Check this out!!!

This is really, really exciting news on the HIV front! In Houston some researchers have found what they believe may be the Achilles heel of the virus, which could pave the way for a cure:
http://www.fox11az.com/news/topstories/stories/NWkmsb20080730_hiv_breakt-hrough.1971ecbd.html

Adoption Fever

I have a bad case of "Adoption Fever" Ok, so I made up that term, but it basically describes how I feel ; ) I had the "baby fever" thing before Emmitt, and it's pretty much the same, only I'm not longing to be pregnant and have a baby, but to have our family grow through adoption. I'm aching for it. I am so thrilled for friends and bloggers I follow who are bringing their sweet babies home, but I have to admit, I'm also really jealous. I'm just longing for the day when I can hold my baby in my arms.
About 18mo ago God laid adoption on my heart in a really big way. It wasn't anything I'd thought a ton about in the past. I was always open to adoption, but it wasn't something I'd really researched. So I started doing my homework: learning about the process, requirements, costs, time involved, agencies and all of that good stuff (talk about overwhelming).
What I've come to is that international adoption feels right to me, it's what I feel a lot of peace about, and more specifically using a program somewhere in Africa.
Thankfully, there are a lot of countries opening up in Africa just since I started the research leg of this process. I know of Liberia (adoptions currently on hold though) Ghana, Lesotho, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Uganda, and of course Ethiopia. I've heard visa's are being issued from Nigeria, but that you need a 'connection' in country. Interestingly, one of my last manager's was Nigerian, but he wasn't able to track down any information from his family still living there. I've also heard rumors swirling that South Africa may soon open it's doors as well! If you know anything about the recent history of S.A. this is truly amazing news!!!
So anyway, what I feel led to is international adoption, somewhere in Africa, and "special needs" adoption more specifically. Interestingly, what classifies a child as special needs is often pretty minor stuff. Basically, if you're a boy over the age of two, your odds of finding a forever family are quite slim. Doesn't that just make your heart break? I know it breaks mine. Also, if you have a treatable illness or repairable condition you're deemed "special needs" as well. When you add to that the children who do have a permanent physical or mental disability, that leaves a whole lot of little ones classified as "special needs" who just simply won't be considered by adopting families. Of course, everyone has to decide for themselves what they can handle, but I also think that lots of people are scared off by the term "special needs" when in reality there is nothing so scary about it.
What has been an amazing blessing to me in the past year is the housechurch I've been involved with! Last Fall I decided to join one of the small groups in my church just to get to know people better. My only preferences were for Tues. night and that it be in my town. So I picked Josh and Amy's housechurch "randomly" and it turns out the heart and passion of the group for the needs in Africa is just like mine! Not only that, Josh and Amy had recently adopted their adorable Silas, and another family, Eric and Tara were waiting for precious Malak to come home. Twice a month we meet at a local Ethiopian restaurant for good food and also for fellowship. Thanks to Josh and Amy, lots of adoptive families and families in the process of adopting have starting coming so all of the sudden I find myself really surrounded by the adoptive community. I just find that so amazing, and such a confirmation in my heart about this decision, because 18mo ago when I first felt God's leading, I literally had no one in my life who'd adopted, and now I have this great resource of people to turn to with my questions and who share the same heart with me on this issue. God is just amazing in the way He works!
So right now I'm in a sit and wait phase. And it stinks. I just want to feel like I'm moving forward, but there's just not a whole lot I can do right now. I pray, and daydream (I've even got the perfect two kid car picked out), continue to read and research, follow my ever growing list of adoption blogs, but beyond that I just wait for the greenlight to get started! It is comforting to know that so often God gave people in the bible a dream and a vision, and then they had to wait on it. I'm not the first one to have a passionate dream, that I want so badly, only to have to wait for it to come to pass. I think of Abraham and Sarah, Moses, Joseph, and so many others. Even Jesus waited 30yrs to start His ministry, and I'm sure there we many times that He was just aching to get started. At least I know in good company ; )

An Armpit Story

I love three-year-olds! It's always been one of my favorite ages: they're just coming out of babyhood and still think like a baby, but they finally have the verbal skills to express themselves. I also love that most 3yr old's don't censor anything they say, it all comes out ; )
Emmitt is constantly cracking me up with some random thought or funny thing he says. Just thought I'd share a few:
Last week we were over at my mom's house, and Emmitt was sitting at the table eating while my mom, my sister, and I were talking. All of the sudden Emmitt pipes in "stinky armpits are VERY stinky! C has very stinky armpits! And that is an armpit story." And then he went right back to eating his macaroni. ; )
His latest expression is one that just cracks me up: recently when I tell him to do some small task like turn off the light or put his cup in the sink, he'll look at me, totally straight-faced and explain: "mom, I'm not the guy who turns off lights." Oh, really....and just what kind of "guy" are you? I don't know where this expression has come from but it's just too funny.

Why Christians Suck

In case you don't know this about me, religion is not my favorite thing. I pretty much hate it. I really hate the religion of christianity, the "social club" aspect of it the way it's practiced in most of North America. I'm not talking about Jesus or what my faith teaches, but the way we've warped it. I don't think it much resembles anything that it was supposed to. Now, as much as I'd like to just rant against religiosity, I know that I am just guilty of being a hypocrite and living my life purely for myself. I desperately want to change that. I'm shifting my whole daily life around to hopefully begin to make that change, to live in a way that I believe I'm supposed to and ditch the hypocrisy and religion once and for all.
This article articulates far better than I ever could, exactly what I'm attempting to express in this post: http://www.beliefnet.com/story/234/story_23432_1.html
I hope that it will inspire you to become less of a sucky Christian, and just be real and love people they way we're called to.
For those of you who aren't Christians, but believe that we do in fact suck and have been hurt by the hypocrisy of myself and others, I am truly sorry. I wish that I always lived my life as a reflection of the love I know Jesus feels for us, His children. He's called us to a much higher standard than this, and I am ashamed to admit I fail far more than I succeed. I really believe if we rose to the standard of love that we're actually called to, it would truly change things. I'm excited to be meeting more and more people who call themselves Christians, and who are also tired of sucking. And it's about time.

4 weeks and counting....

until nursing school starts! I'm really excited but far more nervous than anything else. It's one thing to take a few classes with a three-year-old, but nursing school is a whole different ballgame. Everyone I've talked to who's been down this road has said things like, "you'll have no life" "be ready to have your house look like a tornado hit" (I've already got that part down) "kiss your social life goodbye" and so on... yikes! So I know I'm not going to have any down time, but I wonder what it's really going to look like? Do you think I'll have time to watch football games? Really, I think I'll cry if I have to miss the OU and Dallas Cowboy's seasons. I know in light of everything, it's not a big deal, but I've been looking forward to it all year. Maybe between study breaks : ) In a perfect world I'd be able to get by without a job and just focus on Emmitt and school, but my reality is I'm going to have to keep working. So I just hope I can balance it all without feeling like a crazy person.



I am really excited to see the ways that God will provide for us though. Each time He's asked me to trust Him in a leap-of-faith sort of way (which this certainly feels like) He provides in ways that blow me away. Already He's provided some huge blessings, like the fact that Emmitt's daycare is completely free and is just steps from the nursing building! I've had several family members offer to watch Emmitt when needed, and all of my friends in the new apartment complex have offered to help as well! I feel like I've got a really great support system in place, but I still feel like it's going to be a crazy time in my life.

Sobering

I saw this video on one of my favorite blogs. Angel has such an amazing heart and passion for orphans and the issues of poverty and suffering around the world, and she always does a great job of challenging me to really think about what being a follower of Christ looks like. She and her husband started an organization called Red Letters Campaign, so be sure to check it out!
The stats in the video are pretty shocking and honestly make me look at my "small" purchases in a completely different light. Sometimes it feels like the issues of poverty are just too big, but when it's put into this perspective you realize that is not that we lack the ability for change, but rather the will to do it.

Living a new way

In recent months I've been praying about how to do life differently. How to start really reaching out and loving others. Not in a really organized way, but just in practical, everyday ways so that I'm really living out what I believe and not just filling my head and heart with knowledge of my faith. I feel like God's calling me to start really "getting my hands dirty" in terms of loving people in tangible ways. And not just loving the people in my life who are easy to love, or who's circles I move in, but loving people I don't necessarily think I have much in common with, or even those I've never met.
A few weeks ago, my friend Christine mentioned that she and some of her friends from our church were starting an apartment ministry. Basically, their heart is to connect with people who are in a living situation that is often very disconnecting. If you think about it, who normally lives in apartments? Single people, newly divorced people, single moms, low income families... all people who are likely sharing a common thread of loneliness and need, but living pretty isolated from one another. It sounded exactly like the kind of opportunity I was praying for! So, without much thought, I asked if I could join them. They said yes.
So, here I am, just about a month out from moving into the same apartment building as Christine and a few others, not having any clue what I'm doing, but excited to see what God will bring from this. This is definitely outside my comfort zone as an introvert, but already I can see God's hand in it.