December 24th - God Bless Us Everyone

     Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year as the song lyrics say. For us that has been the case, there are so many memories of Christmas's in the past. I harken back to the first one that Rebecca and I had together when I was living at home with my mom and dad and she was coming to visit over the Christmas holidays for a few days. The day that she drove proved to be a bad weather day along Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, not a prime day for traveling 9 1/2 hours which turned into much more as the snow blew hard and fast for much of the journey. The gift she had for me once on arrival was a plush teddy bear who was aptly named Snowball. That was the first one together back in '96, there have been many since. I look so fondly back to the toy guitar that had dollar bills wrapped around the fretboard, all for me to go to the music shop and choose the guitar that I desired which turned out to be my Breedlove AC/25 SR Plus. Aren't the best presents the ones that you had no clue about or you know that the giver had to go some lengths to pull off the surprise? Not all memories are of when it all went smooth though, who can forget the unfortunate event of backing into a garden wall while we lived in Oxford, and the crying shriek of Rebecca 'I've ruined Christmas' as it turns out we had a great time up north in a different car than planned, we even got stuck on an island without a way of getting off for a few hours. Ruining Christmas is not really an option is it, it's not about us, it is about the Giver of all good gifts.

     The Christmas holiday is all about gifts, gifts from loved ones to each other, but so often it is forgotten by the most precious gifts are the ones from God. This year our Christmas carol service in West was centrered around 'God's gift of grace' this is really an amazing gift that keeps on giving. We have so much to be thankful for, the many years of Christmas together, my mom and dad traveling many a year across the turnpike to Goshen, Rebecca's mom coming out to CR 21 to our little apartment to spend the day together. Now here in England we have many new traditions (It's a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve, certain favorite holiday albums being played constantly, Muppet Christmas Carol on Christmas Day, etc) which we so adore.
      There has been one aspect our Christmas's that has been quite different than most families experience and that is the presence of a little one who tears through the wrapping paper with reckless abandon or maybe needs some help to get the paper off. There has not been a baby, toddler, or child around during these special days and of course we look forward to the day when that picture will have another smiling face. We don't have any brothers or sisters so there has not been a nephew, niece, cousin, but we look forward to the day when that changes. What a precious gift that will be from God, truly a gift of His grace to us, and that will be one Christmas that we won't soon forget. So for all of you reading this on either Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or after, look around and see the precious gifts that He has given to you, and treasure them with all your heart.
A few years ago I wrote a song called 'Gift of Grace' this year I did that our Carol service and added a Christmas verse so I thought I'd share the lyrics to the song with you.

Bounds of love, waves of mercy

Streams of joy, flow down from Your throne

Thank you for Your grace, I don’t deserve it

But You freely give, freely give

The precious cup of Your anointing

Poured out for me, washing over me Your gift of grace

The adoring Son, He arrived in a manger

The only begotten, He was the present of love

The angels foretold of a Messiah who was to come

Streams of joy, were proclaimed in the heavens above

Thank you for Your grace, I don’t deserve it

But You freely give, freely give

The precious cup of your anointing

Poured out for me, washing over me, poured out for me flowing around me

Poured out for me filling all of me

December 21st - Short and sweet should be a Tweet

He had a sweet jumpshot
does anybody know who he is?

I've never gotten into Twitter, I  have an account but I've never tweeted or taken time to read other peoples one line lives, guess I'd rather actually talk to them or at least keep up via facebook homepage. Anyway all that to say we have some good news concerning our trip to the States in February. A friend of ours in Goshen has spoken with her parents and they have kindly offered for us to stay in their house while they are in Florida for much of the month. They also have an extra car that is parked in the garage so we can use that too. We need to watch after the plants (this is a step of faith on their behalf) bring in the mail, and shovel the snow when it falls. We can handle that after all this is a pretty amazing news to us, having a place to stay all our own was our hope but not what we expected would happen. We have had another offer to stay with friends, all of this showing that deep down the timing is right for this trip, even though from the surface it may not look like the right time and space to be going through an adoption process.

So this entry was longer than 140 characters, I personally can't see how people keep their thoughts to  such short statements.

December 14th - In the Bleak Mid-Way

     There are many Christmas carols that are so upbeat, quickly paced and exciting to sing, In the Bleak Midwinter is not one of those songs. I've not really heard it until coming to England, and until this season it hasn't registered with me. At times it does feel like the bleak midwinter here, dark by 4:00 and often drizzle or rain, ya it doesn't always feel festive at times. But in the midst of bleakness comes days like a couple of saturdays ago when I was able to play 18 holes of golf with Merv, Andy and Dave (btw I had my personal best of 108 and Andy fired an 89). The bleak midwinter had turned into one bright sunshiny afternoon that wasn't even that cold. These breaks in the bleakness are very welcome and the when the sun shines with gusto it is fabulous. Such the way with good news it is like the breaks in the clouds, it is very welcome.
     We have had some breaks lately which of course are very exciting. Firstly we had some rough news that you'll know about from our last post when we found out that we would have to move out of our gorgeous house here in Overton. The date given to us was while we were to be in Indiana, that date has now been changed to be the end of March, so we'll be back in Hampshire for 3 weeks or so before having to move. What a blessing that is to have more time and to not have to move while we are not in the country. Then after having that good news we procured airline tickets last night too. We've been looking for a while but hadn't pulled the trigger yet, thankfully we hadn't or we'd have been sweating bullets waiting to hear back from the estate agent that the date has changed. As it turns out we are flying out of Heathrow on the 6th Feb and into Midway not O'Hare, those of you from Northern Indiana and Chicagoland know how great it is to not have to deal with O'Hare, and for those of you from London area you know how easy it is to fly from Heathrow rather than Gatwick. Small things I suppose but desirable none the less. So we'll be in the Goshen area for the month of February, personally I think a great time to be there, I love winter and hey we'll be there for Sectionals too, how amazing is that. There you have it some warmth of good news right in the bleak midwinter.

December 10th - The foot off the gas pedal

You know what it's like when you've been working at something intensely, that intensity cannot be kept up for long term. Well that is the point which we are at presently with our adoption pursuit, it may not be so much the idea of deciding to take our proverbial feet off the pedal, rather it is more the timing of it all. We are at a point where we know the next steps, ie. what paperwork to fill in next, when to come back to America, how to proceed whilst away from our home here in the UK. The deal is though that we cannot really do much with any of it yet outside of doing some of the form filling and admin side of things. In all reality the pressure is off right now, it will turn up no doubt come February when we have many meetings, interviews, home studies etc... to take part in. But for now we are playing a bit of the waiting game. This may not be bad practice though, the number one question that we get asked about this process is 'when will you have a child' and that is the one question that we cannot answer with any kind of certainty. Once again that is a waiting position as well, we cannot control that aspect, we can control when we do certain things and how we fill information on forms but not when a mother chooses us.

      Interestingly though while we are a bit a standstill with the process our lives do not stop being lived. Just this week we were served notice (given our 2 month notice that we have to move) we are not shocked by this news we knew it would come but we didn't know when. To be honest it's not the greatest timing but since when is there great timing for moving house. So that leaves us in the unenviable situation of trying to find housing for two countries around the same time, can't say I saw that coming a year ago! Once again faith kicks in big-time in sticky parts of the plot like this one, we are so thankful to have a faithful God that neither leaves nor forsakes us at any point. We are at a place of peace with this newest news even though it does throw up some new hurdles to have to be jumped in the not so distant future. Again I suppose practice for upcoming hurdles that we cannot see yet, but referring again to the Giant's Causeway we wrote about earlier in the blog, we step out, the rocks are there just not terribly obvious. That does not stop us from stepping out though, so off we step.

December 7th - A tale of two countries and one big pond

When you are growing up you probably dream of living in another country than where you are from. For us that was not really the case as both Rebecca and I expected we'd live in the US, since marriage we expected to stay in Indiana in all likelihood. Living in a quaint English village was not on our minds and some of that changed back when we came to England to go to Bible college but even that was for a short stint of 10 months. In that 10 months we did get know many wonderful here and were invited back to lead West Church. This was not how we expected life to roll out but how often are our expectations the reality of the actual events? So here we are a couple who has in some respects two separate worlds where we have such deep relationships, it is one world but we're spread out over two countries and separated by a large ocean. One of the coolest things about the blog so far has been the stats feature which allow us the writers to see how much it has been viewed and even more interestingly where it's been viewed from.
     Seeing that we've only lived in the UK for the last 3 years and then most of a year at KBC we anticipated our viewers to be mostly those in the US but the stats show that so far there is only a 50 page view difference with the US ahead. We don't know who the 9 page views from Russia are, but that's cool to have viewers there anyhow. I write this entry simply to say what blessed people we are to have so many friends dotted around the world and to have two huge groups of friends in the locations where we have lived.
     So here we are going through this portion of the process from this side of the pond and soon to be on the other side of the pond. It is times like these when you can stop take a step back and see how much blessing we actually have. To have the wonderful opportunity to do what we are doing and having so many that are near to us be a part. We understand that is a blessing to have so many who care for us, who have had so much fun with over the years, who we have worked, worshipped, traveled and spent time with, blessings to you all. We also so look forward to sharing more about our adoption with you and of course down the road when there is an addition to our family.

December 4th - With a little help from our friends....

Up until now the posts you have enjoyed have been compliments of Earl and today, well, today, I have decided to chime in.  Earl loves the blog and loves keeping everyone informed as various deadlines and experiences happen for us and probably my bit will be my thoughts from time to time.  So, here goes...
We really couldn't do this with the overhwhelming love and support from so many of our friends and family.  It is absolutely amazing the love we have felt through the process so far and really it has just begun.  If I let myself start thinking ahead I can get worked up very quickly over the many, many details that still have to be worked out in this whole process.  That is where the title of this blog really kicks in.  If all goes according to plan we will be in Indiana from the 6th of February to the 6th of March.  The adoption agency has very kindly agreed to let us do all of our meetings in both Indianapolis and northern Indiana during that month.  They are fantastic to work with.  During that time we need a place to live and a car to drive.  We realize these are not small requests but would ask that if any of you know of ways these needs might be met for us we would greatly appreciate your thoughts either on this blog or feel free to facebook or e-mail either of us.  Also, on our various trips to Indianapolis we are also looking for potential lodging.  So, we do trust that if God is leading us down this road He has all of these details worked out.  We have to keep walking trusting He will provide each step of the way.

December 2nd - A snail and KTC

     It's interesting with this process of adoption, at times it seems like things are moving ahead so quickly and then at times they seem to move at a snail's pace. Or at least what we might deem a snail's pace, in the scheme of things it's not really that slow is it. Today we were with a friend from our church and she remarked that a month is not really that long, it goes by quickly really. That is true it does go by quickly but much can happen in a month as well. Take this February for example, we are planning to be back in Indiana for a bunch of meetings/interviews etc... This will all take place over one months time, of course while we are there doing all manner of adoption preparation our lives in the UK don't exactly come to a screeching halt either. This is where being on a team is so important, I've already blogged early on about how understanding and down right helpful and supportive our team has been. They really are fabulous, those of you who know them would surely agree. Anyway we are due to be back in the Hoosier state for that month, and it looks like all the meetings and interviews that we need to have will be scheduled for that space of time. We are really excited about this, it is not cheap as you would expect to hop across the pond for an interview and then come back to the UK. Our concern was if we could not do most at the same time it could become unwieldy (spelling?) hence our question to the specialists and they said sure all that we needed would be fast-tracked into one month span. This news came this week, so ya once again our excitement level grew.
     Changing topic ever so slightly there has been one other confirmation that we had about the timing of us and this process now. Back in the summer at Transform Church camp we were asked if we could help out at the Kings Theological College formerly known as Kings Bible College and do some teaching in November. At the time we said yes not knowing what that meant exactly but realizing that it would probably be our only opportunity this coming college year to be involved. So we took it and after sitting down with Alison and Rich it was determined that we'd be doing a series on the Father heart of God. That is a great topic of course but then we also were given two of the lectures, Earl with the 'Power of Adoption' and Rebecca with the 'Privilege of Adoption'. We were given these titles right around the time of that trip to London in September, so there is some significance there too.

     Isn't it amazing how God works timing together with our daily lives as well. So there we were in September agreeing to speak on these topics and then delivering the lectures the week before and the week of our announcement this past Sunday. We could not have predicted that, we've never been asked to speak on such a topic but yes it was powerful and yes it was a privilege to be sharing about a topic so near and dear to our hearts, and soon to become even more so.

November 27th - Thanksgiving and a smile

     Today is the day that we get to share our news, it's not like somebody enforced this date upon us it has been our choice. With this kind of thing we thought it important to get far enough down the road that we actually had something to say. I suppose this could be argued, but in reality there is still unsurity about it all until an adoption has totally gone through. This is one area where faith kicks in, if we as people could see the big picture, the details of what may be in the road ahead and know for sure how to proceed where would the role of faith be? We can know some of what may be ahead but not the full picture in every circumstance. With our journey there are sure to be some setbacks and questions that we face, and in reality the answers may not come immediately. Again is this not where faith kicks in? In all honesty today is not the day to be waxing theological, it is rather a day to be full-on excited.

     We have an amazing church family that we have the great opportunity to lead, and today at the Overton Methodist Chapel at the annual thanksgiving meeting we were able to share our heart and where we are up to now with our journey of adoption. There were so many great stories of thanksgiving throughout the morning gathering, and many of them centrered to some extent around family. So for us to get up and come forward to share our news about extending our family was a great way to cap off the morning. It was an intense feeling to be standing there in front of those that we care so deeply for and ones who care deeply for us and mutually want the best for each other. To break the news that you've been reading about on this blog with all those smiling faces was quite exhilirating. The response that we received was what we expected, that was of happiness, more thanksgiving and many words of encouragement. A dear man in our congregation came up to me afterward and simply said 'enjoy it, enjoy being a dad' and he had the biggest smile on his face as he gave me a hug. Rebecca was inundated with women who were excited for her.
     We don't feel as though we are walking this road alone, there are many here at West and around Basingstoke, the UK, Indiana, Elmira and further afield who are with us as well. That too is fabulous, to have so many that care about us, how life is going for us, and what our hopes and dreams are. So now we are almost caught up on the blog, I'm sure as more news comes into focus it will be chronicled.

November 19th - Top Secret Cat

     Have you ever had a secret that you were holding on to but you so desperately wanted to tell? Or maybe you've had a surprise planned for someone like a birthday party or romantic dinner and you couldn't wait for the secrecy to be over. That is a bit of what the last couple of weeks has been like. For us we've been thinking and praying about this for so long that we forget that most everyone we know does not know of our plans. Here we possess a great and potentially life changing piece of news, but still only a handful of the many people that we know are actually aware of it. The day is nearing when we can spill the beans and let the cat out of the bag, but alas that day is not here yet. Meanwhile we strategize and dream about the future and what it may hold. There will be a bursting forth soon enough but for now it's still top secret and hush-hush.

8th November - Walk on with a Table of Contents

     Today the email that we've been waiting for arrived and it contained the info that we were trusting for. Our formal application has been approved so on to the work of digging through the 27PDF's that came attached to the email. Hopefully most of them aren't soul searching essay type responses, rather more the sign your name and date it type of document. To say that we are excited would be an understatement, to say we are over the moon is probably more like it. With this kind of process there are many details and so many forms to deal with. We understand that and are up for the challenge, we've sort of been here before. The packet that we submitted for our visa to the UK had as it's first page a table of contents, so that the end recipient could wade through our mountain of copies, forms, pictures etc...
     I trust that as we dig further into this detail we'll find the answer we are looking for. It seems to me that there there is a U2 song reference somewhere in there. I suppose if we continue to walk on we'll see how it goes with all the meetings, interviews and discussions that need to take place in the coming months. As always we'll keep ya informed.

7th November 2011 - A present and Jack

     We have had a wonderful week away at an amazing modern restored cabin in the rural countryside of Somerset. For the most part it was really beautiful weather and we were totally relaxed. We had not heard anything back from Bethany since going to the Post Office in late October, and to be honest didn't really know what the next steps were other than waiting. The ability to wait is an important trait to possess but my how difficult it can be. We all know what it's like on December 20th, the gifts are under the tree but Christmas is still almost a week away and all you can do is look and wait for the 25th. Or maybe you've had the awful experience of a potential employer calling you back about a job, but at that point your only job is to wait until they call, my how that can be tough. We expect that there will be some waiting involved in this adoption process, good things come to those who wait or so the saying goes. Such is the point where we are at presently as Jack Johnson wrote just sitting, waiting, wishing, not exactly our situation but hey at least those lyrics work.

 

October 27th - Post Office and Indy

     Today we decided to go into Basingstoke to make a visit to the bank and then a few doors down to the Post Office. Our walk into the bank to deposit the cash from Monday, that was a very exhilarating action to input the money with such purpose. Then to do go down the street to the Post Office where our formal application packet was now complete and put on the scale to be weighed and priced. This packet was going off to Indy to the agency offices where it will be processed. For now we wait until the emails come indicating more green lights on the road to adoption, we trust this application does not get lost on the way to Indy like the other one.

October 24th 2011 - An envelope and detour sign

     A Monday morning and it seemed like one of those days that was not going to slow down. You know what it’s like when you take two steps forward and one step back, or even worse one step forward and two steps back. We have our normal prayer meeting at the office and then another meeting starting 15 minutes later. It turned out that I needed to talk to a couple of people in between, in addition to printing a couple of documents too. Rebecca had gone into town to go swimming and get a coffee, do a bit of shopping and then I’d meet her and another friend of ours at a coffee shop at 11:30ish. By 12:00 the meeting I was in ended and I was in a rush already running a half-hour late for our time at the shop and having a 1:00 ministers meeting in Oakley. (Very few days are this back to back, but such the life on certain days) Before dashing out the door Mike the administrator at BCC’s called me into his office and closed the door behind me, this meant a level of importance higher than how do you do. He briskly handed me a sealed envelope, he said it was for us, not from him he was the go-between. He also stated it was not for the church, or do to our work for the church, it was simply for us. When you get a surprise package like this the mind runs quickly and you can get overwhelmed by the generosity and potential change of your situation. I had to rush off to meet our friend knowing full well that I possessed an envelope of who knows what in my bag, but I couldn’t say anything to Rebecca yet. Once we got back to car that would be ok to spring that on her without time to open it would not be very wise would it? Once we did in the car I revealed the envelope and decided that we’d open it there and count whatever money was contained within it. Let’s just say that we were blown away, the joy we experienced, the awe of a generous and faithful God seen through this gift. It was quite a car ride, we had to detour because of road works. 

 

         To be honest I was so flabbergasted by the contents of the envelope that I struggled to help Rebecca with directions to get back to Oakley with the detours we were encountering. I did in fact run about 20 minutes to next meeting also, such the way the day went, better late than never as they say. A couple days later we found out that the amount given to us when translated into USD (American Dollars) it is within 20 bucks of the amount needed for the home study and interviews. If this is not confirmation what is, at this point for us it full speed and dead ahead.

October 20th 2011 - Giant's Causeway and the Concord Minutmen

It’s Thursday again and our deemed day off during the week. Usually these days are spent going shopping, seeing a movie, out to sight see or hanging out with friends but today we resolved to some more work done on the adoption front. We’d decided to call on a number of the financial bits back in the U.S. There is much information that is required on the forms most of which is not soul searching although some of the questions are more easily answered than others. After applying ourselves for a while and once again having success we thought we’d look into some other finance possibilities we have back in the U.S. I don’t know about you but making calls waiting on the line asking questions about info you don’t really understand is not my idea of a good time. For these couple of hours though it was not hardship, in fact it was actually quite fun.

Once again NLC champs this season

      Again we found ourselves with a mound of good news. Another life insurance policy could be borrowed against again without a massive payback due on what we borrow. The years put in at Concord could net us some money in an annuity program and a couple of other little amounts here and there continues to make the financial climb not as steep as it did some 24 hours earlier. 

We’ve been told that is a very faith building and bold step into the wild, and it does in fact feel like that. One of the prophetic pictures that we had while at Kings Bible College was of the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. This is a group of large stones under the sea that can be seen from above quite easily but cannot really be seen when on the water’s surface. They are there under the water but you can’t really see them, and the word said that we were to live our lives like we were on the Giant’s Causeway on one rock and then blindly stepping out to the next. We will know that the rock is there but not be able to see it, but step out in faith it is there even if just under the surface. Hey we have moved to England and are leading a church here so stepping out is something that we have done and I’m sure will continue to happen.

The Giant's Causeway, someday we'll travel there

October 19th 2011 - Mountain Fog and the Pearl

     There are some very emotional aspects to adoption which cannot be minimized. There are also some very practical aspects to the process that cannot be minimized either. These include the paperwork, travel included, the practicalities of having a larger family for example. Maybe the most seemingly insurmountable peak is that of finance that is needed, let’s suffice it to say that adopting in this way is not terribly cheap, in fact it very costly. In the Bible Jesus told of the man who spotted a pearl he wanted in fact the pearl that desired greatly, he went and sold all to purchase it. When he had sold and purchased it he was the proud owner of a pearl at great price. He did pay much but he was in possession of the pearl, we feel this way as the addition to our family will be very costly but in the end we will have another a new member in our family.
The plan for this blog is not to drum up finance and fundraising ideas or events, but rather to give you a peek into the financial aspect of this adventure. We are very confident that provision will be there when needed and this will come from varied sources.
The 19^th of Oct is very special on this front as today we received two bits of good news, firstly my mom and dad called back to say that if we wanted to borrow some money from the  life insurance policy they took out on my when I was born we can. This would be without penalty and almost without cost because of the way that it is written out we only have to pay back 5 % of what we borrow.  This was quite amazing news and my mom uttered the memorable line…

                   

‘who knew that when we took out this policy when you were a baby that some of that money may be used for another baby’

     That was quite a special phone call with them, of course their excitement is extremely unbridled. Fast forward a couple of hours and an email came through from friends who wrote that they wanted to help us and be part of the joy as well. In the email it stated that they were going to transfer some money to our American account, what amazing news to have friends standing with us in this way. Do you know what that feels like? To have people give you money a true gift offering, nothing expected in return but our gratitude and news of how it’s going. In one night the mountain has started to be scaled, the summit is a long way off but it can be seen through the breaks in the clouds and fog.

October 12th 2011 - Newspaper and a Goal

     It is another momentous day in our adventure as today we have received the email confirmation of our pre-app and the formal application paperwork.  This means that we have already gone farther than ever before, have not put out any money yet,  but have put ourselves out there emotionally. So far this week has been one full of good news within the church family and now this as well, praise the Lord! Seeing the forms opens up the fact and thoughts that this is not easy, there is much soul searching to take place as we answer questions on paper, email and soon enough back in Indiana. We have an autumn half-term coming up in 2 weeks and the next goal that we’ve set is to send off this packet with all the pertinent information on our finances, family backgrounds, thoughts on adoption etc… This seems like an undaunting task but in reality what part of this is daunting? The goal is set and we’ll have to see how we get on. 

An ice hockey goal, what a great sport

September 30th 2011- The Leadership Team and House

     Rebecca was in the middle of her trip to America to celebrate her mother’s birthday and while there the plan was to mail off our pre-application. As you would expect there is much paperwork, forms and interviews to be done when navigating through these mostly unchartered waters. How many other people do you know that move to a foreign land and then while living there feel led to and choose to adopt from their homeland. The forms that she had mailed unfortunately had not gotten to their destination in Indy which caused us a bit of concern. Here it is the first formal step and already a hiccup. Soon before Rebecca left for Goshen we had sat down with each member our leadership team in the church, for them their leaders going into this process has effect on their lives as well. God’s placement is always best though; two of the couples have walked through adoption as grandparents, Dave and Jeanette with the aforementioned Elizabeth and Josiah while Tony and Gina are grandparents to Jack and Lottie.

      Can you believe that just under half of our team have adoption already in the forefront of their families and minds. As you might expect our news was met with much elation, hugs, tears etc…. all full well knowing that this meant potential changes for all of us. How would we cope with the amount of travel, what about the finance, legal questions, how would the church react and move forward in our absences, what about our living situation in our grade 2 listed house on Winchester St with our dear friend Lizzie? These are a various sundry of questions, most of which are unanswerable presently. It feels as though we are not and we know we are not going through this adventure alone, there are many journeying if not literally metaphorically with us.