live in, less than 1/2 mile from our current house. Our contractor is working hard and we plan to move in by mid-January.

We have been looking for a new home for several reasons. We love our current home, but we knew that when we added a child, we would no longer have a guest room. And since many of our family and friends live out of town, we wanted to have space in our home for guests. Also, we realized that we will be here for a while, God willing, and we wanted a house we could grow into.

While my "dream house" would probably be on a beach, this is as close as I am going to get for now. I love the idea of restoring something and making it beautiful again. I think of the first family that built this house over 100 years ago, who planned and built their dream house. Over the years, this house has been neglected and abused and I am excited to be a part of bringing it back to what it should be. We also want to do something tangibly to make our neighborhood and city better. I love the idea of being involved in designing the home to fit our family's needs and desires. Here are some before pictures:

A boy and his dog

Belachew and Rainey have become good friends. He was so scared of her at first and eventually became more relaxed around her. He likes to boss her around and say "Rainey, give me space." Rainey has learned that Belachew drops food, so she does tend to hover around him. Although he likes to tell her what to do, he loves her. He likes to give Rainey her toys, and sometimes he will pet her and say, "good girl" and "I love you." Belachew has also grown fond of a few stuffed animals- a dog and two horses. He takes his dog and horses most places he goes. Yesterday, as I was getting dinner ready, this is what I saw when I came into the dining room. Rainey was trying to sleep in her bed, and Belachew decided to join her with his animals.

What I want for Christmas

Paul and I have been working on our Christmas lists. Our family usually asks us what we want, so we have been thinking about this for a few weeks. My first thought is typically, "What do I need?" As I asked myself this question, I really couldn't think of anything I NEED. Sure, I'd like some new CD's, or books, or that new sweater at the GAP. But these are things I want, not need. My needs are covered and thankfully, they have always been covered.

Then, I read an unbelievable statistic. Americans spend $450 billion dollars a year on Christmas gifts. It would take one third of that amount to provide clean drinking water for the whole world.

Now I know that many of us have had to watch our budgets more closely this year, with the current economy in our country. But I have been challenged personally to look at my money and where I spend it. I think how we spend our money shows where our priorities are.

Here are a few examples of how we are doing this. We are buying Kenyon ONE Christmas gift this year. This is his first Christmas and we want it to be special for him, but he doesn't need a lot of gifts for it to be special. The Christmas story in and of itself, the people he celebrates with, the songs we sing, the traditions we celebrate as a family- these are the things that will make Christmas special for him. Sure, there are lots of toys I'm sure he would enjoy, but he doesn't need a lot of toys. In fact, he already has a lot. So we are buying him one gift.

Here's another example. I usually grocery shop every week. I'm not great at planning meals or my shopping list, so I usually go to the store each week to get things to eat for the week. Instead of buying a lot of groceries this week, I bought milk, juice, and bananas. For the rest of our meals this week, we are eating things we already have in our refrigerator or pantry. So far, so good, but by the end of the week we may be having Cheerios for dinner. We are setting the money aside that we would have used on groceries this week to donate to charity. (I got this idea from Jody's blog. She is an adoptive mother, and a great advocate for Africa).

I'd like to encourage you to find ways to spend less and give more, whatever that may look like for you and your family. Here are some ideas of alternative gifts- gifts that give back- that you could ask for or give to someone this Christmas:

-Kiva- this organization gives business loans to people around the world. Paul and I have talked about doing this for a while, and last month, we gave our first small loan to a fisherman in Uganda.

-World Vision-World Vision has a gift catalog. You can buy lifestock, food, or school and recreational supplies for people around the world. Paul and I bought each other gifts from World Vision last Christmas.

-AHOPE- Paul and I visited this orphanage in Ethiopia, which is home to children with HIV. They have an online store where you can purchase clothing, jewelry, coffee, and art.

-Water 4 Christmas- this amazing Adoption Network and Orphan Ministry at a church in Iowa came up with this idea and have partnered with charity: water. 4,500 children die a day from drinking contaminated water. They are taking financial donations to help provide clean drinking water to people around the world, starting with building wells in Liberia. They have water bottles and t-shirts you can buy, with all profits going to charity: water, or you can just make a donation. $20 will provide clean drinking water for one person for 20years.

A Weekend of Art and Culture

We had a busy weekend! On Friday, we attended our friend Kyle's art opening with some friends. Kyle is an amazing artist and we enjoyed seeing his new paintings. Then, Saturday afternoon we went to a breakdancing competition that our friend Sunni was competing in. After the breakdancing competition, we headed to a friend's birthday party.

Paul and I are not artists, and although Paul has some dancing skills, I don't think either of us can move our bodies like these breakdancers did. It was a fun weekend and we feel blessed that we have people in our lives with different talents and abilities that we can learn from.

This weekend, we will be going to a concert- our friend Wolfy is having a CD release party. Kenyon LOVES Wolfy and all of the band members- he knows all of their names and what instrument they play. We are looking forward to the concert and we know that Kenyon is going to love it!

Busy Days of Fall

October was a fun and busy month for us. We had grandparents in town for a weekend (my parents), as well as our friend Dan. Dan is working on a film about poverty in Africa. Check it out here if you are interested.

We have also been busy working on house stuff as well. As some of you may know, we have been trying to find a new house for a while. We love our neighborhood, so we have been looking in our neighborhood, trying to find a home with more bedroom space. We are close to closing on something, and to closing on our house as well- a friend of ours is buying our house. As soon as we have more *official* news, we will let you know. We are excited about the house we have found and although it needs a lot of work, we think it is the perfect house for our family.

Other than that, we have been filling our days we playdates, gymnastics, playing at our house, and running errands. We've had beautiful fall weather and have been enjoying time outside as well. Belachew missed out on his first Halloween- he had a temperature so spent the afternoon and evening resting.

Kenyon showing his horse riding skills to Grandma