food for thought

Isaiah 58

In 2010, corporate profits grew at their fastest rate since 1950, and we set records in the number of Americans on food stamps. The richest 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all American households combined, the effective tax rate on the nation’s richest people has fallen by about half in the last 20 years, and General Electric paid zero dollars in U.S. taxes on profits of more than $14 billion. Meanwhile, roughly 45 million Americans spend a third of their posttax income on food — and still run out monthly — and one in four kids goes to bed hungry at least some of the time.

Entire Article: Here

lets go cats!

best kid ever

i just asked b to go get me a beer, he grabbed his chair, opened the fridge and brought dada a beer...it was amazing...just when i thought is wasn't possible to love my son any more.

if not now, when?

thomas friedman does it again.

link of the week: if not now, when?

paul krugman: wisconsin power play

questions..

i love when people ask me questions about our adoption. to some it might seem insensitive and rude, but to me its a chance to talk about my heart.

so why are we adopting? for one, it breaks my heart to think of all the children out there who need a family. its a natural right that a child should have a loving family. they are so precious and innocent and deserve to be loved and cared for. plus, as christians we are called to look after the fatherless, to care for the broken hearted. 

i was reminded at revolution on saturday that we too are adopted into God's family and become like sons and daughters to Him. this is what first took hold of my heart as a new believer. it was refreshing to hear it and to tie in into caring for widows and orphans. we are adopting because He first adopted us. 

and why are we adopting from korea? the question of whether to adopt domestically or internationally was the hardest decision we've had to make so far. dave and i both knew we wanted to adopt together. initially i was leaning toward local-a child in need is a child in need. and while that still holds true it was dave who asked "but don't you think we should adopt from korea?" dave has had a couple students who were adopted from korea and when i found out, my first reaction was "can i cook for them?" i love korean food-and i love sharing it. i felt like i was able to offer some insight into who they are as a korean. we hope to do the same with our child. 

why holt international?

this amazing couple has inspired parents all of the world to care for children who are orphaned, abandoned, and in need. 

so what is the situation like in korea? the most common question i get is whether we will be getting a boy or a girl..and the answer is i don't know! as opposed to china, there are more korean boys available for adoption. in country adoption has become more popular in recent years and families are typically more open to adopting girls than boys. in the first months the babies are in the care of dedicated caretakers and once they are two months old they are placed in foster homes. its wonderful that each child is raised in a family like atmosphere. then, for the first five months, holt tries to find local korean adoptive families. after five months the child is available for international adoption. when we visited my mom in seoul this past summer we were able to visit eastern social welfare society, which provides residence to children who have been relinquished by their parents.

i'd love to share more about our experience. what other questions do you have?

i was tricked..

valentine's day has never been a huge deal to us... except for the first year.

dave and i had been hanging out together for a couple months as friends and i really had no idea whether or not he had feelings for me. we were in the grocery store as we had decided to pick up some ice cream and dave heard over the intercom "flowers 50% off". it was feb. 15th, the day after valentine's day and dave loves a bargain of any type. he looked at me sideways and stammered "do you...um..do you...". i hadn't heard the announcement and was shocked that the confident man i knew was having difficulty spitting something out. "do you want some..flowers?" he asked. my heart skipped a beat, because even though i wasn't sure if he had feelings for me i knew i had wanted to marry a man like him. he continued "ya know, cause they're half off and.." i smiled and we picked out the most beautiful bouquet of pink roses i had ever owned.

this morning i opened my inbox to an email "use cash for the tax program, if you don't have some come by the school, i do". i don't have extra cash laying around (only my grocery money, which i am super protective about) and dave knew i would have to stop by. i replied back for him to leave it at the front desk and i will stop by after the park. we walked in and the front desk told me to go on down to his classroom. honestly i was in a hurry, i wanted to get to the library, bank, and grocery store before beniah's nap. but he is always proud to show off beniah to his students. i took a seat at his desk and 15 girls walked into his classroom. one handed me a rose and then they proceeded to sing me "can't help falling in love" by elvis presley. i couldn't help the tears-the girls' voices were so beautiful!

i am blessed.

adoption: faith

i have admittedly lacked faith in this adoption process, specifically in the area of finances. in an effort to be wise, it was my decision to delay the start of the adoption process until our car payment was complete, but even since that has been taken care of i still struggle with the faith that God is going to provide in this area. i shared that very thing with our small group when we announced we would be adopting.

since we announced we paid $300 for the application and before we could move on the the "home study" needed 2,000 dollars on hand. after our first meeting they explained we could start the home study process this week assuming we had all our paper work completed and the 2,000 dollars in hand.

christe and i both got a bonus for christmas which went straight into our adoption savings account, two very generous individuals sent us $100 to help with the process. one of christe's co-workers is in an asian sorority and they threw a bake sale at u of a and raised $100. our friend josh with jb photography did a photo shoot day for us that raised $200 and christe literally went around starbucks to starbucks collecting used co2 cartridges for weeks to add $18 to our adoption fund, we sold concession at academy basketball games...all that left us 600 dollars short.

i thought i was justified in my lack of faith, it was going to take us years to raise 10 grand, by that time the 2011 tax credit would be expired and we will have to come up with another 13k. this was until a friend from church handed us a check for 600 dollars last week, now we can continue on as scheduled.

if that weren't enough, i took a coaching job over the winter to help supplement adoption costs. i received my first check on sunday. the director handed me an envelope and said, "we decided to pay you more". the check almost doubled what i was contracted for.

oh, ye of little faith.