All I ask of you

Happy Valentine's Day to the greatest wife a man could ask for and God could give me! For other readers this song was sung at our wedding.

UPDATES

We had the big court date yesterday and things went very well for David and Chace. The court terminated parental rights which is allwoing us to proceed with adoption plans. The parents will most likely appeal this decisions but the circuit court rarely overturns the lower courts' decision. this was the big hurdle and now there a couple more smaller hurdles to get over. Still we put all things in God's hands! It was cool how all the state people who testified talked about how amazing David's recovery has been. the judge even said it is "nothing short of a miracle."
Secondly Brendan is doing very well all things considered. He does prefer men and when he feels a little insecure he gravitates towards the man in the room he knows the best. He likes me and he also goes to Blake when I'm not there. Thanks to Mr. Ed and Lee Hill for keeping him comforted on Sunday. Our prayer for him right now is to get comfortable and feel safe and open his heart to female caregivers. Thanks to those who prayed for us and him.

Brendan Dayne Miller

It's hard to believe but yes we have opened our home to another little boy! Brendan came to stay with us today for an indefinite amount of time (yes it is possible he will never leave!). Brendan turned two on December 28th so he is right in between Chace and David in age. Like having triplets. He is a such a cute little boy with big brown eyes and wavy black hair. He is a real good talker and David and he have become great friends already. He also likes the big boys and the cat alot! Today he came right to me and I held in him in my arms. After his nap he was asking for mommy and I was so sad, but then Patsy came into the room and he held out his hands and said mommy. Brendan has been in foster care since October. Pray for him (and us :) when you think of it! Enjoy the first photos.

Lots of things

We have lots of things going on the past few days so here are the highlights. My sister and her kids came up from Ft. Bragg to celebrate a late Christmas. We all went to Chuck E. Cheese which of course the highlight of the weekend for . Friday we had an ice storm which left a beautiful world to wake up too. We also had our first Lego Club Friday and we had a great first club meeting. Our family went to Tons of Fun at Tanglewood Mall and we had had fun, but not tons of it. Lastly, my brother-in-law Matt arrived safely back from Afganistan today and we are all so glad to have him back! See if you can match the pics with the event!

Twice adopted

I just finished reading a great book by Michael Reagan called Twice Adopted. Michael is the adopted son of President Reagan and actress Jane Wyman. I read this book for three reasons. 1. We will soon be adoptive parents and I wanted to know more forma first hand perspective the child's view on adoption, 2. I love and work with kids and I love to know more about the challenges all kids face and 3. I am a fan of President Reagan and I was interested in this personal side of his life as well as hearing Michael's faith journey Christ brought him on.
So what did I get from this incredible book? A few highlights:

• I think its better to be honest with adoptive children and celebrate their adoption and try to answer questions they have. Keep the open communciation lines flowing. It's about them and not the parent so don't be threatened by the birth family or the child's interest.


• God can use all our circumstances to bring glory to Him and healing for us if we let Him.


• That too many times great men don't know how to be great men to those they need to be the greatest to!


• Michael was sexually abused and exploited as an eight year child by a after school care worker, and never told anyone for over 30 years. He gives us as churches, schools and youth organizations some great ideas in protecting our children agaisnt predators. Many we have in place. You know what though, the people who give me the hardest times about these - some parents. Parents when I have a numbered check-in system, when I do background checks on all volunteers, when I send the 13 year old away and don't let them pick-up your child and when I ask you to pick your children up at certain doors and to keep the outside doors closed - it's because I care about your kids. This is a much more common problem than any of us want to know. As one children's pastor I know tells his parents - don't make me care more about your kids than you! It may not take a village to raise a child but it takes us all to keep them safe. (Sorry for the soap box but I am passionate about this!).


• That God can use an adult child to bring healing in a family. Sometimes as adult children we have to be the ones to reach out the hand of love to a parent.

As promised

Our new set is in and we had our first service with it installed in the Cove. The boat and cave are on the stage. The bamboo shack is our store. The sign is on the wall across from the main entrance. You can also see some games in the worship center and we have a room adjoining the main worship area. Right now I am so tired I can't write anymore so I'll just so the pics!

The wet stuff

We had our first real snow of the season yesterday and the boys dived right in and had a blast. All the boys! We are supposed to get some more tomorrow too. Thanks to Don and Samantha for the great snowman kit they gave us for Christmas. It made him look authentic. We named him Flakes. I did go into work for awhile. There were only about four of us there so I got my work done fast and came to play! And no I never shovel living in the "south" now it's always gone in a day!

Snowball fight

Enjoying our fist real snow!

The Cove

We had our first service in The Cove Sunday. This is why I haven't posted lately. I've been a bit busy and tired when I'm not busy. The set will arrive Friday and we can't wait! I'll post some pics when it's done. Anyway we had 301 in kids ministry Sunday! It was the first "normal" Sunday we had over 300. I took a photo of The Cove a little before it was at the attendance height. The great thing was the kids had more room and really were able to focus more! We are in the midst of our mythbusters series and the two big screens really helped bring it alive. Many thanks to the guys and ladies who came over on the 6th and helped set up all the lights, projectors, screens, games, sound and computer stuff and misc. Enjoy the photos!

Happy 2008

Happy New Year to everyone in blogdom. We had a wild party with six crazy people. We have pictures to prove it!