Opportunity Knocking

One morning recently (yesterday or the day before - can't remember), I was sitting and working on my computer in my living room, when someone rang the doorbell. I got up to go get what I thought was the wallpaper border for the bathroom that I ordered being delivered from UPS. When I got to the door, I was surprised to see a woman in a dress standing there. I opened, and she started talking about the nice weather, blah blah blah. Then she said something about how she was sure I had my own faith, as lots in the neighborhood do. I said yes, that's right, and I am a little ashamed to say that I was a little annoyed with her at this point. I thought about just shutting the door and getting back to my computer. She opened a Bible, and read John 3:16 (in some version I am not familiar with). Then she went on to say some things I kind-of ignored, and asked me if I'd take some reading material from her church or whatever, and on the top of the pamphlet it said "The Watchtower." I took it, and after 5 or so minutes of trying to patiently tolerate her, and not look too annoyed, I came back inside.

But then I started thinking - was I in too much of a rush to do something that wasn't really that important on my computer to talk to her and possibly present her with what I know to be true from the Bible? I flipped through the pamphlet, and in mere seconds I found some seriously shaky-looking doctrine in the papers she gave me. So yes, I reacted poorly to someone God practically put on my lap, and did not take good advantage of the opportunity that actually knocked on my door. So, I have decided (prayerfully) that I am going to read those pamphlets, and if and when she comes back, I will be ready to drop whatever it is I'm doing to have her in for coffee and conversation.

I believe that we as Christians should know a reasonable amount of information/doctrine from other beliefs. Not to the point of taking time away from studying what/how we should from the Word of God in our own study. But, from an evangelical standpoint, we know we are to witness to others, and I think part of effective "soul winning" takes place when you can take what someone believes to be true (and isn't) and refuting it with actual Biblical truths. I didn't do my best for God this time, but by His grace alone, next time I will.

"It"

As we continue on our adoption path, we will not know, likely for many months, the gender (or age, for that matter) of our future child. And, even when we do find out these things, we won't be sharing what we know until the child is officially ours when we arrive in India for the adoption. The biggest reason for not sharing is basically that we don't want to get too attached until we know for sure. So when we get there, and have Baby in our arms, we will be posting the stats and pictures likely on this site and via email, etc.

The reason for this post is to actually clarify how I will refer to Baby until he or she has a name. There are lots of people who will not call their child "It" - I personally don't have a problem with this practice. Sure, you could say "he or she" every time you talk about "him or her" but that's a lot of extra letters. I do not think of "It" as a genderless child, or sub-human, or anything like that (those are arguments I have heard against using the word "It"). My child is a unique and special and wonderful little person, created by God just for our family, and until we know specifically who he or she is, we will be referring to this little person as "It" - for no other reason than convenience and ease of communication. I think if I were pregnant, or we knew the age of the child we'd be getting, I would probably be inclined to call "It" "Baby" or "Kiddo" or whatever, but since we don't even know that, in this case, "It" seems like the best choice.

Lazy Saturday

Today I am home alone. Narasimha is putting in some extra hours in a neighboring town, so he's working all day today, which means I'm at home alone on this dreary and snowy day. There was a "dusting" of snow on houses this morning when we got up, but still no major accumulation (thank goodness - it's APRIL!). Of course I have my 3 pooches keeping me company, and right now they are reflecting the weather outside and are asleep on my lap (Bella) or at my feet (the boys). One exciting thing for us today is that we sold the car that Narasimha has been driving to work (a "junker") and so he will start driving full time the truck we inherited from my parents. This is either a good town to sell junk cars, or we priced too low - we sold the car after having a sign in the window for only 3 days :) We decided that if Narasimha would voluntarily work more Saturdays, it would be better to get that out of the way before we had children, so we could have more family time then. So, I am getting caught up on some things around home, and am seriously considering joining my dogs and their perpetual nap on the floor. Narasimha will be home in a few hours, and then maybe we'll get some sort of a life (or maybe not) but for right now it's just a lazy day.

Therapy Dog

Yesterday I went to volunteer orientation at Narasimha's hospital. There are lots of things that look like fun, and I will probably sign up for shifts in a few of them. One of the things that caught my eye as the most unique/fun is the Pet Therapy. I didn't grow up with dogs inside, but now Narasimha and I have 3 inside dogs, and I wouldn't give them up for the world. I just love having them around. And, I have to say, I think that my dogs are some of the sweetest dogs a person could ask for. Especially the two big dogs. They are litter-mates, so they have never really been apart. But their temperament is just the greatest - they are so friendly, and they really honestly want nothing more than to please us. Their breed (Hungarian Pointer, or Vizsla) is by nature very very hyper, but they are great with kids, and are so friendly and gentle, and I just couldn't say enough good things about them. So when I saw that the hospital has a Pet Therapy program, I can't help but think that my dogs would be perfect for it. They will need a fair amount of training, and they have to pass a few tests (on training) and then obviously be well-groomed and current on shots and stuff (which they are anyways). After all that they can go to the hospital and share their love with sick people there. I think the next testing is offered in November in Des Moines, so I am going to start working with them. I will work harder with one of them (Taj) for now, because at this point he is slightly more calm and predictable than his brother (Topper). I also want to work with the little dog (Bella, who is a "Morkie" - half Yorkie, half Maltese), but she is younger so I don't know that she's ready for this kind of a thing yet. I am really excited, and think that this could be a great experience and a lot of fun!

The Adoption Update...

is, very uninterestingly, that there still isn't any update to report. We are still plugging away at our paperwork (slowly). We are still talking about hiring a lawyer, and the details of that. We have, however, had some fun recently shopping for kid's clothes. Since we don't know the age or gender of our child, we get to have extra fun and buy anything we like :) We have kept the purchases to "3T" and younger (for those who don't know, that means clothes that are supposed to fit 3-year-old "toddlers"). Our push to shop recently, by the way, is that there have been some good seasonal sales, and I have some fear that when this process gets moving, it will get really moving, and I would like to have whatever head start I can. Other than that, no news. I felt the need to update since one of the purposes of this blog is to keep family and friends in the loop as to what is going on with our adoption... The next time I post regarding the adoption, I will have something more interesting to say than "nothing" - I promise! Thanks for those who have sent well-wishes and who are thinking about us and praying for us during this time - it really means a lot and has been very encouraging!