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Upon our return home from Korea with our baby we received a packet of post-adoption information from AIAA (Americans for International Aid and Adoption). Turns out, we’ve got some more paperwork to do — including a request for another blood test, which means Ethan will have to have blood drawn again at his next doctor’s … Read more
One of my favorite musical artists these days is Sara Groves. I discovered her through the movie, The Ultimate Gift, which I wrote about here. I also included one of her recent songs, “When the Saints,” in my collection of Songs for Leaders. Also included on her latest recording is a song called “Song for … Read more
A week ago, I wrote about going Back to School. But it was probably too optimistic to think that we could hit the ground running so soon after our return from Korea — adjusting with Ethan, recovering from the flu, and now battling cold/sore throats; thankfully, Ethan continues to be well!). But we did read … Read more
I recently wrote about Andy Stanley’s book, Choosing to Cheat (see “Choosing to Cheat” 1.0) (this book was republished in 2011 as When Work and Family Collide: Keeping Your Job from Cheating Your Family). As I said, I want to share some personal reflections on how Joleen and I plan to cheat strategically so that … Read more
Today, we experienced our first Sunday worship gathering together as a family. First of all, Randy and I never get to worship together on Sundays, so what a treat it was for the two of us, let alone the three of us! We attended Faith UMC. The 11:00 am service worked well with Ethan getting … Read more
Awhile back, I read Choosing to Cheat: Who Wins When Family and Work Collide? by Andy Stanley (this book was republished in 2011 as When Work and Family Collide: Keeping Your Job from Cheating Your Family). The book is must-reading for anyone who is busy AND has a family! Incidentally, I try to read everything … Read more
Ethan’s absence was especially felt last Christmas. Christmas is such a special time for children, and because the time of our going to get Ethan was so close, we decided that in order for us (Randy and I) to survive the holiday, we would celebrate Christmas when Ethan was home with us. So, we left … Read more
While our story, our journey, as a family is just getting started with Ethan, we thought you might like to know what the rest of the legal process entails for us. Over the next few months, our caseworker from Adoption Horizons will make three post-placement visits (our first one is scheduled in about two weeks). … Read more
I started to call this post A Rough Day. Much of the day was committed to Ethan’s first doctor visit since leaving Korea (he had just seen a doctor before being released to us on February 12). We wanted to get his medical record started here (in fact, we made today’s appointment before going to … Read more
While we were in Korea, we reported on our experiences with The Holy Flames Methodist Church (a congregation of around 2,000 people) and Kwanglim Methodist Church (which, we’re told is the largest Methodist Church in the world with a congregation of at least 70,000 people, although we’ve seen higher numbers online, too). If you missed … Read more