Sleep

Sofia
Last two nights
8:30pm - 6:30am
= happy parents!

The voice of Luke

The Voice of Luke is what I've been reading lately in the morning. It is an amazing retelling of the book of Luke. They have also retold Matthew, Mark, John and Acts. They've written out the scripture like a book with commentary built into the story. So as your reading the scripture there are little asides or added background put right into the story. It also does cool stuff like having dialog being broken down like a play. In Luke 4 when Jesus is being tempted by the Devil it looks like this:
Devil: I'll give you all these kingdoms if...
Jesus: You will not test the one true God...
You should really check it out...I wouldn't steer you wrong!

Back to work

Well after three weeks of travel, travel, travel, crying, pooping, sleeping, travel, and staying at home for a week and a couple days it is back to work for me. Sofia has been great the last couple days but tonight was really difficult. She only took one nap today as opposed to her normal three so when we put her down around dinner time she was in her crib screaming. Meanwhile Zeke was refusing to eat two bites of chicken and threw the fit of the century. Just in case you weren't sure...two screaming kids is more annoying than one screaming kid. Something I knew before this adoption but it becomes a lot more real when it's happening. Right now there it total peace in the house. The only sound I can hear is the click of the keyboard under my fingers and I am slowly regaining shalom.
In August I have two big concerts with Anthem, I'm planning on going to a couple days of high school camp (if the kids are on schedule by then), I'm putting together teachers for the new young married class, going to a Willow Creek leadership conference, doing an event with the young married group, an event with the college group, my life group starts up again, and I'm marrying Scott and Christina. Nothing like easing yourself back into the groove. And I almost forgot...Our rental house on Palm hits the market on the first and we are desperately trying to sell it. 3 bed, 2 bath, 1900 sq. feet for $349,900. If you know anyone interested let me know! If we don't sell it this month then we will probably end up renting it out again. So needless to say, my life is pretty stress free right now.

Garage sale tomorrow

We'll be settin' up shop at Steve and Karen's on San Diego st., right across from the Plaza tomorrow (Saturday)...follow the signs. If you would like to drop anything off please come by early because we'll be done by noon. We aren't those crazy all day garage sale people (like my brother!) Just come and hang out and sift through the process of my family down scaling our lives.

Front page, Press Enterprise, Saturday August 11th

What the heck!!??! The guy from the press was here for an hour and a half. I felt like I was inviting him into the best life there is in Jesus. What a cool opportunity to share with him the love that God has showed me and the way we get to show that to others...especially those without a voice and the overlooked in society. At the end we started talking about Anthem and it sounds like he might want to do an interview with me in a month or two to talk about Anthem....crazy! I'll let you know when to look for it.

We're gonna be in the paper

So this guy from the Press Enterprise is coming over tomorrow to interview our family about adoption. This is the email that he sent to me:

I am writing a story about efforts by some evangelical leaders to get more Christians to adopt children or take in foster kids. I would like to talk with you about the adoption, and how that fits into your desire as a Christian to follow Christ’s teachings. Would it be possible to interview you and your wife in person when you get back from Kazakhstan, and to take photographs of you and your new child?

How cool is that! We get to preach to the Press Enterprise. I'm not sure what I'm going to say yet but you can pray that it goes well. Hopefully our story can encourage other people towards adopting.

This post is for my friends

You know who you are...You and your wife are advocates for the kingdom of God in ways that blow my mind. Even though I have a few years on you both I feel like I have been the student in much of our relationship. Your integrity and commitment to relationships is evident to everyone that really knows you. I know this week is probably one of the hardest of your life to this point, but keep your head up, it only gets harder :) Know that you have friends that will stand in front of arrows for you and we will be with you through this. Take all the time in the world to mourn and know that great life will spring out of this loss. The future is exciting and I look forward to dreaming it up with both of you. Justice doesn't always come in this lifetime but remember that by quietly suffering, Jesus started a revolution that we are still trying to advance today. Alyssa and I are your friends and we love you!

The Edwardsons

These are our friends Nate, Erica, Ava, Adia, and Asher Edwardson. They stopped by on there way back to Redding yesterday. It was so good to see them and hang out for a while. Why is it that you have some friends that you see twice a year that you feel as close to as a lot of your other friends. We start talking and it seems like we were just hanging out last week. It's crazy that we have all these kids now. It seems like yesterday that we were all single and hanging out in Redding. Nate and Erica pastor a church in Redding called the Stirring. Go check it out and listen to some podcasts.

We're having a few issues

Zeke's doing great but he's having a few issues with sharing all this attention with Sofia. Every time we run into people and they start giving Sofia all the attention Zeke yells at them..."I TURNED FOUR!!!" which doesn't make any sense. Zeke turned four in April. He's just gotta have something that's exciting about him too. It will wear out soon I'm sure.

Still 13 hours ahead

Sofia doesn't know she's left Kyrgyzstan. She's up every night at midnight, 3am, 6am. Last night I walked around with her from 3-7am...good times! They are 13 hours ahead of us over there. Jet lag is killing us this time back. Usually we push ourselves the first night to stay up and everything is fine but getting up 3 times a night when you're fighting jet lag stinks. Enough complaining...I'm off to see what happens tonight.
By the way...being a daddy of two is awesome...you should try it.
Thanks Micah and Elizabeth for bringin' by food...it was mucho deliciouso!

Beware of the environmentalist

Here's Sofia's first cloth diaper. We are really trying to make changes in our lifestyle to help the environment. If cloth diapers were good enough for me as a kid then I'm sure they're good enough for my kid. I'm just waiting for the first time I drive that safety pin into Sofia's hip! I am almost done reading Serve God, Save the Planet by Matthew Sleeth and it is really good. Everyone should read it. I'm slowing turning into a tree hugging environmentalist so you get to see the process from the beginning. By the way...thanks to all the people that walked, carpooled and rode their bikes to work for us while we were gone. On flights now you can buy your emission offsets but something felt like getting people involved would be much cooler. Sofia is not going to the Grove tomorrow...something tells me that might be a little overwhelming for the second day back. We'll try to bring her next week. I'll bring pictures on my ipod.

Random pics from first day back

Pic 1-2: Brother and sister...together at last
Pic 3: Sofia's first nap in her crib
We ALL took a nap today from 2-4pm and getting up felt like someone poured cement on me while I was sleeping. I'm feelin' better now. It's 9:07pm and we are trying to hold out till 10 or 11pm to get back on schedule. Thanks Ian for the power cable. That's why I'm able to put up the pics.

WE MADE IT.....BARELY!!!!

Sorry, no pictures or video. I packed my laptop power supply and adapter for my camera in my main bag that didn't make it home along with our other bags. That's just the beginning of the story of our trek home. Buckle your seat belts...
We get to the airport at 7am (two hours early) and they move us the front of the line only to tell us that we might not make the flight because we didn't purchase our lap sitting ticket for Sofia with the ticket agent. Our agent said it was easier and cheaper to just purchase the ticket at the airport...that was not the case. The took the next hour and a half giving us ulcers as we waited to see if they could make it happen. They finished minutes before we were supposed to board, our stomachs were in knots. The plane wasn't ready and we ended up waiting for 45 minutes.
First flight was to some weird place in Russia and it only took 2.5 hours. We had an open seat next to us and Sofia was able to sleep. We stayed on the same plane with the same open seat for our flight to London. We had to wait for an hour to refuel and we were on our way. Sofia did pretty good. Eat, scream, sleep, repeat!
As we were flying into London they informed us that they had huge thunderstorms that morning and they had actually shut down the airport for a time so we had to circle for an hour before landing because of the traffic. Once on the ground we stayed in the same place for an hour because of the traffic. Our connecting flight to LAX was at 4pm and when we got off the plane it was 4pm. We landed in terminal 4 and our flight was out of terminal 1 (the furthest terminal away). Add to this that our gate was the as far away as you could get as well. Alyssa had Sofia in a sling...I consolidated our two carry-0ns into my backpack (now weighing 634 lbs. because you can't have 2 carry-0ns in London) and our enormous diaper bag. We ran the whole way to get there and the flight had been delayed till 5pm...praise Jesus. We boarded the plane smelling like 2 homeless people...completely exhausted! We proceeded to sit on the plane for an hour because there were 20 people still looking for the plane in the terminal. Sofia was screaming and Alyssa was on the verge of breakdown. We had to have her buckled in so we couldn't get up and walk...it was awful. We finally take off and they give us the awesome bassinet in front of us that Sofia sleeps in on and off for 7 hours...amazing! The rest of the flight goes fine and we finally end up at LAX. We go to baggage claim and no bags...classic! We head to the exit and meet Zeke with Alyssa's parents. (I have video that will be up when I get my cable back) I go to fill out the forms and there are 40 people in front of me with one person working the desk. We were supposed to land at 7pm...we landed at 8:30pm...we got out of the terminal by 11pm. It was one of the craziest days ever but it's finally done. We got home...Sofia slept from 1am to 4:30am...woke up...took a bottle...went back to bed till 6am...Alyssa and I couldn't sleep...and now our life of 4 begins. Stop by and say hi! We are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo glad to be home.

Adoption day 9 (PRAISE JESUS...WE'RE COMIN' HOME!!!)

We got the Visa today without a hitch!!! Thanks to everyone that has been praying for us. Sofia is doing amazing. We found out that she wasn't fussy, she was just starving. We feed her a full bottle every 3 hours now and she cries every time they're done. We went to the doctor and she only weighs 11 lbs (I know kids that are born at that weight). She's 25 inches long (that's pretty normal). Once we started pounding the formula down she has been doing great and napping great (as you can see). We leave for the airport tomorrow at 6am and we'll get to LAX at 7pm (about 20 hours). Can't wait to see my bed. Please pray for our travels. I won't be able to post again until we're home. I made up for it with 4 posts today. WE'RE COMIN' HOME WITH OUR LITTLE GIRL. She became an American today...poor thing! Thank you so much for reading my blog and praying. Thanks to Carlos for showing me how to capture an adoption with a little camera and a little html. If you're new to my blog because of the adoption...stick around to hear the ridiculous things that run through my head on a regular basis!

The bears made it Nightlight!!!!

The people were very excited. The bag with the bears came in 6 days late but we got it there on our last day. I gotta say...I'm sad the bears didn't make our first flight but I much rather go without bears than my deodorant!

How's the air in Riverside today???

I think it's about the same here.
Kazakhstan is beautiful...no Borat jokes!
That last picture is with Zoriya. She was our coordinator here in Kazakhstan.

Just for Zeke

If you know my son this will make sense!

Adoption day 9 (OH MY WORD!!!!!)

If you are not a patient and flexable person...please never attempt adopting internationally. We have been streched like crazy but it has been an awesome adventure. I wouldn't trade any of the experience because if it was boring there wouldn't be any cool stories to share when we get home. No pics today...I'm at an internet cafe so the story will have to do.
So here was our yesterday...
We were supposed to check out of our hotel at noon and leave for Kazahstan at 2pm. We got a call that we were delayed till 5pm so we took all our stuff and left it at the hotel of the Hungs (the other adopting couple) because their hotel would let us hang out in their lobby. Get another call around 5pm that says the border is closed till 10pm!!!! So now we are hanging out in the hotel lobby with two kids (6 and 8 months) and four parents...heaven on earth. Please keep in mind that we are 13 hours ahead of California so I'm feeling delirious at this point. We get to the border...get out...walk through customs...hand the stern man my passport and he up and downs me for 10 minutes. He doesn't think I look like my picture. He makes me put my chin up so he can get a good look at me. After 15 minutes of torture he lets me through. I guess there are some draw backs to losing weight. We get back in the van that is 438 degrees and drive for 3 more hours till we get to our hotel. Now it's 2am and we get to the front desk. They don't have our reservation. Sofia's crying...Alyssa's crying...I'm looking for something sharp to take my life with. The hotel has another hotel attached to it that has a room. We go over there...no a/c...the room is 439 degrees...no crib...the bed has box springs but no mattress...we say PERFECT, we'll take it!!! Sleep for 5 hours and get up to run around like crazy at the health clinic and embassy today. All our paperwork went through so we are really praying that we get signed off tomorrow at 3pm so we can still go home on Friday. Good times! Keep praying...God has been helping us with all the details through this process. I feel like we are on a warped version of the Amazing Race. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Sofia did great today...she is a trooper. Can't wait for you to see her. How was your Wednesday, ours was pretty boring?

Adoption day 8 (driving)

Sofia slept till 7am again today...she's a stud! She's been a little crabby today and we have a 4 hour drive to Kazakhstan in front of us. Pray for us if you remember. Sofia and my stomach seem to have settled which is awesome. I put together like an 8 minute video that youtube wouldn't let me upload so you might have to wait till I get home to see that one. This morning I was instant messaging with Ian and Josh. We tried to do a video chat but it wouldn't let us. How cool is technology. Anyways...I don't know what our internet situation will be for the next couple days but I'll try to get something up soon. We miss you all and can't wait to be home.

Adoption day 7 (exploseria)

I've got some problems goin' on down south today. Sofia's had a couple blow outs as well. We were out today for lunch at someones house and this is the squatty potty that felt my wrath. If you've ever seen how unflexable I am you can imagine my dilema. We leave for Almaty Kazakhstan tomorrow to get visas and all that good stuff. Please continue to pray. Suale tells us that everything is on a very tight schedule and she is hoping there wont be any delays!