July is out of review room

Congrats to those with July LIDS, man the review room is cooking, let's send some of those folks over to the MATCHING room please and get that happening, they are only on Nov 25 2005 over there, we need a speed up!!!!!

We went to a picnic yesterday put on by Christian Adoption Services, it was awesome to see how many families in our area have adopted. We met a few families in the process as well. There were no Asian babies at the picnic, and just one couple, which we had met earlier in the process who are adopting from China.We know there are a few more adopting from China, but they weren't there.

We had our Sunday School kick off and overall that went fantastic. We have doubled our program, which was daunting, less than 2 years ago they were going to cancel Sunday School, Then I came on staff and we got life back in it and in less than 2 years we have doubled it...God most certainly blessed us. We still have a few gaps to fill, but I am jazzed over a really good start.Well, must get week two ready to go!

Birthday Bash

Well, September 2 was the milestone 38th birthday for me. My actual day was spent at church preaching in the morning then going to a get together to welcome our new interim pastor to our church(which ended up being rained out). On the Monday I conceded and let Cara invite some friends to come to a party.

I am not a big birthday person, it isn't that I care about aging, in fact, I don't see myself as an age, I never remember how old I am, anything someone asks me I have to sit down and do the math, and these days I don't have enough fingers and toes, so it is a challenge!

I enjoyed the day a lot. It was nice to just hang out with friends and be normal. It was especially nice that my mom got to meet Cara and my close friends.




A real good friend, and fellow comic book collector, blessed my socks off by giving to me Amazing Spiderman #5. The comic was published in 1963! What a rush to hold something that has so much history to it...a real treasure!

At my age and with my eclectic interests people know it is best to just give gift certificates or cash. I will be getting some magic tricks with it, Paul Brandt's album, more comics, maybe some bonsai supplies, and some tv series on dvd(Heroes maybe?), just not sure what yet.

I did pick up Teen titans video game for PS2. I am a kid at heart. I am currently playing Neopets Darkest Faerie PS2 game. I am not into the blood and gore games. This way I also have games kids can play at my place when they come over, so it serves both purposes.

I can also with almost complete confidence say that before I am 40 I will have Julia in my arms... I just have to be able to say SOMEthing concrete, I truly hope it will be before I am 39,but today I can at least say 40 with confidence...truly this adoption journey is a wacky one...

Bah still in November

4 days of matches done(up to Nov. 25 2005), so much for the rumor they were dipping into December... BAH I say!

Fun article on chinese food translations

Crazy Chinese food translations

Heh, some stuff certainly gets lost in translation...

The lock yourself in boy

an update on the little guy Cara has occasionally looked after,you know, the one who locked himself in our bedroom the first day he was over...well...he locked himself in a room at his own house the other day :)

Cara was able to walk the mum through the "take the door frame off" routine, but the little guy unlocked the door before the operation was complete. I wonder if he is going to grow up to be a locksmith? :).


Excited that my mum will be here tonight for a visit, that will be fun. I love having the kind of relationship with my mum that she is as much a good friend as a parent, that is such a treat.

Friends are amazing

2 posts- 1 day....heh :)

Cara and I are soooo blessed to have a special friend who we know prays sooooo faithfully for our Julia. Having that kind of power and protection that prayer provides is positively precious!

We can not wait for Julia and Sam to connect as we appreciate Sam's mum VERY much!We are blessed by all who are praying for us, but wanted to give a special "shout out" at this time. :)

Back to more regular posting

With Camp done, holiday done and normal(yeah right) Fall upon us, I should be posting more regularly. I have missed reading others blogs also...

So what is ahead?

Final shots for me in September then we are all done with that...

Just at the time we had saved what we needed for the adoption we have to snag some of those funds to get a more reliable vehicle... on the bright side(can't believe I just typed that) we will have time to replenish that fund before we need it to go get Julia...

I just discovered another member of popular Christian music is adopting from China. The lead singer from Casting Crowns, on their latest album, which was just released on Tuesday(thanks Tracy A for the album :) ), mentions in the liner notes about waiting for his Chinese daughter...

Once I get our JUMP program running at church(Sunday school), I will get the sponsorship papers done...

We had a wonderful time away at Tumbler Ridge BC



This is a picture of one of the Falls we went to see. Being out and seeing the majesty and creativity of God's creation is always refreshing to me, and was definitely necessary. We enjoyed very low key times, and I was soooo thankful for the family in our church who let us use their condo/apartment which made the trip very cost effective and therefore not a stressful event.


September 9 our adoption agency(Alberta branch) is hosting a picnic up here, we still need to get details, but that could be a nice opportunity...

What is ahead on this blog?

An update on the lock yourself in a room child...

The jigsaw puzzle saga...

Visit from Mama B and Mr. B...

The next round of matches should be popping up soon...

Paul Brandts album...

I age another year...

and some movie and book reviews...

LID 15

Well 15 months Logged In...One and a thirdish of a year...455 days...10920 hours... I'll stop there :) .

This is an odd LID this month, Cara isn't around for it, she is at a conference in Calgary, so I am alone. That isn't a bad thing, the introvert in me enjoys that even though I miss my wife. I have eaten stirfry all weekend, I experimented and added lemon into my ginger/teriaki sauce to much success :).

I mentioned this LID is odd, in that I am in more of a detached mode this time around, just not in baby mode, feeling like "the event" is still too far away. My head, and even my heart aren't really focussed on Julia. It is a weird place to be.I don't know why, other than it is disheartening to not know when this part of the journey will end, is she born yet? Many times along the road I have thought about that, imagined what it would be like for her, prayed for her, but today it is like...how to pray... I suspect she is likely conceived by now, but I am a concrete thinker, I like tangibles and the floating line of when stuff happens gets to me at times.

I suspect the emotional drain of experiences here in Canada in my world lately have also contributed to this. I do know I won't stay in this place long, my passion for being a daddy is too strong and my character quality of perseverance(some say bullheadedness :) ) will certianly see me through this journey til I get to the destination that will mark the start of a brand new adventure after that :) !

One month until...

I get Paul Brandt's new album "Risk"...which has the song Dust I posted a while ago.

Life, and living it, can certainly be a risk at times, and a wild journey, and some parts of it...to be blunt, simply suck and are unfair and tear at a hearts sense of justice and fairness. There are times your heart gets trampled, unjustly, unfairly, and you feel so attacked and left bewildered, "What on earth did I do to deserve this?" and you discover you didn't do anything to deserve it and then get left wondering "Why the heck then do we have this target on our back?" I wish I knew the answer...but regardless I am glad I can say I rode though it with no regrets on how I lived, loved and honored my Lord through it.Sadly, others involved in this can't say that, and that saddens me.

"we had ups and downs
we got spun around
we held on when the going got a little tough
it took love and faith
and some give and take
and grace
no we didn't even see the dust"

I heard this song near the peak of the crisis, and it was a cool gift from God to encourage me. There is still some dust and crap still left to have to walk through, and that sucks, that stuff/people connected with it are so trying to be a distraction and downer to all the positive and good that is wanting to emerge and move forward, but my attitude moving forward at this point is:

"shot gun everybody getting for the long run
dont know where we're going
but the out come comes with a little bit of trust
lets go following whatever where the wind blows
flying with our hands out of the window
we didn't even see the dust"

We are in this for the long run, we trust not man, but God, and will follow whatever way the wind of His Spirit blows, and keep our eyes and heart on Him, and not the dust and crap others try to pull out and put in the way!

Camp

I haven't had much time to post, nor read my dose of others blogs since we have been at camp.I direct 3 weeks of elementary camps as well as provide backup and support for some of the youth camps. The camp we serve in, is by no means a luxury resort...the picture above is of an outhouse...ours aren't anywhere as good as this one, and there is no running hot water showers, just a big wading pool with a tap on it suspended on a structure...it does wake you up in the morning!

These are not complaints however, as I *LOVE* camp ministry. I never attended a camp as a child but started counseling at one when I was 17. I had an 18 year run of doing camp, and then had a 3 year absence when we were serving at a church in Winnipeg. But with my current position it included directing camp. It is awesome. The last 2 years I have directed here, we have had fantastic staff. And this year Cara was down there with me for the 3 weeks, which was great. It was great to serve with her, it was also good for her to experience camp so hands on...now she understands why I come home from camp excited about what God is doing,while at the same time being completely fried and barely able to stay awake. It is non stop work, but so worth it, to see kids experience God in new and profound ways, to worship Him in a beautiful nature setting, and see staff and volunteers be used by God in amazing ways.

Cara and I are hopeful, although with the looming "WAIT" who knows what the time line will be, that by next camp season we will be trying to figure out how to do this camp thing with Julia with us.

In September we will need to finish off the last of the immunizations and at that point I will step out in faith and fill out the sponsorship papers we got 15 months earlier for the Canadian government end of things.