our house smells

At least that's what they tell me. My sniffer doesn't work all that well...

We've just completed a fundraiser through This Little Light of Mine Candle Company to try to cover some of the costs for our impending adoption.

It has been a long wait, and more expensive than I imagined. God put this dream of adopting in my beautiful wife's big heart while she was still a kid, but I only picked it up and owned it about 2 years ago. Better stated, it owns me now.

Our kids are excited about adding to our family, and we pray for Annabelle every night at bedtime. The girls named her! How cool is that? We're adopting a baby girl from China. We hope to travel late in 2007, which seems like forever since we started the process.

Levi wanted a brother. Oh brother...

Praying today for Bob and Dannah Gresh, who are trying to adopt a 13 year old girl from China. They're up against a time deadline, since China has some pretty strict adoption guidelines. Dannah writes:

As you probably know, our family is adopting Autumn Cloud from China. She turns 14 on October 6th and we must have her at least on a plane out of China on that day (or before) or we cannot have her. Chinese immigration/adoption laws would prohibit it if we are one day late.

God can work this out, I know it...

overheard in the house

I was downstairs yesterday, minding my own business, when I heard my lovely wife's voice:

Lilly, you owe Jesus some money!

We've been teaching our children about generosity. Our kids have entered that phase of life wherein they earn cash for various odd-jobs, receive money for birthdays, etc. As a family, we're working on being more generous. Kim has a jar that our kids use to set aside money for their offering--the Jesus Jar.

She was reminding Lilly that she ought to put her offering into the jar before it gets spent on some much needed Ugly Doll or whatnot.

But taken out of context, it made me laugh!

Sledding at Slab Cabin

We had a great fun family night Saturday. We'd gotten about 10" of snow last week (which the guy across the street was kind enough to PLOW out of my driveway!), which meant that Slab Cabin Park was open for after-dark sledding. We met Levi's friends (Jake and Cameron) at the slope--they were having a sleepover at Cam's.

There are 3 different slopes, and Sadie (age 5) was a little hesitant about the whole deal, since this was her first "real" sledding (we have a little hill in our side yard). But after the first trip down the hill with me, she was hooked!

We started sledding around 8:30, and Kim wanted us to be heading home around 9:30, which is just about the time that Levi ended up in the creek that borders the hill! We had warned all the kids about the creek, and the kids had been pretty good about bailing out just before taking the plunge. Not Levi...he was soaked! He hit his head on a rock, but he's got a hard head! I hope the rock is feeling better.

I got them all headed toward the van, them made the trek to the tippy-top of the hill for one long last run on the runner sled. Lilly named it American Eagle, which is appropriate, since that's what the manufacturer stamped on the top of the thing! What a ride! I cruised past all the fam walking, and rode that baby almost all the way back to the parking area.

We got home and warmed up with a mug of Meyer's Dairy chocolate milk heated up...mmm, good.

Good times. And no one left a mean note on my windshield!

Is My Heart Ablaze?

Our church is partnering with several other churches in State College to work through a 6 week sermon series/study of Becky Tirabassi's The Burning Heart Contract. I was a little skeptical at first, but I am honestly enjoying the conversations that the study and the sermons are prompting in our life group.

This quote from Wesley Duewel's Ablaze for God grabbed me today:

God has created our spirits flammable. We are spiritually combustible. Our nature is created to be set ablaze by the Spirit. We are most blessed, most victorious, most usable when we are ablaze. We are most Godlike when we glow with holy flame--the flame of the indwelling Spirit.

Spiritually combustible...I want some of that.

What a SuperBowl, or What--A SuperBowl?

It turned out just like I thought it would--Peyton did what he needed to do, and the Colts carry home the hardware. But the game didn't go like I thought it would. At least, not for me and a handful of high school students.

I started the 2nd half by catching up with my buddy Mark, who has been on quite a spiritual journey for the past 18 months. He's a deep thinker, and the conversation is usually full of good stuff.

My wife moseyed over to inform me that there was an impromptu gathering of 11th grade girls who wished to speak with me. I excused myself, drew a deep breath of courage (a room full of 11th grade girls can be quite intimidating), then headed for the closed door. Come to find out they had a young man in the room with them, and while Geoff was there on his own accord, things were a little dicey. They were talking about developing a passionate heart for God, and Geoff was pretty quiet. These girls are part of a group that my wife has been praying for and pouring her time and heart into for the past few years. They get together every week, and there are a few young ladies in that group who are hungry for God. It's fun to listen to them talk about their times with God and their dreams. They want their friends to want God as much as they do. If you've ever been in that situation, you know how they feel. It's hard to want something for someone else...We talked for a good long while.

I spent the bulk of the 4th quarter talking with a guy who came with a friend. He comes from a Catholic background, and he has lots of questions about religion, spiritual life, and the church. I'm thinking that we'll be spending some late nights talking about big stuff in the near future. He says he wants to know everything, that he needs to know all the answers. I'm not sure about that, but I know that his face lit up when he found out that I thought it was great that he had questions. I don't know that he's ever been given permission to question God...

Good times...and the Colts win!

want some poopy coffee?

I was talking with our volunteer team today at our staff meeting, and the subject of kopi luwak coffee came up. In short, it's the most expensive coffee in the world, at up to $600 USD per pound. The coffee beans are found in the scat (poop) of the Asian Palm Civet, which eats the ripe coffee cherries, then poops...the beans are harvested, washed, and lightly roasted, so as to retain their, um, flavor.

Man, that brings up SO many tangents and questions, doesn't it?

Any way you look at it, it's an interesting story about how "great" things can come from the waste of life. I am praying that God takes the poop of my life and brings great stuff to light.