Walking with Jesus

We saw her born. I cut her cord. We waited. We loved and thanked her birth-parents. We visited with them, ate with them, rejoiced with them. We took her from the hospital. We watched her all night. We hardly slept. We set up stations for changing and sleeping. We fed her. We changed her. We worried about germs. We held her. We prayed over her. We sang to her. We talked to her. We cleaned the stub of her umbilical cord. We memorized her changing little face: her nose, her ears, her blue eyes, her soft dark hair. She was perfect and we fell in love right away. She squeaked. She sighed. She looked at us. She snuggled. She held our fingers. She ate passionately, liked noise better than quiet, and learned to anticipate a camera's flash by the "1 - 2 - 3" that preceded it. Never had either of us been so happy. Yesterday, we packed her things in the car. We started driving back home. I drove. Olivia sat in the back with her. We sang praises to Jesus. Every mile was joy. We stopp...

My life has been forever changed, And my arms forever obligated. My heart is touched by life's first breath, My soul attached to a familiar guest. She stretched her arms and kicked her legs. She cried: a sweet, a soft and gentle sigh Both exhausted and satisfied. She opened her eyes and I fell right in. The blue of first sight fixed on me! Oh! Precious Lord of Peace, who gives such gifts, Give me now your Grace and Wisdom Fit for such a crown, your own... Elora.

It's December 19th, 2008, and Elora is almost here. Thank you for praying us through this process and asking us about our progress each time we see you. Olivia and I are so excited. Actually, we're probably freaking out a bit. Olivia is naturally concerned about having all the stuff cleaned, packed, ready, and in order. The car seat gets checked regularly, the clothes have been washed and sorted, the house is constantly clean and ready. She is already acting like a great mom! She's been writing regular updates on her blog ( http://www.inspiredbygrace.blogspot.com/ ). Meanwhile, I'm trying to get all our finances in order. We'd applied for an adoption loan for the bulk of our adoption expenses and the fund we applied to isn't able to help us out. Additionally, we haven't heard back from any of our grant applications. So, I'm scrambling. It's not the situation you want to be in days before your daughter is born. Some of our friends and family have ch...

There are some things that lie just beyond common knowledge. For example, have you ever thought about the fact that Jesus never ate bacon, a pizza, a hamburger, or probably even an apple? (These things were unknown in 1st century Israel.) Have you ever considered how Methusellah was a vegitarian who died the year God flooded the earth? (No one even considered eating meat until after that Great Flood.) And, did you know that all music can be described by 12 notes in 15 combinations? (By the way, the supporting structures of sub-atomic particles are musical patterns.) So much waits for us to discover if we can only follow the clues and put the peices together. God made this life a great adventure of learning and discovery, with each new lesson a chance to learn about who He is as the creator of all. Such learning is the key to truly gaining insight into the world around us. Let's follow the reality that Jesus was a Jew. What does this imply about his life? He kept the Law. He hon...