Our Adoption Story ... Part 4

Hello again!

Can you believe two updates in a week?! I'm trying to be intentional about sharing on the blog and this is me following through on my commitment to myself! Where better to start than to update you on our adoption story ... especially since the last update on our adoption was almost a year ago! So here goes!

There has actually been a pretty significant change in our adoption story. When I left you last, we had just submitted the paperwork for our first 15 month extension on the USCIS approval and were hoping to not have to do that again. We had met with the Mexican officials in Puebla the previous November and had been having some ongoing dialog with them via email. However, that excitement was short-lived as shortly into the new year they stopped responding to my emails.

As month after month went by without any responses we reached out to our adoption agency, only to find that they were hitting the same walls. Phone calls were not returned, emails did not receive responses ... it's as if the Puebla adoption office had dropped off the face of the earth! Now in their defense, last year was a presidential election for Mexico and that's always a time of great turmoil with lots of turnover in governmental jobs, so we tried to be patient.

Our adoption agency also seemed to sense everyone's increasing concern and in September they contacted all of us in the Mexico program to share that they understood our frustration and offered to allow us to switch programs. They had recently begun working with the South American country of Colombia and had a list of children on the "waiting child" list that were cleared for adoption, with pictures! Lori was immediately drawn to a brother and sister on the list, but I thought we needed to stick it out with the Mexico program. But those sure were some cute kids!!!

Another month rolled around with no contact from Mexico and Lori kept looking at the pictures of the cute brother and sister, feeling more drawn to them. I have to admit, they sure were cute! (Or did I already say that?! ) Late in October we decided to send an email to the Puebla office asking for an update and sharing that we had the opportunity to adopt two children from the "waiting child" list in Colombia. We explained that we were happy to wait on Mexico, as long as we knew the program was still ongoing. All we needed was to hear back from them just to give us some hope. We sent the email on October 25 and decided if we didn't hear back from them in 2 weeks, we would take that as a sign we should shift to the Colombia program.

Two weeks came and went without a peep from Puebla so we decided to that was the Lord's direction for us. (And as of February 12, 2013, we still have not received an answer to our email ... almost FOUR months later!!!) So we wrote a "letter of intent" for our agency to forward on to Colombia to express that we desired to adopt the brother and sister! And then our journey to adopt began to speed up to hyperdrive!

In order to make the change we had to update our homestudy (which would have had to have been updated for the next renewal anyhow) - and that included getting updated medical checkups, an updated psychological profile, updated financial status, updated background checks ... you get the picture! The big question was getting our homestudy to approve the change of countries, and, more importantly, the change of adopting TWO children instead of one. But the good news is that all the updates came through and the homestudy was approved, recommending us to adopt the two children!!!

Our next step is to send all this info to USCIS to request an extension, change of country and number of intended adoptees. Once we have that approval, we'll have the entire packet translated and submitted to Colombia as the official application. We're told that because the children are on the "waiting child" list and are already approved to be adopted, that our application will be "fast-tracked" and we'll have an answer in 15 working days (although we've also been warned that it could stretch out a little bit due to different holidays, etc). Once we have the official "referral" from Colombia, we then resubmit the packet to USCIS for approval for these specific children ... AND THEN WE TRAVEL TO COLOMBIA!!! 

We don't have a specific time-frame for this, but it looks like it will be sometime during the summer! Yes, THIS summer!!! So Lori's really ramping up the house preparation, getting the room ready for two instead of one. She's put her massage therapy license on hold for this year to prepare for the kids and be able to devote her time exclusively to the children when they finally do arrive. And I'm doing a lot of self-examination about time management to make sure I'm ready to be the dad these beautiful children deserve.

In looking back at our journey, it's been a long one. And it's not over yet. We first started seriously considering adoption after the Haiti earthquake back in January, 2010. Soon we realized that Haiti would not be adopting children out for a long time and we began looking at other countries, eventually settling on Mexico, and now finally adopting from Colombia. In looking back, we can see how the Lord directed us to this point. It's especially significant to us that the children we're adopting came into the program well after we began the process ... but became available to us just as we began to realize the Mexico program was not going to pan out. The Lord had positioned us and timed everything beautifully!

I wish I could share pictures of the children or share more about them, but until things are final you'll just have to take my word that THESE KIDS ARE CUTE!!! :) Thanks for your prayers and encouragement along the way. And I'll keep you posted ... I promise!

Blessings,

Nathan

Beyond Ordinary - a must read

Hello again!

How many times can I say that it's been a long time since I posted anything? I think I've run out of excuses! So rather than offer an excuse, here's a new post ... in the form of a book recommendation for "Beyond Ordinary: When a Good Marriage Just Isn't Good Enough"!

It's weird how I found this book. Back on January 10 I was studying for my upcoming message on "Why Church" (video) and in googling the phrase "why church" I came across a series of articles on the Prodigal Magazine website called precisely that, "Why Church." In the series several writers explain why they love the church, even with all its flaws and shortcomings. I read each article with interest, and found great value in reading them. It's amazing how much hurt takes place in organizational churches, and as a pastor I know I've caused some hurt as well. I am flawed and I let people down. I try to  make it right, but I know I don't always do that and there are probably some stories that could be told about the people I've hurt. But it was beautiful to read people's stories of why they loved the church in spite of the miscues, stubbed toes, hurt feelings and other maladies that go with interacting with fallen humanity. So I encourage you to take some time to read some of those articles for your own benefit. (*Insert standard disclaimer here about how I don't necessarily agree with everything on the site, blah, blah, blah. Just read and decide for yourself! )

In the midst of all those articles there was one called "A Death in the Family" by a fellow named Matt Appling who I had never heard of before (which isn't saying much - you'd be surprised who I don't know!). I really enjoyed reading the article so I clicked on the author's name which took me to his blog (*insert standard disclaimer here about how I don't necessarily agree ... yadda, yadda, yadda... ;) and it just so happens that his most recent blog entry was entitled "Why I Don't Like Marriage Books (Except This One)" - well that instantly got my attention. As I read it I understood what he meant about how most marriage books are written from the idealistic point-of-view by people who have it all together and if you'll just follow their few steps, you'll have it all together too. I added a comment to his blog about liking Gary Chapman's "Five Love Languages" and Willard Harvey's "His Needs: Her Needs" and then I said I looked forward to reading the book.

Let me tell you, I didn't know what I was getting myself into! After purchasing and downloading the Kindle version of the book I found myself pulled into the story as Justin and Trish Davis (of RefineUs Ministries) take turns walking the reader through their story from each one's point of view. This is no ivory tower marriage! They bravely lay bare the mistakes and failures they each made as their marriage began drifting towards the shoals that eventually destroyed it, bringing them to the decision of rebuilding it from the bottom up. I was stunned as I read things that I completely identified with - attitudes, excuses, selfishnesses ... they were all plainly there for me to see in my own life as I read page after page and encouraged my wife to read along with me.

She, too, was caught up in the story and actually finished the book before me. We found ourselves talking about the parts of the story that we identified with, owning up to mistakes we had made, confessing areas that were revealed to us that we were still holding on to even after 25 years of marriage and ministry. It was so refreshing to have these conversations. And painful! But so healing!!! Even though we had not made all the same mistakes, there were many layers of issues that began to be peeled back in our conversations, and we're looking forward to even more great talks as we plan to re-read the book together and have recommended it to several friends.

Justin and Trisha, you'll probably never read this, but thank you for having the courage to open up your lives to others and share the hope and healing you've found. You've paved a way for many to follow. We're right behind you! We no longer settle for "good enough" ... we want EXTRAORDINARY! And if my friends want extraordinary too, they'll get this book! And now, back to your regularly scheduled scrolling. :)

Blessings,
Nathan

Election Recommendations

Long time, no see. :)

Whenever election season rolls around many of my friends ask me my thoughts, especially on constitutional amendments, which can be quite confusing. Now, I recommend that everyone make up their own mind, and there are some great resources out there, like the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, otherwise known as PAR. They do a great job of outlining the amendments and give the arguments for and against each one. Their "Guide to the 2012 Constitutional Amendments" is a great to help you understand the issues.

Another great resource is the Louisiana Secretary of State's GeauxVote web portal. It's a "clearinghouse for all elections-related information, from elections and voter registration information to statistics and educational materials." One of the best things to look at is the link in the middle of the page that says Sample Ballot. That will take you to a page where you can find out exactly what's on your ballot for your precinct. This will include any local issues in your area, not just the state-wide or parish-wide matters. I highly recommend it.

Now with that being said, here are my recommendations, based on the ballot for my precinct:

Presidential Electors - Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan - While I'm not a Republican (I'm actually registered as "No Party"), I am solidly a conservative and the Romney/Ryan ticket comes the closest to representing the values that are important to me. I'm proud that our country was color-blind four years ago in selecting a president, but values matter, and I believe we need smaller-government and a return to Judeo-Christian values on issues like life and marriage. And we must stand by Israel, which I am not convinced our current president is willing to do. So I recommend a vote for Mitt Romney for President and Palu Ryan for Vice-President.

U.S. Representative, 5th Cong. District - Rodney Alexander - Rep. Alexander has been very responsive to me as an individual and to our beloved City of Pineville. His experience and seniority will serve him well in future terms.I strongly recommend we return him to office.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS:

1. Medicaid Trust Fund for the Elderly - YES
This would give constitutional protection to this particular fund, preventing it from being used for any other purpose. In a perfect world this should not be necessary, but there are already so many other "protected" funds that this one needs to be protected as well.

2. Strict Scrutiny Review for Gun Laws - YES
This would make it harder for the legislature to pass laws restricting gun ownership, thus ensuring the right to keep and bear arms is known as a fundamental right.

3. Earlier Notice of Public Retirement Bills - NO
This would require bills affecting the state's public retirement systems to be filed a month earlier than other bills. This is unnecessary and burdensome.

4. Homestead Exemption for Veterans’ Spouses - YES
This ammendment cleans up an unfortunate loophole from a 2010 amendment that allows LA veterans with 100% service-connected disabilities to claim a higher homestead exemption. There were a few cases where the veteran died before the amendment went into effect, thus not allowing the spouse to receive the benefit that LA voters overwhelmingly approved. This amendment grandfathers in those few situations.

5. Forfeiture of Public Retirement Benefits - YES
This amendment would allow the courts to require any public servant convicted of a felony associated with his office to forfeit some or all of his public retirement benefits. While most public corruption cases are handled at the federal court level, this sends a strong message that LA will not tolerate corruption.

6. Property Tax Exemption Authority for New Iberia - NO
This amendment would allow New Iberia to grant property tax exemptions to owners of property annexed into the city after Jan. 1, 2013. While it is a good idea in theory, this economic development tool should be offered to all cities or none, not just one.

7. Membership of Certain Boards and Commissions - YES
Many of our state boards and commissions have their members selected based on the number of congressional districts. Since the 2010 census stripped us of a congressional district, we need to change the way we select members to these boards. This is a necessary housekeeping amendment. (It really should be a revised statue and not a constitutional amendment issue, but that's just the way it is.)

8. Non-Manufacturing Tax Exemption Program - YES
This amendment would give us another economic development tool in attracting new businesses to our state. It would help make LA more attractive to certain non-manufacturing businesses (corporate headquarters, distribution centers, data services centers, etc) that have typically gone to other states.

9. More Notice for Crime Prevention District Bills - NO
This amendment would require extra notice before elections are held to create "crime prevention districts" throughout the state. Any time you add "special notice" requirements to any issue you simply confuse matters, no matter how well-intentioned the effort may have been.

LOCAL OPTION - Term Limits for Local School Board Members - YES
This would limit school-board members to serving 3 consecutive terms (beginning in 2014). Term-limits are a two-edged sword in that they also keep good elected officials from continuing to serve. But they also keep fresh points of view coming onto the boards which should be good for students.

Parishwide Proposition (Library Millage Renewal) - YES
Our library is an incredibly important resource on so many levels. This is a renewal of an existing tax and should receive our strong support.

Parishwide Proposition, Bond and Millage, Coliseum - YES
This is the proposal to essentially rebuild the Rapides Parish Coliseum and make it a state-of-the-art facility for hosting events that otherwise would go to Shreveport, Lafayette or Baton Rouge. This is a "quality of life issue" in my opinion that will have a positive effect on our area for many years. I understand some may oppose any new taxes, but I think this one is worthwhile.

Rigolette School District Number 11 Proposition (Tax Renewal) - YES
This may not be on your ballot unless you live in my area, but I typically vote to renew school district taxes. We have excellent schools and to keep them excellent we've got to keep their funding in place.

So there you have it, these are my recommendations. You might not agree and that's ok. That's the American way. But whether you agree or not, please remember to go vote on Tuesday, November 6 from 6:00AM-8:00PM. God will use YOU to chart the future of our nation!

Blessings,
Nathan

Our Adoption Story ... Part 3

Hello again, friends, It's been a little longer between updates than I intended, but I am getting better! February simply flew by and before I knew it March was half way gone. I just got back from another amazing trip to Mexico and our church's Jubilee is this coming weekend, so I thought I'd better sit down right now and get another update out before summer gets here! ;)

My last update left off with us beginning the official adoption process through Carolina Adoption Services, the only adoption agency certified by Mexico (at that time). We were assigned to Angela J. who oversees CAS's Mexico, Peru and Waiting Child programs. She explained the (lengthy) process to us and made sure we understood that adopting from Mexico was considered a "pilot program." Mexico is still in the process of conforming to the Hague Convention and the process is subject to being clarified, adapted, updated, changed, etc. But we felt peace about it and decided to press on.

Part of the application process is to put together a complete dossier on our family, including the following information (plus some):

• Home study by a licensed agency
• Medical Certificate for each adoptive parent
• Psychological Evaluation
• Financial Statement
• Criminal background check
• Photographs of home and family

There's a whole lot more to it, but this gives you an idea of the types of information requested. Some of these steps are quite extensive. For example, the Home Study required multiple interviews, some in our home, some with our children. We also had to go through some specialized education to understand children who have gone through trauma (including living in institutionalized settings, such as orphanages). We actually enjoyed the classes and reading - I wish I had had this kind of access a long time ago. The background checks were extensive, including every area we had lived in since the age of 18.

Because there was so much information needed, Lori actually resigned her job to devote full-time attention to completing the dossier. And she did a magnificent job! Every item had to be checked and rechecked for accuracy, notarized and finally sent to the Secretary of State to receive an "apostille" from their office, certifying the notary. When it was all said and done it was a very thick 3-ring binder that Lori organized with color-coded section dividers. I'm so proud of her! We got the dossier sent off to CAS in mid-February, 2011 and after reviewing it they forwarded it on to the translator. About a month later it was submitted to the Department of Exterior Relations in Mexico City, and in mid-April it arrived in Puebla for consideration by the DIF (acronym for the "Full Development of the Family" agency that oversees orphanages, adoptions and other family-related matters).

We had been told it could take quite awhile for Puebla to approve our application as they are very thorough in reviewing all applicants, as they should be, since the well-being of children is at stake. Sometime in September Lori had the idea of us going to Puebla to meet the officials in person so they could get to know us and hear our hearts. It's one thing to read an application, it's another thing to look someone in the eye and understand their motive for wanting to adopt a child. We also thought it would be good for them to know we are fluent in Spanish and want to raise our son with full knowledge and appreciation of his Mexican heritage. We contacted CAS to ask about the possibility, they contacted the Puebla officials who extended the invitation, and we made plans to go to Puebla at the end of a previously planned trip to southern Mexico in November.

After participating in the final leadership seminar (out of 6) in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Lori and I took a bus to Puebla on Sunday, November 27, 2011 for our meeting the next morning. We absolutely LOVED Puebla! It's a city full of amazing history, architecture and great food! And our meeting with the DIF officials went very well. They gave us a letter telling us they had approved our application and we were officially on the waiting list for international families!!! This was GREAT news! Of course there are a lot of other families ahead of us, but we know God has the perfect little boy waiting for our hearts and home.

So now we wait. There are ongoing activities. For example, we had to renew our USCIS approval to adopt internationally, and to do that we had to update our homestudy and get new background checks done. After our homestudy update was completed we had to travel down to New Orleans to update our "biometrics" (a fancy name for fingerprints). We got our approval letter last week letting us know we're good through May of 2013. Hopefully the adoption will be completed by then, or we'll have to do all this again for another 15-month extension. But God is in charge of the time-frame.

One last update - Mexico is consolidating the adoption process through the national DIF in Mexico City. So the files for all children from all the states who are eligible to be adopted will sent to DIF/Mexico City to first attempt to have them adopted in Mexico, and then placed for international adoption. This is obviously best for the children to be adopted within their country, culture and language. But as I stated before, we know God has this process in His hands and we continue to pray for the Mexican officials as they work in the best interest of the children they are protecting and serving.

Hopefully that gets you all up to date and I'll post further updates as things happen. Thanks for your prayers and interest.

Blessings,

Nathan & Lori

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