Hello friends.
You noticed I haven't posted in a few weeks?
There are reasons.
#1 Titus is in Chinese first grade and it's time-consuming.
We can barely finish homework, make and eat dinner, and take care of basic hygiene every night, particularly if we have something going on like...
#2 Helping Lydia find and move to new housing.
Big project, glad to help because were are adopted family members. Speaking of family...
#3 My brother Ethan visited!
We had the BEST TIME EVER hiking in the mountains of Southwest China, and hung out here in Changsha, including a visit to the home of Auntie Wang...
#4 Auntie Wang fractured her arm.
She's alright but taking it easy. We are paying her medical bills and usual salary though she cannot work at our home for a couple months. I've lost my right-hand woman! It's been a double-whammy this fall with Drew traveling too much and no Auntie Wang.
#5 Most wonderful of all, WE ARE ADOPTING A CHILD: REUBEN!
Our two year-old boy is in an orphanage in north-central China, hopefully coming home to us summer 2016. Reuben's photo is framed on our wall and definitely in our hearts! Right now Drew and I are working through an application portfolio of about ten thousand pages, twelve hours of mandatory adoption coursework, and preparing for a full weekend home study with a social worker in mid-November.
counting the graces
thank you Father, today, for
2 Peter -- serious call to live your way (holiness, lawfulness) -- weighty commands to consider reading through this book
weak, warm, savory coffee
you order these changing seasons, this first chilly wet fall day
Titus was so happy going to and from school, he always is
Mike can bathe himself
you provided the perfect home for Lydia
mutuality with Lydia -- the opposite of paternalism or a savior complex
all is a mess! but with our eyes on you, it's ok
