Our Adoption Story ... Part 2

Hello friends,

In my previous post I shared with you how Lori and I came to the decision to explore international adoption in response to the Haiti earthquake. The night after our decision I posted an entry on this blog entitled "Do Something" in which I urged everyone to find something they could do in response to the earthquake. For example, I had given platelets that morning - not that it would solve the crisis, but it was something. And I mentioned in that post that Lori was on the computer next to me researching options for international adoption.

As we began researching how to adopt from Haiti it wasn't very long before we discovered that it would be a long time before the Haitian government was ready to allow new adoptions. Although adoptions that were already in the pipeline could be fast-tracked, there was so much work to be done to determine if a child truly was an orphan, if there were extended family that a child could be placed with, etc, that new adoptions were being placed on hold indefinitely. (See this USA Today story for a further explanation.) So we began to investigate other countries. We looked at Nepal, India, the Philippines, and China, among others, and discovered that each country has their own regulations for prospective adoptive parents, including things such as age, height, weight, income, number of children in the home, etc. Nothing seemed to fit.

One day my mom asked me why we weren't adopting from Mexico, since we had lived there for several years as missionaries, spoke the language, knew the culture and had a deep love for the people (evidenced by our continual working there over the years, including our regular trips to the Benito Juarez Children's Home in Reynosa). My response was simply that we had looked into it and discovered that Mexico required a 2-3 month stay for adoptive parents to finalize the adoption and I didn't feel I could be gone that long. She asked why not and I responded with the obvious (to me) explanation of who could be gone that long and pastor a church at the same time. Her response was that we had capable ministers in place and that she was sure they would support our decision to do this, covering for me while we were out of the country.

Well that just floored me! I had not seriously considered Mexico as a viable option, due to the extended stay requirement. But as I talked with our church board and the ministers we have in place, they unanimously affirmed their support of this option, encouraging me to move in that direction. Their support was the final confirmation. So we decided to step out by faith and commit to adoption from Mexico. And it was a step of faith! We had no idea what the journey ahead held for us.


One of the things we quickly discovered is a little thing called "Hague Convention." In 2008 the United States had entered into an international agreement called the Hague Adoption Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption. This totally changed the landscape of international adoptions for countries who signed on to make a level playing field for international adoptions. It created uniform standards for international adoptions, partly to prevent the abduction, sale of, or traffic in children, and it works to ensure that inter-country adoptions are in the best interests of children. This is a very good thing for children. But it also slows things way down!

One of the interesting side-notes of the US entering in the Hague Convention is that there was only one agency certified by the Mexican government to handle international adoptions by US citizens. We were blessed to discover it was the agency we had already begun having talks with, the Carolina Adoption Services. God had been guiding us without us even realizing it! Since the Mexico program was so new, they were limiting the number of applicants to adopt from Mexico. After quite a bit of dialog back and forth they agreed to accept us into their limited pilot program of non-relative cases and then it was time to kick things into high gear. Or to paraphrase a well-known saying, we had to hurry up so we could wait. :) My next blog entry will talk about the hurrying up part, so stay tuned for that. And thanks for reading this far.

Blessings,
Nathan

Our Adoption Story ... so far

Hello friends,

How many times have I started a blog with a statement like "I can't believe it's been so long since my last post"? Too many. So let me get the apologies out of the way (I'm sorry!) and jump straight to fulfilling my promise from last year of telling you our adoption story.

Lori and I have been very blessed with three lovely daughters who are even more amazing than their names, Joy, Faith and Hope. Over the years, however, we had discussed adopting a boy to round out the family, but I had generally shot down the idea because I wasn't concerned about the "empty nest" creeping up on us. So although we had discussed it, it really wasn't something that was on the forefront of our thoughts.

Then two years ago this month, on January 12, 2010, Haiti was hit by one of the most catastrophic earthquakes in modern history. Lori and I sat transfixed to the television watching coverage of attempts to save lives and marveling at each success story. And crying together over the tremendous devastation and loss of life. Over 300,000 lives were lost and over 1,000,000 people were homeless, without hope. It was a horrific situation. We felt hopeless to help from so far away.

On Monday, January 18, our church joined with many others in participating in the online prayer service hosted by Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge that was being broadcast over the Internet. It was an amazing time of worship and prayer as Healing Place was able to connect with many national leaders and begin a systematic approach to providing tangible help for Haiti, including boots on the ground opportunities as well as strategic giving opportunities.

During our prayer time I was reminded of the story of the little boy and the starfish. It tells of a man seeing a boy throwing starfish back into the ocean that had been washed up during the high tide, believing they would die if not returned to the water. The man comments on the many miles of beach, the size of the ocean, the countless number of starfish and the smallness of the boy, essentially telling him he can't make a difference to such a big problem. In response, the boy picks up one more starfish, throws it back into the ocean and says, "I made a difference for that one." (I later found out this story was adapted from an original story by Loren Eiseley called The Star Thrower.)

That story struck a chord in me as I prayed about the countless victims of the Haiti earthquake. There was no way we could make a difference to so many. I pastor a small church in a small town in a small state. What difference could I make? But then again, was there a difference I could make to one? The faces of the many orphans flashed through my mind as I prayed through my tears to a decision.

I went to Lori and told her that if she still wanted to adopt internationally, I was in. Little did I know that during this same prayer time she had surrendered her desire to adopt on the altar. Seeing all the children in the news had rekindled her longing to adopt, but she knew I had been opposed in the past. So she told the Lord she would die to that dream and wouldn't bring it up to me again - that if the Lord wanted us to adopt, He would have to put it on my heart. We wept together as we committed to the Lord to explore the journey of adopting internationally. Little did we know how long that journey would be!

to be continued...

Why I Voted for Mark Baden

Hello again!

I can't believe I haven't updated this blog since January. OK, knowing the hectic pace of my life, I can believe it. (And if you know me, you can believe it too!) I know I promised an adoption update and I have some other great stories to tell too (remind me to tell you about the yellow motorcycle update!) but with the Oct 22 election day upon us, I wanted to share why I voted for Mark Baden for Rapides Parish Sheriff. (Lori and I "early voted" since we are going to be out of town on election day.)


Of course I voted for Mark since he's a member of our church. But that's not the only reason. I've known Mark off and on for many years and I've known him to be a compassionate, caring, giving and gifted individual. I remember the time he used his backhoe to dig a grave in the cold, hard north Rapides soil for a family who couldn't afford to pay the regular price to bury their young son. Mark took a day off work, went out early to dig the grave and then waited until after the funeral to fill it back in. He refused every offer of compensation and later I learned this isn't the only family Mark did this for. He would probably be embarrassed for me to share this, but it gives you a little insight into his character.

This was before he became a member of our church almost two years ago. Over the past many months I've gotten really close to Mark and have gotten to know his heart even better. We have cried together over matters I can't share with you and prayed for God to intervene with peace and reconciliation in matters that are too deep for a casual retelling. We have laughed together over the "God-incidences" (coincidences) of our lives. And we have shared stories of our love for our children. Mark has opened up to me in a very deep way and I am so grateful for the opportunity to know him as I do.

You've probably noticed I haven't mentioned his law-enforcement qualifications yet. Without a doubt he is highly qualified with 20 years of law-enforcement experience, both in the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office and in the Pineville City Marshal's office. While in RPSO he rose to the level of Major in the Detectives Division and his scrapbooks of accomplishments are a pleasure to peruse. He has many amazing stories of his early days on patrol and his love for the law enforcement community is evident.

But Mark is not just qualified because of his experience as a lawman. He's qualified because he has been touched with all of life's experiences. He knows heartache and joy. He knows how to be compassionate with a family who's experiencing loss or who is looking for answers for a struggling child. He isn't perfect, but the callouses on his hands and the weathered lines on his face are honest. His heart is both big and tender, and tempered with his law-enforcement experience, his compassionate leadership can make a tremendous impact on our community.

So I voted for Mark Baden for Sheriff. And I encourage you to do so as well. But even if you don't, please make sure you vote on Saturday, October 22. There are too many important elections at stake. And God will use YOU to accomplish His will, if you will vote. (Rom 13:1-7)

By the way, on the matter of the statewide elections, I highly recommend the Louisiana Family Forum's 2011 Fall Voter Guide, which you can find at http://www.louisianavoterguide.org/2011FallVoterGuide.pdf - it's a great resource to help you make your decisions.

Blessings,
Nathan

We're Adopting!

I've been holding out from sharing this for quite some time because I wasn't sure of what we could and couldn't say about the adoption process, but I'm happy to be able to share publicly that Lori and I are in the process of adopting internationally!!! I was recently given some guidelines from our adoption agency about the kinds of things we can share and what to avoid, so be on the lookout for some upcoming posts about our story and our progress. I hope you will enjoy the journey with us! Next week I'll give you some of the back-story and then subsequent posts will walk you through some of the steps we've taken in the process and let you know where we are right now. But for now, we simply ask that you rejoice with us, that God is opening the door for us to bring a child into our home in His perfect timing!

Don't Forget To Vote!!!

Hello again,

It's been a little while since I've posted a blog. Sorry about that! I would love to post more frequently but life just seems to get in the way! Nevertheless, Tuesday, November 2 is here and it's time to vote! I often get asked by my friends for my recommendations, so with the understanding that these are simply one man's opinions, here's how I'm planning to vote:

Lieutenant Governor: "Jay" Dardenne - I'm unfamiliar with his opponent, but according to the Louisiana Family Forum's Voter Guide, her responses reveal her to be an opponent of many of the family-friendly values and positions that are important to me. While Dardenne is not nearly as conservative as I'd like, he has done an efficient job as Secretary of State.

U.S. Senator: David Vitter - Vitter's public failures in his personal life have been embarrassing to our state but his consistent conservative positions have earned him my recommendation over his opponent who would not meet with constituents and has shown himself to be much more liberal and a supporter of "big government" than I can support.

US Representative: Rodney Alexander - I've met Rep. Alexander on several occasions and have found him to be very approachable to his constituents. He's also helped the City of Pineville on several occasions, including helping us get a new fire truck. I don't know anything about his opponent but I feel Rep. Alexander has earned another term.

School Board: Julie McConathy - Mrs. McConathy is running for the school board for one reason alone - her children. I believe she will bring a much-needed parent's perspective to the board that sometimes seems to overlook the issues that are important to parents and focus on staff or administration priorities. She has a big job on her hands, if elected.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS:

1. FOR - This amendmet would require that any increase in the salary of statewide elected officials, public service commissioners or legislators could not take effect until the beginning of the next term.

2. FOR - The state collects severance taxes in each parish and returns 20% those taxes to the parish for road and bridge repairs, up to a certain cap per parish. This amendment raises the cap per parish, allowing those parishes to use tax monies generated within their parish for road and bridge repairs.

3. FOR - This amendment would allow each parish to call for a local election to double the homestead exemption of disabled veterans with a 100% service connected disability. Parishes would have the option to call for local elections to honor the disabled veterans in their community.

4. FOR - This amendment would limit the amount of property tax increase unelected taxing authorities could enact after the reassessment that happens every four years.

5. FOR - This amendment would allow homeowners who have faced extreme hardship since the hurricanes of 2005 to receive up to a 5 year extension of their existing tax assessment and homestead exemption benefits.

6. FOR - This amendment would require all public retirement systems to get legislative approval before altering or raising benefits. Several retirement systems have significant financial problems because of a lack of oversight, which this amendment would correct.

7. AGAINST - This amendment would weaken property owner rights and make it more expensive for delinquent property taxpayers to redeem their property from past-due taxes.

8. AGAINST - This amendment would weaken property owner rights by allowing goverments to expropriate properties for "health and safety" reasons, clean them up and sell them to third-parties without allowing the original owners or heirs to purchase the property.

9. FOR - This amendment would require that workers' compensation cases be handled like other civil matters on appeal and be heard by appellate judges and now administrative hearing officers. While it may slow the appeal process, it would provide more due process.

10. AGAINST - This amendment would require defendents (who are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty) to waive their right to a jury trial at least 45 days prior to the beginning of a trial. This could negatively affect an innocent person's defense.

Well, there you have my recommendations. I don't expect everyone to agree with me but I do offer these suggestions after thought and prayer. The most important thing, whether you agree with me or not, is that you VOTE!!! As a reminder, here's a great video on our voter responsibilities by David Barton of WallBuilders:

Blessings,
Nathan

The Promise

Hello friend,

It's been a long time. Sorry I've been gone so long. I've got a lot to share, a lot to catch up on. But right now I want to share a Youtube video of the Martins that really blessed my heart. Check this out:

What do you think? Feel free to comment. And check back soon ... I've got a lot to share!

Blessings,

Nathan

Do something

As we look at the images of the devastation left in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, our hearts are pricked. The question is, will we quickly heal from the prick or will we be pierced to the core and do something about it? I pray that we will do something.

I'm not saying that I know what you're supposed to do. I don't have a plan even for me yet. I just know we're supposed to do something. SOMETHING. And that something will look different for everyone. For example, today I gave platelets at LifeShare Blood Center. It didn't directly impact the victims of Haiti, but it was something. On the other hand, Lori is feeling a deep stirring to adopt an orphan from Haiti. She's on the computer next to me as I type this, researching the possibilities. That may not pan out either. But it's something she's supposed to do, for now.

I believe this is the beauty of the Body of Christ. Each member is different and has a different purpose. And as each member receives their instructions directly from the Head of the Body, the Work gets accomplished - as long as each one does the "something" they're supposed to do.

Your something may be HUGE. Or it may be small. It might be simply writing a check and sending it to a "boots-on-the-ground" agency there in Haiti. Or maybe it's collecting medical items to send to Haiti. Maybe it's going to Haiti yourself. (Ideas.) What are you supposed to do? Whatever it is, do YOUR something. And God will be honored.

Blessings,
Nathan