Hope

I picked up a book yesterday which I dearly love. It's called "The Rabbi's Heartbeat" by Brennan Manning. I've read it two other times and I really connect with his thoughts every time. Here's a nugget I pull from yesterday's reading time:

"The mystery is Christ among you, your hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). Hope knows that if great trials are avoided, great deeds remain undone and the possibility of growth into greatness of soul is aborted. Pessimism and defeat are never the fruit of the life-giving Spirit but rather reveal our unawareness of present risenness (of Jesus)."

Wow. I needed that yesterday. And today. And most likely tomorrow. It's been a rough week already. Yet...there is hope.

Acts 13

Last night we looked at Acts 13...all 52 verses of it. As Ryan said, "52 verses of unadulterated fun!" Nice! So, yeah, we talked about Acts 13 and the sharing of the message of Jesus on Paul's first missionary journey. Here are the talk points that we began with:

The text says that Barnabas and Paul were set apart for this mission. Often saying ‘yes’ to God means saying ‘no’ to the things that keep us from fulfilling the call. What might God be asking you (or us) to say ‘no’ to to fulfill God’s call?

Some people end up rejecting Jesus because of the way He changes our relationship with other people. Some would rather hold on to their bitterness and animosity towards others than turn to Jesus and be reconciled.

We didn't necessarily stay with that thought, but feel free to respond to those. We also took side trips in discussion regarding how we go about sharing the message of Jesus. What is the approach considering what the stetting is and who the audience is? How do we go about sharing the love and grace of God? Hmmm...I can't remember what else we discussed. Feel free to chime in!

Acts 12

Man, we had awesome discussion on this evening's scripture. I wish we could have recorded it on the podcast so that everyone could benefit from hearing other peoples' perspectives. Wow! Anyway, the scripture was Acts 12 (reading it will make these points make more sense) and here are topics of discussion that were jumping off points:

Are we able to “sleep” in times of trial?

Have you ever asked someone a question only to walk away before hearing the answer? Have you ever prayed to God, hoping for an answer, but decided not to look and see what God might do? Are there answers to our prayers all around us that we have not noticed?

What is our view of prayer and our approach to prayer?

What do you think? Where are you at? Again, the discussion was great, but let's continue to dialogue on this here at the blog.

I'm gone on vacation this week. Don't talk about me while I'm gone. :-)

PC's

As I write this on my Mac, I'm sitting next to Lori's new PC. I took care of the installation for her. Now I'm ready to toss it out the window. Window's Vista...crap. Office software installation...crap. Shut down and restart 57 times...crap. Computer asking me if I'm sure I want to do what I just told it to do...crap. I tried to recover a document for Lori and as it tried to open it, it told me there was too little memory to perform the task...crap. How can a laptop that's only one day old be low on memory? It has 1 GB of memory. There were no programs open (although Windows is notorious for having 20 programs running in the background that you don't know about). Crap!

All that to say that I love my Mac and will never go back.

Acts 11

This past Sunday we talked at Journey about Acts 11. Ryan did a great job of walking us through the text. We saw the further development of the church. We saw the development of leaders in the church. We saw the contrast between the he church being open to what God is doing and not being open. Here were two of the thought s that Ryan led us toward as we embarked on our discussion time:

Barnabas knew his limits and went off to get Saul. Do we know our limits? Are you stuck in the rut of trying to be all things to all people? Can an entire church function that way and be healthy?

The believers’ prior experience told the believers that they should behave and interact one way with Gentiles; the Spirit prompted another, and it was acted on. Where are the places our previous experiences hold us back? How can we work at pushing past them and heading down the paths that God is leading down?

What do you think? Do you have thoughts on thsese questions? Where are you living in the text adn what is causing you to stop and think? Let's continue our discussion time...

Acts 10-

Last night we looked at Acts 10. The summary version of this passage is that Peter had a vision from God that entailed crossing the boundary between what was considered clean and unclean. God's message for him was that all people are "clean" and acceptable as they are created by God and that all people are welcome in the family of God. That's the snapshot, but I recommend you read it as well.

Here are the talk points that we offered as a part of our discussion time:

1. Throughout our past study of the books of Mark and Luke we saw the concept of “leveling” happening between the high and low of society. In this text we see a different kind of leveling between Jew and non-Jew. Do we recognize this leveling in our world? What does that look like today? Do we recognize that the church is for all people?

2. This text demonstrates God’s ability to orchestrate meetings for His purposes and spreading His message. How are we being open to God’s revelation of truth to us? How are we applying that truth to the situations and interactions in which we find ourselves?

We had some good conversation surrounding these points. One person pointed out that the second point doesn't happen until the first point is figured out. Do you have other thoughts to add to the conversation?

Bridge Collapse

I just read an article on cnn.com about t the bridge collapsing in Minneapolis. The article talked about a man who had already had a brush with death in his past and now almost drove off the bridge. The man's mother said, "God and the Virgin Mary saved my son, because otherwise he would have tumbled into the water with all the other cars," . I guess the same old question arises...why him and not the others. Was God looking out for this man and not the others? Was he looking out for all of them? I don't know. I'm sure it grieves him completely for each person affected. It conjures up memories of the bus crash that killed some Bluffton baseball players and left others unharmed. We'll never know. It certainly makes me cautious to say something like this woman said, though. I can't imagine that it helps anyone else in their view of God-those who lost a loved one in the event, even though it sustains her in her faith.

I'm not necessarily looking for reactions...just thinking. Whatever. Post if you want to.

Solar Power in remote villages

This is an interesting article from cnn.com. It centers around the use of solar power to bring light and technology to remote villages in India. I'm conflicted. On the one hand it presents excellent opportunities for individuals by offering lighting after dark which has never been an option for them. That's awesome. On the other hand it presents opportunities for the United States to infiltrate another region and try to westernize it. That's not awesome. The article speaks to the use of solar power to run the villages only tv and dvd player. Great. Let's dub our finest films from Hollywood and ship them over to them. Great. I wonder what Adam Sandler films might sound like in their language?!?!

I read a book not too long ago that talked about the amount of stress that we have in the American culture which translates into sleep disorders, addictions, etc. Studies and statistics actually linked this back to the advent of artificial light. Apparently artificial light throws off the body's ability to differentiate between day and night. There is a chemical in the brain which is released at sundown which causes the body to downshift for sleep. There is another chemical the brain releases at dawn (or when light is introduced following sleep) which causes the body to upshift for the day. The studies showed that artificaial light actually prevents the brain from releasing that chemical. That's why we can't sleep , there are sleep disorder clinics, and multiple prescriptions to aid in sleep. And additionally why there are "uppers" and market for caffeine to get us going in the morning. Nice cycle. Apparently the only sorts of cultures that don't deal with this are those without artificial light (bedouin tribes and those in India according to this article).

So, thanks to solar technology, these villages can look forward to the microsoft monopoly and pc world, working third shift, 7-11 and slurpees, Starbucks kiosks and Monster energy drinks, and the need for over the counter sleep aids. You're welcome, India!

Is that a stretch, maybe. Maybe not.

Acts 9:23-43

We had great discussion tonight on the passage above. Lots of discussion surrounding healing and wholeness and leading others by the hand and being led by the hand. Great thoughts everyone. Here was one of the "jumping off points" for discussion:

Barnabas took Saul “by the hand” to the Apostles to present him to the church. He spoke on Saul’s behalf. In this action, Barnabas brought about: reconciliation, guidance, forgiveness, healing, hospitality, etc.

How has someone played that role in our life?
In what ways are we playing the role of Barnabas for another?

The third story about Tabitha closely mirrors the story of Jesus in Mark 5. In both of those stories (here in Acts and Jesus in the book of Mark) there are instances of taking someone by the hand. Someone raised the issue of "who do we take by the hand" (kids and elderly...for different reasons) and what does that tell us. Someone else raised the fact that sometimes we need to be led by the hand.

If you have any thoughts to share, and to continue the conversation, please leave them here. Thanks!

Just around the river bend...

Hopefully you can imagine the title being sung by Pocahontas, but you don't want it to be sung by me. Anyway, that song came to mind for two reasons: 1) I have a 4 1/2 year old princess for a daughter, and 2) I just have this feeling that we're right around the corner from something. Have you ever had that feeling? Have you ever felt that something big was going to happen, but you didn't know what, and you certainly couldn't explain that feeling in the pit of your stomach to anyone else? Have you felt that way? Yeah, me to. Right now.

I don't know what God wants to do, or is going to do, in and through the life of this fledgling community that is called Journey. I have visions sometimes of what could be, and I just pray that they are a part of what God is thinking. We so desperately want others to experience Jesus in a way that connects with their life on a very real level. We want to reach those who are burnt out on church or burnt BY the church and just don't like the church. We want to be a home and a community for those that have not felt loved by Christians. I think God knows our heart and is going to break something wide open . I just don't know what yet. I can't wait to see.

Ephesians 3:14-20, "14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ , 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Yeah...

Acts 9:1-22

Okay. I've not been the most dedicated blogger here. I love the concept. I fail on execution. From here on out, this will be a place to continue the conversation from Sunday night. View this as a place to add comments that you wish you had made during the dialogue on Sunday night. Or a place to add a thought that popped into your head since Sunday night. Whatever the case, share those here and continue the conversation this week.

Tonight we talked about Acts 9 and the life change of a man named Saul. Here are some of the thoughts that we talked about tonight. If you are continuing to think about this and mull things over in your mind, feel free to jump in and add to the conversation...

1) "Life begins with an encounter with Jesus and we're either being prepared for it, or, we are living in the assurance of it."

2) God uses our past to His advantage for the His purpose.

3) Ananias said, "Brother, Saul..." and considered him a friend and brother instead of a persecutor and threat. Are there people in our lives who we need to offer hospitality, fellowship, and acceptance to even before Jesus transforms them? Even if they aren't transformed?

4) Are there people in our life who we have been viewing as beyond God's love, yet could be the next Saul through the transformation of Jesus? Do we realize that God can (and wants to) transform all people?

Jesus Wrecked My Life

So, I just got done reading an article in Relevant magazine with the above title. (I have copies at Journey if you'd like to give it a read.) It was pretty shaking as I read Shane Claiborne's account of the change that Jesus made in his life. It's an upside down account which makes sense in light of Jesus' message being an upside down gospel. He talks about how they took action instead of talking. He talks about how he wanted to live like a Christian instead of talking or learning about Christianity. He went to Calcutta to see Mother Theresa. He discovered God's love on the streets of Philly. It's an amazing story. Here's one quote:

"...We are about ending poverty, not simply managing it. We give people fish. We teach them to fish. We tear down the walls that have been built up around the fish pond. And we figure out who polluted it."

What a great picture. What a great image of the life of living Jesus' mission. What is Jessus meant the stuff he said? What if we meant it when we said we're following Jesus? What if? I think that's why so many people disregard Christianity...because so few people live it. I know I don't to the degree that would truly represent Jesus in a halfway decent way. I don't know too many people who take the message seriously. What if Jesus really meant it? I think he did. Now what?

Recent accident

Wow. News of the bus crash in Atlanta has rocked our area. Ryan and I went down to the university to help in whatever way we could. Many appeared to being dealing with this alright, but that was before the release of any names. I assume that grief will incresase as the details continue to be released.

The question that obviously comes to mind with this is, "why?" We know the why related to the mechanics of the accident as told to us from CNN. But our innate spiritual or philosophical side asks the question of why them, why now, why ever...I don't believe that there's an answer to that question. I don't know that God is looking for us to be able to answer that question. Of course we want him to answer it to our own satisfaction. Not gonna happen. We may never have an answer. The only thing(s) I know for sure is that God didn't cause this. He didn't want it to happen. He knows it sucks. And it's okay to tell him that it does. He wants us to know that He cries along side us. He wants us to know that He believes in the importance of life, however short or long it may be. He wants us to know that he'll take care of our loved ones for us. He wants us to know that we can grieve in whatever way we need to and it's okay. He wants us to know that He's still here...and always will be.

At this point...that's all I know.

dark and light

"Why blame the dark for being dark? It is far more helpful to ask why the light isn't as bright as it could be." -Rob Bell

I've been looking through Bell's book, Velvet Elvis, today and came across this quote again. I love it. It seems that so often we shake our fist in the wrong direction. Countless times I've received phone calls at dinner time from various Christian organizations asking me to give money so that we can...fill in the blank. It seems to always be the focus of stomping out such and such atrocity in our culture. It seems to be some battle language panic that attempts to go toe to toe with movies, culture, media, or whatever.

Why don't we spend more time being "light"? Why don't we spend more time focusing on illuminating the darkness by reflecting the light of Christ in our lives? We can't stop the darkness of this world by shouting at it. We can't stop it by giving money to lobbyists to get politicians to vote a particular way. We can't stop it by sending boycott e-mails to all our friends. But. We can be as bright a light as God enables us to be. We can be different.

Both of our kids have nightlights in their rooms. I'm amazed at how dark the room is when we first turn off the overhead light, yet in a short moment the friendly glow of the nightlight makes it possible to see across the room. A little light goes a long way. A lot of people being the light of Jesus goes a long way also.

I bet the world would actually "come around" if we'd stop being so focused on fighting the dark of the world and focus on reflecting the light of Jesus. "Why isn't the light as bright as it could be?"

OT from the other side

I've got to post a link to one of my friend's sites. Michele is a great writer a knack for seeing things that others don't. Here's a re-print of the post with her permission and here's Michele's blog:

"i'm just gonna warn you, this thought has the potential to be very long....
so, because i'm shoulder-deep in hebrew and i went to a shabbat service this past saturday, and spent some time in deuteronomy this week, i've been thinking. i've been thinking about the law, the OT, what it meant to God and what it was to the people who followed it. this is by no means a scientific or even exegetical analysis. just more of a question.

many times, especially using Paul's letters in the NT, the law gets this horrible repuation. it's rules to follow, ways of earning salvation, meaningless... but i think that's kind of a conceited way of looking at it. while christians don't want to be constrained to follow OT law, they make their own up... don't drink, smoke, dance, play cards, wear hats indoors, run in the sanctuary, watch R rated movies, or forget a coster when drinking a cold drink on a wooden surface. it doesn't matter what it is, as humans we make rules as ways of governing the way we should live.
so i was thinking about why God was so direct in his "rules" for living in the promised land. and here's what i came up with: it was his way of saying, "this is what life should look like". now, you say, "what???" let me explain as if God and the israilites were having a conversation.

God: i love you

Israel: we love you!

God: i'm going to make a covenant with you. because i love you, and not because you earned it, i'm going to promise you you'll be a great nation, a blessing to everyone. and i'll protect you, and i'll give a land filled with good things.

Israel: wow! thanks God! that's amazing! (however, in the back of their minds, they're wondering how this will really happen).

God: now, this place is such a good place, and i want to live with you, so i need you to to live a life that is holy.

Isreal: holy. ok. got it. what is entailed in "living holy"?

God: well, really, it comes down to loving me with everything you have and are. and as part of loving me, you love your neighbors.

Israel: right... love. got it.

God: really, it's like because I'm a part of your life, i'm going to reset your default settings. instead of being greedy and selfish, you'll want to live in love with everyone.

Israel: right. love. no selfish, no greedy..... uh, God.... this is new. since the creation of the world we really don't have a lot of examples of what that looks like. so, when you say "love me with everything you are and have", what does that look like exactly? what does it mean to love your neighbor?

God: well, for instance, when you harvest your fields & vines, don't go over it twice. i know that yes, you were the one to pay for the seeds, plant and care for your crops, but if you didn't get it the first time you harvested your field, leave it there, because there are people that need it more than you. that's how you become less selfish and love your neighbor.

Israel: oh, ok.

God: and if someone owes you something, and you have to remind them by taking their coat as a "pledge", that's okay, unless they're poor and that's all they have. if that's the case, you need to give them their coat back at night because they'll be cold. they need it more than you.

Israel: oh, ok.

God: and if you really love your father, you won't sleep with any of his wives. and if you love your uncles, you won't sleep with any of the their wives.

Israel: oh, ok. say, God. can we make a list? maybe write this down? so we don't forget?

God: well, you can, but it's going to be a long one. if you want to write down these many ways of loving me and your neighbor, you're going to have to have a big stone (because i have not created one of you with the way to make paper yet).

so, what if to God, it wasn't about a list, but about showing us what it means to live in love? what if it was we humans that keep wanting to quantify it, put it to a list. i was on wikipedia again (God bless that site) and saw the Jewish Mizvot (613 rules they keep).... it's a lot. some of it might seem crazy, but maybe it was all they knew how to do to try and live the way God wants.

and maybe that's what we do all the time. we try to make a list so we can make sure that we act the way God wants us to as He lives among us....

so another question... is who we are a result of what we do, or is what we do a result of who we are? because wow, if we could work on having the character of a loving person, who sought to live in a way that God was trying to describe in the Law, then we wouldn't have to worry about memorizing the right and wrong. if we walked in the Spirit, then that would lead us in the way of life that God desires.

just a thought."

Great insights and thoughts. So, the OT and the Ten Commandments are really out of love rather than spoiling fun. There you go!

pointing the stupid stick

Wow. I'm conflicted tonight. I saw a post on a friend's facebook. He was dumbfounded (my word not his) by a website and video. I followed the link. I was dumbfounded. I'm amazed by the content and the lack of thought that went into the video. The content...you ask...riveted to the edge of your seat? A music video declaring that God hates fags. Ryan and I sat in my office trying to figure out for the longest time whether or not the video was real or parody. Could someone seriously declare this statement...and set it to music? Could someone seriously declare this with any degree of intelligence? It appears that, yes, this video is real and that they were smart enough to edit video and yet stupid enough to conceive the idea and put it on the internet.

I understand that people fall all over the spectrum when it comes to the "issue" of homosexuality. My point in writing this is not to debate that. Far from it. I'm sick of the debate and I'm sick of it being an "issue" when there are far more important things happening in the world with no action being taken while people point fingers and try to be "right" on this topic.

My "point" is to point the stupid stick at the statement that this video makes. I absolutely hate the fact that those people in the video would pretend to speak for the God of the Universe. I hate the fact that they use mass media to propogate their message of judgement and bigotry. I hate the fact that their controversial video will likely span the globe in hours and in the meantime they make the rest of the Church and Christians look like idiots while pretending to be on God's side. I hate being painted with someone else's brush strokes!!

What do I think about homosexuality? Doesn't matter. What matters is what I know to be true of God. God loves all people. God doesn't hate anyone. God loves us in spite of ourselves. God loves us b/c He created us. No matter what we do, God loves us the same. I screw up and God still loves me. My screw ups and someone else's screw ups look the same to God. Neither is better or worse. He doesn't like either screw up, but He still loves us. Flat out...the video's message is wrong and is bad theology. God doesn't hate fags.

God does hate when we hurts ourselves or each other. God does hate when we treat ourselves or others with less respect than He gives to us. God does hate when we try to appoint ourselves as the dictator of the universe...or the planet...or the city...or the people around us. God does hate when we overlook the plans and designs that he created to protect us from harm. God does hate when we do wrong. But God still loves everyone.

Because God loves me, I try to screw up less. Because God loves me, I seek Him and try to be like Jesus. I still screw up. God still loves me. I keep trying to be like Jesus. That's what I do. That's what I hope I can help others do. That's what I hope those guys in the video discover.

Life with Cole

Hi again! Sorry it took me so long to get back to this. Life with Cole is certainly keeping us busy--that's a two year old for you! [And just what we wanted. :-)]

So closing thoughts on the trip... I'd put the itinerary on my post a couple of times ago, so I don't need to list all that again. What I would like to list, however, is the many ways we saw amazing things and were blessed.

First of all, the trip was so much harder than I ever thought it would be. I needed someone to help watch Cole while I did paperwork, to help get him to sleep, to watch him so I could take a shower, to nod and say "you're doing the right thing" when he'd throw a fit because I wouldn't let him have his way, and to help get through those crazy, foreign-travel airports where nothing ever seems to go right or easy. I'm so thankful Marnie offered to go. And it was so great to have time to get to know, to really know, my sister-in-law. I can truly say, after that much time together when you see it all, that I think she's awesome. (I can only hope she feels that way too after seeing all of me!)

Tuesday was one of those days when things seemed just surreal. We got off the train, and my phone (that Yuri had sent home with me because I'd still need it when I came back) didn't really have a charge, and Nataliya's had run out of money, so we didn't have an easy way to call our driver that she'd hired for the day. He was there. He just showed up to meet us instead of waiting for a call.

Oh, and I can't forget that Tuesday was also "Puke Day." We went to McDonald's straight from the train station to eat and clean up in the bathrooms, which we had always been real pleased with because of how clean they were (many of the bathrooms over there were really not). Nataliya and I are in the bathroom; she's brushing her hair behind me, and I'm at the side of the sink putting my contacts in. Someone comes in and pushes her way to the sink and hangs her head over it. I look, thinking, "What? Rude..." I see saliva hanging from her mouth and think, "NO!" I grab my contacts stuff just in time as she hurls into the sink. We both just watch in shock and disbelief. Nataliya says something to her. I say to Nataliya, "In the US, we usually puke in toilets..." "Yes, here too. I told her, but she must be very sick." Smelled like it. We left.

Marnie was so disappointed. She had watched our stuff and would have had her turn next but there was no way that going into a puke-filled sink room that that was goingn to be refreshing and helpful in any way. We had Nataliya tell the gal at the register. She opened the locked "family" restroom for us and then the poor thing had to go clean out the sink. Yeah, it of course was not liquid and therefore clogged. Poor thing!!!!

After our refreshing McDonald's experience, we headed to the courthouse to pick up the court decision. It was pretty quiet there, since it was technically still their holiday until the 10th or so. Nataliya asked for it and they told us to wait. As we waited, she pointed out a sign that said something to the effect of unless you're "someone," don't come asking for stuff till after the 10th. Yeah, that would mess up all of our plans. She apparently has good "connections," because 20 minutes later, we had the 9 copies of the document that we needed.

It was common for us to borrow and exchange money from each other as needed, just to make things go quicker. On the way to the next stop, she asked if we had smaller change for a $100. Marnie did, and she stuffed it all into an envelope. Huh.

Then to get the birth certificate. Here, they told her that they had a year end report they needed to do and they weren't sure they could get to it. 45 minutes later, we had it. More "connections," which I'm figuring out at this point are connected to the envelope. Don't even care. Want my kid. Wild though, huh?

We stop at a shop and wait in the taxi as she makes copies and then head to the notary next to our favorite coffee shop. We go in to rest and have coffee while she goes to the notary. She's back too soon; the notary is on holiday. We enjoy our time of just sitting and talking, and even catching up a little bit with the coffee shop girls, who inquire about Emma and send her their love. Then we're off to find a different notary and wait in the car again. We get some reading and some napping in.

We hit lunch at the Fairy Tale restaurant, one of our favorites from before, and guess who's there but Olas, that other family the Penner's translator who is just a lot of fun. We enjoy a nice lunch and have some laughs about his plane rides home to Lviv over the holiday in the back of a cargo plane holding three chickens (he's kidding, but it's funny) and then get back to it. Next is the passport place. We're told to wait in the car. We do as we're told. She comes back in an hour with a passport and an empty envelope. We can get my son.

We head to the orphanage and things come back to reality of how difficult days at the orphanage are. Take your boots off. Don't take your boots off. Come here. You can't come in here. Just give me my son and let me get out of here. So to start, she has to finish some paperwork and then we're asked if we want to give a "gift" to the orphanage. We shell over some $$$, say the niceties, and then go to see Cole, who is sitting with his little group eating a roll. The ladies all say oh Cole, here's your Mama. He gives me the turn-away shoulder because can't I see, he's eating. Okay, I can wait, sweetie. Okay, we told you to come in here, but leave now because we're going to feed the kids. Ok.

As we wait, we're told that everything for the hand off has to be overseen by his group's doctor, so let's see the clothes you brought to take him home in. Don't feed him this, keep him out of drafts, don't take him in public because he still has a cough. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Smile. Don't forget to smile. (Can we GO yet?)

He's terrified of the car, maybe because it's dark out, or maybe because it's all different. He screams and beats on the window. This is going to be hard.

We stop at a store and buy diapers now that I know the size 5's fit, and I pick up a few toys that will work well with all the travel we have to do. Then we stop at a restaurant where the Penners are eating with their Nadia that they also got that day. She's happy and "in charge" so even though their experience is different than ours, they'll too have their hands full.

Into the taxi after tea and a roll. Now you have to remember that this isn't just driving, it's go as fast as you can until you have to brake, hard. Not too far down the road, poor little Cole's tummy just can't take it any more and he ralphs all of the himself, me, and the back of the car. As Nataliya later pointed out, it was closure. We started the day with puke, and we ended the day with puke.

Every experience at this point was pretty scary for Cole, but as the same time, once he'd have a few minute to adjust to it, he'd adapt, so we were thrilled to see that even in the face of extreme uneasiness, he's quite adaptable. The train was scary at first, but then we walked the hall over and over and over. Till bed time. He refused to go to sleep until Nataliya played bad cop and threatened him with the corner. There weren't really any corners, but he didn't know that! :-) He tossed and rolled so much that I finally figured out that I'd probably get more sleep if I just laid with him so that I didn't have to keep getting up to roll him back to the safe side of the bed. He did wake up one time before that, though, and he clearly knew where he was and wasn't scared. He simply said, "Mama?" I answered, and he rolled right back over. That was awesome.

Yuri met us at the train station, where I said a teary good bye to Nataliya. I wasn't ready for her to go and can truly say that I gained a friend. But no time for thinking too much. Off for the omelette that you've already heard about and then to the embassy doctor visit, where, after waiting forever, the impressive doctor examines him, somehow with a bedside manner that she didn't scare him, and says he has bilateral bronchitis, where is his medicine? Yeah, they didn't have him on any. So ticked. She sends us to the pharmacy for some herbal stuff that has him in good shape within in literally hours. Amazing stuff. Oh, and what's this huge scar on his belly? Yeah, nothing in his medical report from the orphanage about surgery for a bowel obstruction at 10 months. Hmmm.

He passes and we rush to the embassy before they close at noon to get his visa. Fill out some papers, got it. Just come back at 4:00 to pick it up. Cool.

We got to the apartment and crash. Finally.

Spend the next day resting, souvenir shopping, and getting to know Cole. We take Yuri out for dinner and discuss a cool ministry opportunity for bringing teenage orphans over this summer for people to be able to meet them, and then we're off to the airport next morning. 24 very long hours later, we're walking up to the baggage claim where Trevor, Emma and Marnie's family are waiting. I weep. I've waited a long time to be able to do that. There was no time, to space for it before. I needed to be strong. No more. What a blessed feeling.

Tears and love, and we head home. Trevor pulls into the driving three hours later with three sleeping passengers, and we all crawl into bed. We are home at last, our family of four. Home at last.

HOME

Just a quick word to let you know that we are indeed HOME. I can't tell you how great it felt to land in Cincinnati last night, and even more to pull into our drive way. A day we've waited 2 years for. So good.

I'll write more tomorrow to fill you in on trip details if you're interested, but again, I want to say thank you for all the love and prayers. You'll see when I write more the many ways God was with us every step. This trip was like a 150 hour labor, no joke. Very physically grueling. And very emotional. I could NOT have done it without Marnie, literally. It was much harder than I thought it'd be, and I had no illusions that it would be fun.

We had a nice day today, catching up on sleep and just being a family...of 4! I got about 8 hours of sleep total during that 150 hours we were gone, so I've got a lot of catching up to do, so I'm signing off. Talk to you tomorrow!

Love,
Lori

All is well in Kiev

I talked to Lori this morning which was this afternoon for Lori. They picked up Cole yesterday afternoon at about 4:30 pm after getting his paperwork and passport. He was pretty upset to be leaving the orphanage in the dark b/c all other times that he's been outside it was light out. They got into a taxi and he was terrified and pretty soon after driving he got carsick. Yeah, not the "going home" image in anyone's mind.

They got onto the train to leave at 7:00 pm and he wasn't too thrilled with that either, though he didn't get sick. Once he was comforted by mommy, he was comfortable enough to get down from her lap and explore the train compartment. When I called her last night, she was trying to get him to go to sleep. He wasn't sure he wanted to sleep there and probably wondered what was going on and why he wasn't in his usual bed. They finally got him to sleep. In the middle of the night he woke up and said, "Momma?" Lori went and laid with him for the rest of the night.

In the morning (today) they arrived in Kiev at 7:00 am and went to breakfast. Lori ordered porrige for Cole b/c he's used to eating that. She got an omlet. He ate the omlet! :-) They got into the car to head for the doctor visit and he promptly got carsick. Goodbye omlet.

The doctor listened to Cole's chest b/c he still had a bit of a rattle from being sick. He told Lori that Cole has bilateral bronchitis...both lungs. Whoa. She went into mommy mode wondering what the doctor's at the orphanage were doing, why they didn't take care of that, why he is still sick, etc. Sounds like a mommy to me. I'm not sure, but I assume the doctor gave them something to give to Cole. Thankfully there's nothing wrong to prevent him from travelling.

Yuri, our facilitator, was able to get them into the Embassy today as well. That was a bonus b/c we weren't sure if it would be same day or not. All of the paperwork was processed and they told Lori to come back at 4:00 pm to get Cole's US passport and travelling/citizenship papers. That would have been 9:00 am for us. So, I guess that means that Cole is officially, 100%, our son and a US Citizen. Yay! My boy!

They will have tomorrow completely off to rest in the apartment, play with Cole, and go to get a few more souvenirs. They fly out at 8:00 am (1:00 am our time) on Friday morning and will be home Friday evening at 7:00 pm our time. The reuniting of the Wright family! yay! We're almost done!

Praise God! Thank you all for your prayers. Please keep them up, especially for the plane flight. Everything is so new for this little boy and it seems that his nerves and stomach get upset by these new situations. Hopefully tomorrow's relaxing day will be good for getting him to trust mommy and that might make the planes easier. Pray that he's calm and easy going on the flight. Pray for the connections on the flight. They'll go from Kiev to Budapest, Hungary. From there they fly to JFK in New York and then on to Cincy. Pray for all of us as we transition from a family of three to a family of four. Yeah...just pray, God knows what we need.

More news from Lori

I talked to Lori for all of about 30 seconds today b/c we had a bad phone connection. Here's what I know. It was 8:00 pm in Ukraine and Lori couldn't talk b/c of the bad connection, but also because she was trying to get Cole to go to sleep. What I have derived from that short bit of news is this: 1) Lori has Cole! Yay! 2) Things must have gone alright during the day or else they wouldn't have been on the train. 3) She's on the train and will be in Kiev at 7:00 am their time, midnight tonight our time.

Tomorrow she'll go to the doctor's visit so that they can give Cole an examination. I'm sure he'll LOVE that after being plucked from everything he knows and sleeping on a strange train with his new mommy. After the doctor visit they will be heading to the US Embassy to get the paperwork finished and get Cole's US Passport and citizenship.

They'll fly back first thing on Friday morning (8:00 I think) which will be midnight-ish for us on Thursday night. They are scheduled to land in Cincy on Friday evening at about 7:00 pm.

Please continue to pray for their travels to be smooth, for paperwork to finalize without a hitch, for stamina for Lori and Marnie, for peace and understanding for Cole as he deals with a whole new life, etc. Many thanks...