3 Little Monkies

A few weeks ago we had the joy of keeping my niece, Charise, for two nights while her mommy and daddy went to Lubbock for medical reasons. Man, is 3 work! It was really a fun but busy time. I think the hardest part is that all 3 are in diapers. It felt like every time I turned around it was time to change a diaper and fill a juice cup! They sure kept me on my toes and it was good practice for us since we want to have a "quiver full" of kiddos some day. Here is a funny video from our first night of fun. It takes a while, but if you watch it long enough Hudson starts cracking up at the other two and it is priceless. (I had to use You tube because it was too long.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMU2doFOx7s

Happy Day!

We celebrated Jackson turning 2 this past weekend with a small Chuggington party! If you haven't seen this new train show, it is so cute and Jackson's absolute favorite thing to watch. It is the only show he really sits down to watch because he is currently fascinated with trains, firetrucks, planes, cars, and tractors. What a guy's guy huh?

Kit's mom, sister, and brother traveled near and far to join us. My amazing sister Nicole, made three adorable train cakes. She's unbelievable with her cake talent! Jackson recognized each train by name and when Nana ate Koko's head, he sweetly claimed, "Oh no, Koko!" Since he was given a train set with the "real" Koko in it, he quickly recovered from the disappointment. Instead of saying "Happy birthday" or just "birthday", he kept exclaiming it was his "Happy Day!" So precious! I can't believe how much he is talking now. He still has his moments of pure jibber jabber (that I wish I could understand because he's very expressive and tries so hard) but mostly he is speaking in clear, if not short, sentences. It is so amazing to see this littler person developing right before your eyes. I think my love grows for him every day (if it is even possible that I could love him more!)

He's so excited for Hudson (bubba) to play with him and is getting a bit rough in his attempts to make it happen. Although I don't blame him for not understanding. His little brother is nearly his size after all! Hudson is 6 months now (we didn't have a 1/2 birthday party, poor kid gets gypped again!) and weighs 22.6 lbs! He's in the 95th percentile for his age and is about to crawl any day now. He's developing much faster physically than Jackson did. I guess he's in a hurry to get to play with Jackson too. So far he handles the big brother laying on top of him, forcing pacies in his mouth, and ramming his head into Hudson's just fine. He thinks everything Jackson does is funny and entertaining. Something tells me it won't be long before this changes.

Radical

If you are a follower of Jesus, then I highly recommend reading Radical by David Platt. I just finished this book and am still processing the weight of the challenges he poses through scripture and how I am supposed to respond to them. David is the lead pastor of The Church at Brooke Hills in Burmingham, Alabama and a really inspiring, gospel-centered, and missional pastor. Kit and I have enjoyed listening to his pod casts for some time now, so when we heard he had a book out, we knew we had to read it. Kit is also leading a group of men from our church through the corresponding bible study (which I'm a little jealous it's just for men!). But I must give a word of warning: Don't read this book if you don't want to be challenged, if you don't care about truly being obedient to the commands of Christ, and if you're perfectly satisfied with living out the "christian version" of the American Dream. That being said, here is a short description of the book and a link to learn more. If you go to this website, you can sign up to read the first chapter for free and watch a video of Platt explaining the premise of the book.

http://www.radicalthebook.com/

"Do you believe that Jesus is worth abandoning everything for?"

In Radical, David Platt invites you to encounter what Jesus actually said about being his disciple, and then obey what you have heard. He challenges you to consider with an open heart how we have manipulated a God-centered gospel to fit our human-centered preferences. With passionate storytelling and convicting biblical analysis, Platt calls into question a host of comfortable notions that are common among Christ's followers today. Then he proposes a radical response: live the gospel in ways that are true, filled with promise, and ultimately world changing.

What part of the Gospel is optional?

It’s easy for American Christians to forget how Jesus said his followers would actually live, what their new lifestyle would actually look like. They would, he said, leave behind security, money, convenience, even family for him. They would abandon everything for the gospel. They would take up their crosses daily…

But who do you know who lives like that? Do you?

Adoption and the Gospel

Kit and I have always planned on adopting as part of forming our family. Since we already have two and know that it is coming up, we thought we'd better start planning for the future since it can be such an involved and expensive process. Especially with the prospect of moving overseas, we know the more prepared we are now, the easier it will be when we're ready to start the process.

A friend of ours, who recently adopted from Ethiopia, told us about a conference put on by "Together for Adoption." http://www.togetherforadoption.org/ So we decided to go and find out as much as we can. Not only did we receive all the practical advice and information we need, but we were incredibly challenged in terms of how we view adoption in light of the gospel. The main sessions were lead by various speakers, most of whom are church leaders who've adopted one or more children. They all pointed out the sad truth that as followers of Christ, WE should be caring for the orphans/widows of the world, and not relying on the government. The early church did this and it was a testimony to everyone around them of the change Christ had made in their life. Not only does the bible touch on the subject, but Jesus clearly commands us to do this. So why have we forgotten? Why do we rarely hear about this subject in our churches today?

Deut. 24 reminds us that we were all once in slavery but God has freed us! Therefore we should care for the orphan and widow who are oppressed and forgotten. Multiple times in Deut. God tells His people that not only should they not take advantage or abuse the orphans/foreigners/widows, but that they should provide for them. (the second thing we should do after tithing!) But are we really doing this? And by not caring for the orphan, aren't we abusing them? As followers of Christ, we are much of the world's representation of Christ. So if we ignore the fatherless and needy, what are we saying about our Father?

Another strong point I remember (we were really tired the whole time so much of the truths we learned are still a little fuzzy in my brain) was that we are not adopting to become a child's savior. We are adopting the fatherless because we have a Savior in Heaven and our adopting is an extension of the love that we receive from God adopting us into His family. What better way to share Christ with the world, or to share Christ with one individual than to show them that God is the Father to the Fatherless and He uses His people to care for those in need.

Orphan care is a huge need in this world because in reality, not every orphan will be/can be adopted. But what orphan's lack is a home/parents, so what better way to meet their need than to give them a Christian home? As with all social ministries, we can meet their physical needs but if we don't tend to their spiritual, emotional needs, we're only putting a band-aid on the real problems of this world...a need for Christ.

But the good news is...the church in America (and other parts of the world) are confessing of their sin and taking on this blessed responsibility and unique opportunity to make a difference in a young person's life. In Denver, several churches have set a goal to reduce the number of foster children that are ready to be adopted (800+) by 10% within two years. They've already reduced the number by 200! I'm no math wiz but I know that is better than 10%. So here are some numbers for you... In the USA there are 500,000 children in foster care! 130,000 of those are ready to be adopted NOW! And the amazing thing is, it is practically free to adopt out of the foster care system. (With tax refunds from the state and US gov't.) Many states are now giving free state tuition to any state school for orphans in attempt to break the cycle. The cycle I'm referring to is the high likely-hood that our foster children will end up in prison and/or on drugs within two years of getting out of the foster care system (70-80%). Many of which will have unplanned pregnancies and their children will end up back in the system. If every CHURCH in America fostered/adopted just ONE child each, we'd have churches lined up to adopt and waiting for kids! Not every believer is able to adopt, but many are and everyone is able to support those that do.

Now those statistics are scary but look at the international statistics...163,000,000 (yes that's million) orphans in the world! 15 million of those are orphaned because one or both parents has HIV/AIDS. Most of these orphans are in countries whose orphanages are struggling just to meet their basic needs, much less give them the nurturing they need to grow up emotionally healthy.

Want to hear something that puts us to shame?? In Zambia (one of the highest % of orphans per population) 50% of their orphans are orphaned b/c of HIV/AIDs. But what should shame us is that 75% of homes in Zambia are taking care of at least one orphan! 75% of homes in Zambia, and these are mostly unbelievers! IF 75% of Christians in America took in an orphan...we'd not only take care of our country's orphan problem, but would drasticly effect the world's. And not to mention the impact that would have on our society as they see the love of Christ in a tangible way.

So that is a snapshot of the challenge we received this weekend. I hope you're challenged as well and pass it on to others. This is an issue that has been ignored in our churches for far too long, and innocent children are hurt and neglected because of our disobedience to the word of God. Just key word search "orphan" or "fatherless" on biblegateway.com to read more convicting scriptures on the subject. But only if you're willing to respond in obedience to what God is telling His followers to do.

If you want to learn more about what you can do, check out some of these websites:
http://www.togetherforadoption.org/

http://hopefororphans.com/Display.asp?Page=home

http://www.compassion.com/

Called to Hope

This past Sunday Kit had the chance to fill in for our preacher, who had to go out of town. He spoke about "our call to hope" as Christians. I think we were all convicted of putting our hope in other things rather than in Jesus. He challenged us to have an "eternal perspective" on life, (rather than focusing on the temporary things of this world), to know the will of God through reading His word, and to view our sufferings as a blessing. I was must moved by the last point about the way we view sufferings and hardships. We automatically see our hardships as a bad thing and ask God to remove or fix them rather than rejoicing that we have an opportunity to depend on the Lord and to grow in our faith.

Romans 5:3-5 says, "...we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

I love the part that says "Hope does not disappoint." In another verse it says that 'our hope is Jesus Christ' and another that 'Jesus Christ does not disappoint'. That is truth! It is difficult when hard times come upon us to view it as an opportunity to build perseverance, character, and strengthen our hope. But that is my prayer for myself and my family. Because hard times are certain to come. I want to be able to look back at all the hard times in my life and see how God has helped me to persevere, has strengthened my character, and given me hope.

He gave a perfect example or our misconceptions on suffering. He said that when we hear of believers undergoing persecution, we pray that God would free them from it, disregarding the possibility that it might be God's will that they go through this persecution. He quoted a persecuted Christian in Egypt who said something along the lines that "Christianity without persecution is like ready-made food, shallow and bland." I don't want my faith to be shallow, even if that means I endure hardships or persecution in order to produce perseverance, character, and hope.

It is common for western Christians to hold the belief that following Christ will make your life easy and blessed. (Which is very un-biblical considering what Christ and His apostles went through). While it does give you a blessed life, that doesn't usually equal 'worldly' blessings. I was very guilty of holding this belief until I lost my mom. Undergoing that grief and all the questioning of my faith brought about perseverance, character, and greater hope in Christ for subsequent hardships. Although I miss my mom tremendously, the growth I've had in my relationship with the Lord because of her death, is priceless to me. I'm so grateful that He allows hard times to come upon us and even more grateful that He turns those hardships into life-transforming opportunities.

I'll end this with another quote from two Egyptian converts from Islam to Christianity who have undergone much hardship and persecution. " The first lesson we were taught is how to count the cost. In Egypt, our theology isthe theology of pain. It is not a theology of prosperity. We don't know the theology of prosperity, but we know Jesus." I'd rather know Jesus than the "theology of prosperity."

How quickly they grow!

Jackson seems to add new words to his vocabulary every day and is actually speaking in small sentences now. He is such an entertainer. Our favorite thing to hear him say are "I yuv you Bubba" (or Mommy or Daddy) He loves to make silly faces and kiss his brother. He recently pee-peed in the potty, but I'm thinking it will be a while before he's interested in being consistant with that. Partly because he is a constant wirl-wind and doesn't like to sit still for very long. I look forward to when Hudson can keep up with him and they can play together.


He's only 3 1/2 months old and Hudson is growing at an even faster rate than Jackson did. He's already 20 lbs and wearing 12 month old cloths! If I have any more chunky kiddos my back is going to be shot by the time I'm 30. Oh, well, they are worth it.

Our newest Klein

Our precious baby, Hudson Joseph! What a joy he is to our family! He is growing too quickly and trying to surpass the off-the-charts rate of growth record that his brother set in his first year. At least he came out smaller, mommy is forever grateful for that!

One year later...

I am obviously a horrible blogger because it has been over a year since my last blog! In the past year, we've enjoyed being back home in New Mexico but God has been growing the desire in our hearts to go back overseas to serve Him. Through lots of prayer and studying His Word, we know without a doubt that He is calling us to serve Him in this way and we are so excited! It is wonderful to finally know what our purpose is and what His plans for us are (at least in terms of a career). Considering this has been much different than last time, particularly because we have two small boys to consider. And while taking them away from family is extremely difficult, we know that God will be faithful to us and bless our obedience. Obedience doesn't come without sacrifice; Jesus is the perfect picture of that. He calls us to pick up our cross daily and follow Him. We're grateful that while sad, most of our family is supportive and understanding of our convictions. Without their support, it would make this much harder.

So now, we're just praying He shows us exactly "where" to go and to what people group. Please pray for us, that we'll hear His voice and that our desires will be what He has for us and not what "sounds" best to us.

I need to blog more often not only to update on what we're doing, but as some "mom-therapy" for me. A way to share and record my joys of being a stay-at-home mom. So that is my mid-year resolution. Even if no one reads it, it is good for me to examine and "download" (or upload) my thoughts. It is also beneficial to write so I can keep my adult language skills up to par. Playing with a 2 year year old all day and communicating on his level is rapidly depreciating my vocabulary. So here's to mid-year resolutions and halting degenerative brain-loss!