Sunday Reflections

The Son of God did not want to be seen and found in heaven. Therefore He descended from heaven into this lowliness, came to us in our flesh, laid Himself into the womb of His mother and into the manger and went to the cross. This ladder He placed on the earth so that we might ascend to God on it. This is the way you must take. If you forsake this way and try to speculate about the glory of the Divine Majesty without this ladder, you will invent marvelous matters, matters that are above your horizon; but you will do so to your very great harm.

Martin Luther

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, that glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:1-5;15

Christmas Tree

Every year after Thanksgiving (and a little Black Friday shopping) we head to the mountains to find the 'perfect' Christmas tree.

Even thought it was raining at our house today it was sunny up in the mountains.

The girls thought the first tree we saw was the one.

I just had to laugh when I saw Jo laying down under a tree. In a way she a gift to us.

The boys took off and were busy running up and down.

Timber.

(As you can see we did find a nice tree).

The kids love going to pick out a Christmas tree. However, they also love to stop in the shop for some chocolate. And since we are all spoiled from Europe we cannot say no to Milka.

Jo would not put down the chocolate until I gave her a piece.

She loved the whole Christmas decorating idea.

Emma had to decorate the tree in a style.

Happy Thanksgiving

We got to spend Thanksgiving with our dear friend the Laughner's.
It was great to see them and again.

Daniel is such a sweetheart.

And he sure loves his mama.

Jordan had a great time playing with Daniel and Allison.

And she loved the pumpkin pie Lori made.

This is me by the way. I know I am not in most of the pictures since I am the one behind the camera all the time. (Fil was setting the white balance on the camera and was making sure it was fine.)

I am thankful for my family. For the amazing adventure which God took us on this year and for our friends especially the ones we made through our adoption.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Sunday Reflections and Half way point for Jordan

We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is "good," because it is good, if "bad" because it works in us patience, humility and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country.

--C.S. Lewis, Letters

(first day with us 8 months ago)

Today marks half way point for Jordan in her life. She has been with us same amount of time as she spent in the orphanage. We are so thankful for her.

(Calculate duration between two dates)

(Jordan today)

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or what has been his counselor?" "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Romans 11:33-36

This blog entry is brought to you by OREO's

Yum, yum, yummy!!! I am not sure if this was Jo's first time eating Oreo cookies. However, either way she loves them. But again who doesn't like Oreos.

The kids were quiet the whole time they were eating.

Here Jo has that look that she is not going to share with anybody.

I am sure Fil is reading this blog and thinking how come he has not seen a single Oreo cookie at home. The truth is that the whole box was gone before daddy made it home :)

Here are some fun pictures of the kids after Emma's dance class.

People sometimes ask me if I carry my big camera with me all the time. The truth is that I have it on me most of the time. Yes I carry that big thing with me. You just never know. I use to have my little camera in my purse but now I just carry an extra camera bag.

Foreign adoptions by Americans drop sharply

By DAVID CRARY
NEW YORK (AP) — The number of foreign children adopted by Americans fell 12 percent in the past year, reaching the lowest level since 1999 as some countries clamped down on the process and others battled with allegations of adoption fraud.
China, which for a decade was the leading source for international adoptions, accounted for the biggest decline and dropped out of the top spot. It was replaced by Guatemala, which almost certainly will lose that status in 2009 because of a corruption-related moratorium on new adoptions imposed by U.S. officials.
Figures for the 2008 fiscal year, released by the State Department on Monday, showed 17,438 adoptions from abroad, down from 19,613 in 2007. The all-time peak was 22,884 in 2004.
Reasons for the decline vary from country to country. China and Russia — the two largest sources of adoptees over the past 15 years — have sought to care for more of their abandoned and orphaned children at home, and China has imposed tighter restrictions on foreign applicants.
The numbers were sobering to advocates of international adoption, who expect the drop to continue for 2009 as Guatemala struggles to rein in its formerly freewheeling adoption industry.
"There are still tens of millions of orphans around the world — and we know there are millions of Americans willing to adopt these kids," said Chuck Johnson, chief operating officer of the National Council for Adoption. "Countries are very reluctant to let go of what they consider their future, even though they'll readily acknowledge the future for these kids is not promising."
By far the biggest drop was for adoptions from China, which fell to 3,909 from 5,453 in 2007 and a peak of 7,906 in 2005. Among the factors: a rise in domestic adoptions as China prospers and tighter restrictions on foreign adoptions that exclude single people, older couples, the obese and those with financial or health problems.
As a result, waiting times to complete an adoption from China have increased in many cases to three or four years, a deterrent to many aspiring adoptive parents. China offers a faster timetable for foreigners willing to adopt children with physical or emotional disabilities.
Adoptions from Guatemala also declined in the past year, from 4,728 to 4,123, and the number is projected to be sharply lower for 2009. Guatemalan officials are trying to replace an old system, which allowed abuses ranging from fraud to child snatching, with stringent new practices conforming with the Hague Convention, an international adoption treaty.
Other countries from which adoptions declined significantly included Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan and India.
The biggest increase was in adoptions from Ethiopia — they rose from 1,255 to 1,725, moving the Horn of Africa nation into fourth place on the State Department's list, just behind Russia. No other African country provided more than 250 adoptees last year, although the continent is viewed as one of the few potential growth regions for international adoption.
Thomas DiFilipo, president of the Joint Council on International Children's Services, predicted overall numbers would drop even more sharply for 2009, to as low as 10,000 to 12,000 foreign adoptions, as China continues its cutback and adoptions from Guatemala and Vietnam diminish.
There were 751 adoptions from Vietnam in fiscal 2008, but the U.S.-Vietnam adoption agreement expired on Sept. 1 as the two countries argued about fraud and corruption in the system. Hundreds of American families seeking to adopt from Vietnam were left in limbo.
DiFilipo said he doubted any foreign country would ever replace China as the source of 7,000 or even 5,000 adoptees per year. He predicted instead that far smaller numbers of adoptees would be comimg from a pool of perhaps 40 or 50 countries, including an increasing share from Africa and Latin America.
DiFilipo said the drop-off in foreign adoptions has been devastating to many U.S.-based agencies which specialize in them — forcing closures or mergers. He predicted that the number of direct-service agencies with programs abroad would drop to fewer than 100 by the end of 2009, a third of the peak a few years ago.
"It's a rough time for the agencies," said Joshua Zhong, president of Colorado-based Chinese Children Adoption International. "It is more difficult for the families. They feel they're waiting forever; they're very discouraged."
Zhong said his agency — one of the largest in the U.S. that specializes in adoptions from China — expects to place 450 children by the end of the year, down from about 1,200 in 2005. The average waiting time for his clients has stretched from 12 months to three years, he said.
One byproduct of the decline in foreign adoptions is likely to be an intensified campaign to persuade adoptive parents to take children from the U.S. foster care system. Roughly 125,000 youths in the system are available for adoption, including a disproportionately large number of racial minorities.
"We're urging families to think about these kids," said Chuck Johnson. "We have a lot of work to do."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hpcgfbD11-q-IduwC31ZJH6O0FrgD94GVR7O1

Fun Christmas links

I found these fun link at allsorts blog.

Enjoy

Sunday Reflections

"To whom or what do you look for life-sustaining stability, security and acceptance? What do you really want and expect [out of life]? What would [really] make you happy? What would make you and acceptable person? Where do you look for power and success?" These questions or similar ones tease out whether we serve God or idols, whether we look for salvation from Christ or from false saviors. [This bears] on the immediate motivation of my behavior, thoughts and feelings. In the Bible's conceptualization, the motivation question is the lordship question: who or what "rules my behavior, the Lord or an idol?"

--David Powlison, Idols of the Heart and Vanity Fair For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope-- the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Titus 2:11-14

This post brought to you by GP's and LG

They arrived. The LG washer and dryer arrived yesterday afternoon. As you can see from the pictures we all have been looking forward to our new appliances.

First let me tell you for some reason our appliances are breaking down. It started with dishwasher, the refrigerator last year and this summer I started warning Fil that my washer was on its last leg. Well grandma and grandpa were in town and they generously decided to help us out and bought us these fantastic units.

I have been eyeing a front loading washer for a while. I grew up with a front loading washer and I still remember sitting in front of it and watching it spin Well as you can see the kids love it. They spent all Friday afternoon in front of it trying to make out whose clothes they can see. The boys also put chairs in front of them and pretended they were driving airplanes.

And the best part? The kids are able to reach in and help me!! The girls got a big kick out of it and they were so proud they were able to help me.

Thank you GP's (grandma and grandpa)!!!

(you would not believe how much less water it uses)

Jo's New Hair DO

Last night after the girls bath I was looking at Jo's hair thinking: 'here we go again'. I was not sure what hair do I should do so while I was waiting on the boys to get done so I started twirling Jo's hair.

Fil was wondering what I was up to and after five minutes he told me it looks great and if I was planning on doing all of her hair.

First I was thinking I will do only the front but as you can see I ended up doing all of her hair and let me tell you that girl has lots of hair.

Just in case you are wondering it took me about half an hour.

Sam was all complementary when he saw Jo's new hair do and he said I did a great job and this is the best hair do I have ever done for her (thanks Sam).

Since Jordan has so much hair I am happy to report that as of this morning it is still looking good. I am sure it would look better if I used something but this was my first time so I did not want to over do it.

Jo playing 'pick a boo'.

What a cutie.

Little Lady

I have been thinking about earrings for Emma for sometime. I was not sure if she was too young for them and whether we should wait a little longer. However, after talking to many people, last week we did it. I looked into a few places and when I saw these earrings I knew they were a must.

I had my ears pierced when I was 16 and I got the exact same earrings. The jewelery store was very nice and both ladies (yes both since I requested they would do both ears at the same time) were very nice.

Emma did great. She did not peep and she has been looking into a mirror ever since. She does look very nice in them and it adds a little spark to her eyes.

Our little girl is growing into a little lady.