Weekend trip

So far this trip has been a mixed bag.  On Friday Lacey was going to take the kids to Great Lakes Crossing to meet up with another adoptive parent from Liberia.  Unfortunately Reagan was starting to show signs of sickness (stomach pains, nausea, vomiting, etc.)  That was strange because she had already had some sort of intestinal bug a few weeks before.  We figured she was over it.  Lacey had to cancel the plans at the last minute.  Hopefully we can do this on one of our future trips.

Reagan didn't seem to be getting any better, so we decided to take her to the urgent care facility just to make sure she wasn't getting dehydrated.  At the same time we brought Rhianna along because she had been coughing for several days and it didn't seem to be getting any better.  Turns out they both had fevers.  The doctor prescribed some antibiotics for Rhianna and suggested that we try to get some fluids into Reagan intravenously.  It was late, so I took Rhianna back to Grandma and Grandpa Lucas' house and was planning to come back and pick up Reagan and Lacey.  Just as I got Rhianna back to Lacey's parents' house, Lacey called and informed me that the staff at the urgent care facility weren't able to get the IV into Reagan's veins so they asked us to take her into the hospital for observation. 

By this time Reagan was ready to go home.  She didn't want anything to do with doctors or hospitals or needles.  The staff at the hospital was great.  They were able to get the IV into Reagan on the first try.  Reagan was a trooper, even though she was sure to let us all know that she didn't want to be stuck again.  I held her and prayed with her as they stuck the needle in, while she kept repeating "Please let it be in, please let it be in..."  It was pitiful to listen to.  When she realized that it was in, she exclaimed "Is it really?  That's it.  That wasn't too bad." 

Saturday, while Lacey stayed with Reagan at the hospital, I visited my Dad.  He's in a skilled nursing facility now, and his condition continues to decline.  This was the first time I was with him where I had no indication that he recognized me at all.  

Saturday night things picked up a bit.  Reagan was released from the hospital and we went to my brothers to visit with his family and some other family members and friends.  We hadn't seen these friends since our move to Rockford, so it was good to sit down and catch up.  Today we will be going to church to meet some other friends and tonight we will finish up the trip with a visit to yet more friends that we haven't seen in years.  

Hopefully we will be able to leave early Monday.  If we leave early enough, we'll stop in Chicago to take the girls to American Girl Place.  

John Piper on Adoption

When Love Takes You In

Friday night I had the pleasure of seeing Steven Curtis Chapman in concert near Milwaukee.  I have to admit, I've known about SCC for many years, but never knew much about him until recently.  And what I learned recently was more about his passion for adoption through Shaohannah's Hope.  Despite my ambivalence about his music, I was favorably disposed to him because of this true ministry (I'm always leary of professional musicians who make millions from their musical talent and continue to call what they do "ministry", but that's another topic).  

What I discovered was that rather than a concert with a token mention of the adoption ministry of Shaohanna's Hope, I felt like I was at an adoption benefit concert.  You couldn't walk ten feet without seeing or hearing something about adoption.  They were raising money that night to change the life of one family (apparently they do that at every concert).  I was encouraged to see at the end that in that short span of time the attendees had raised $5,400 to help one family adopt a child.  And that is a drop in the bucket compared to what Shaohannah's Hope has done over the past few years.

On a more local basis, Hannah's Heart, a ministry of  Morning Star Baptist Church has its own ministry to help facilitate adoptions.  As a church we have raised thousands of dollars and participated directly in helping families bring home adopted children.  Some of these children we may never see, and others we see every week.  One child in particular that we are passionately trying to help is Alexey Foster.  Currently he is in Russia with Ed and Robin Foster, members of Morning Star Baptist Church who are in the final stages of adopting him.  The costs of adoption are significant.  In addition to the financial costs, some countries require the adoptive family to spend an extraordinary amount of time in country to complete the adoption.  The travel costs, together with the inability to earn income while traveling, only add to the financial strain.  Based on my own experience, though, I can testify that the benefits far exceed the costs.  It is because I have experienced the blessing of adoption that I am passionate about helping others share that same joy.  For those of you that read this blog, I'd encourage you to consider what you can do to help the Fosters complete this part of their journey.

I'm posting here a video that I put together showing our own adoption journey. It's hard to capture the whole process in a few short pictures and video clips, but this is the most concise way to share it.  I could talk, and bore, people for hours on the subject.  But five minutes is much more tolerable, especially when backed up with a Steven Curtis Chapman song.  The video is bookended by a clip taken from the orphanage at Acres of Hope.  I agreed that I would not publish the children's pictures, so in order to keep my end of the agreement, I have intentionally blurred the images (it's not just bad camera work).  I hope you enjoy seeing how God has worked in our lives with this adoption.