Little Girl??

Jason and I have accepted the referral of a little girl!! It is not official yet, so I am not comfortable posting her photograph on this blog just yet. Our next step is to go before a review board and they will decide if our family is an appropriate match to her special needs.

Here's a little bit about her. Her name is Tamara and we would keep that. She is from the Philippines. She is gorgeous with a full head of dark brown hair and huge black eyes. Apparently she also has on ornery persona much like Collin...and Jason.....and myself, so she will fit in well and WE MAY HAVE OUR HANDS FULL.

Tamara is 4 1/2 years old with some developmental delays and speech delays, but we've familiarized ourselves with her medical records and decided WE'RE GAME....on to the review board!!

New Family Photos-Favorites

Mother's Day Gift

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Revolutionary Parenting

I just finished reading the book, Revolutionary Parenting by George Barna. I really enjoyed it.

One of the things talked about in the book is how we as parents measure success in childrens lives verses how God measures their success.

Our Measurements:

• Physically healthy
• Performance at or beyond their age level
• Decent friends
• Physically attractive
• Athletic performance
• Not involved with gangs
• Not involved with drugs/alcohal
• No/little sexual activity
• No criminal record
• Obedience to authority

God's Measurements:

• Loving heart
• Serving heart
• Obedience to him

We've been blessed with the job of raising and coaching this beautiful little boy and we hope that God will continue to offer us the same blessing through this next ad0ption and others to follow. I desire to be a Revolutionary Parent to these kids, but man...talk about defying culture.

What does Revolutionary Parenting mean to me? It means teaching my kids that a strong athletic skill is not of them but of God and encouraging them to do their absolute best with what God has given them. It means teaching my 2 year old that by sharing with a friend you are showing love to that person. It is because of Jesus that we can show love to others. It means teaching our children that serving one another within the home is an honor.

.....and right now, with Collin, my outgoing, active and often aggressive toddler; it means that instead of just telling him not to kick/hit other children I instead use the opportunity to coach him on how Jesus would have him show love to that child.

Jason and I could definetly use prayer as we learn to become Revolutionary Parents and raise spiritual champions. Please pray that we do not demand obedience only for the sake of obedience, but that instead we are able to pass on a love for Jesus so that obedience may come from that love.

Blogspot Revised

We are well on our way towards our new adoption. What better time to get this blog up and rolling again. This time we are using an organization by the name of Holt International. By the end of May we should have our homestudy finalized. We've left our homestudy wide open this time around which means we are doing a lot of praying about what God has planned for us in this next adoption.

It will be interesting to see what his plan is. Currently we are open to:
1. A domestic adoption
2. An international adoption- no matter the country
We fit the selection criteria for Ethiopia, India, Vietnam, Thailand or the Phillipines
3. Special needs children
4. Sibling groups
5. Older children or infants

I'd say that about covers it. We really have no idea what our family will look like when this next adoption is final. The one thing we do know...whatever God has planned...WE'RE OPEN!!