Did anyone watch the finale of Survivor: China last night? I was very disappointed! Todd did not deserve to win! He was a backstabbing liar the whole game. This was the first season I have ever watch Survivor and it will probably be the last. I was so excited about seeing who would be the million dollar winner and I couldn't believe the jury voted for him. It doesn't make sense...okay enough venting about Survivor......

This girl is AWESOME. Her name is Blair Wingo. She is part of the Passion for Christ Movement. She is also an actress and a model. She is the same age as me...it's amazing how the LORD uses His people. You can see more of her poems at www.p4cm.com

Today we are going to the mountain house in NC to spend Thanksgiving with Walter's family. It's nice to go there to relax and get away from the busyness of work and everyday life. It's easy to take things for granted around this time of year, like family and friends and loved ones you expect to see everyday. We are never guaranteed tomorrow and sometimes it is hard to keep that in perspective. My grandmother was recently diagnosed with lung and kidney cancer. Walter and I spent last weekend with her. It was good to see her, but pretty depressing sitting in the nursing home all day. It's hard to imagine going home and not going to visit her one day. Although she is 88 years old it is really hard to let go. I am grateful for family and friends in my life this Thanksgiving. I don't want to take one day for granted because I know that everyday is a is an undeserved gift from God.

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." -James 4: 14-15


Here is a picture of Walter and I in NC last Thanksgiving.

I've been tagged by Courtney.
The rules:

• Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
• Share seven random and/or weird things about yourself.
• Tag seven random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
• Let those people know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

November is National Adoption Awareness Month. As most of you know Walter and I are very passionate about adoption. As far as we know we can have a biological child. We haven't tried yet, but a lot of people ask, "Why would you be interested in adopting when you can have your own biological child?" We know that God has called us to adopt children and we are excited about pursuing adopting a child (someday, not right now). I want to share this article with you because I feel it explains the most important reason to adopt, because Christ adopted us. It is a great article.


From Adopted to Adopting
by Justin Taylor

We were talking recently with our next-door neighbors, a family from India, when the topic of adoption came up. The father had some confident advice for us: "Make sure you never tell your kids they were adopted. It's best that way." (My neighbor is a very nice fellow but not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer: Our son is African American and my wife and I are Caucasian! We gently explained that we will tell them, it's nothing to be ashamed of, and we suspect it would dawn on our son before too long anyway!)

Adoption tends to be something appreciated or admired in America. But in other cultures, it's often a stigma. A friend who is a missionary to Middle Easterners once told me the fascinating story of why adoption is often a taboo for Muslims.

Adoption in Islam

The prophet Mohammed had adopted a former slave named Zayd. When Zayd grew up he married a woman named Zaynab, whom Mohammed himself eventually fell in love with her. Zayd divorced her in anger, and Mohammed took her as a wife. Soon after Mohammed received a "revelation" from Allah making adoption illegal: "Allah does not regard ... your adopted sons as your own sons."

It is now legal for some Muslims to adopt, but there are a number of rules surrounding it. Adopted sons are to be named after their biological father instead of taking the surname of their adoptive parents. The Qur'an tells adoptive parents that they are simply the "trustees" or someone else's child. Inheritance still comes from the birthparents, not the adoptive family. Adoptive siblings can even marry each other when they are grown. An adoption family can refer to their adoptive son as a "son," but they have to know that's really just a name to use, not a legal reality.

Adoption in Christianity

One of the problems in Islam, I think, is that they have a concept of Allah as a creator and ruler — but there's no concept of "the fatherhood of God." Consequently, they do not have a concept of being spiritually and legally adopted into the household of faith — which is at the center of biblical Christianity.

The great theologian, J. I. Packer (whose three children are adopted), has written an attention-grabbing line in his classic, Knowing God, "Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption." Elsewhere he writes that "adoption is the highest privilege the gospel offers." Whereas "justification" gives us the righteousness of Christ, "adoption" makes us members of his family and gives us access to all of the family benefits and privileges.
But sometimes I wonder if the way we speak about physical, earthly adoption shows that we have not yet let the truths about spiritual adoption truly sink into our hearts and minds.

Watch Your Language

Fellow Christians will sometimes ask my wife and me if we know anything about our children's "real parents." We're also sometimes asked, "Do you have any children of your own?" Now we know what people mean when they ask these questions, and we also know that they are well-intentioned. But they are problematic nonetheless.

Russell Moore — dean of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and author of a forthcoming adoption manifesto — has drawn my attention to a parallel in the New Testament. He has written:

As I read through the Books of Ephesians and Galatians and Romans, it occurred to me that this is precisely the question that was faced by the apostle Paul and the first-century Christian churches.

As pig-flesh eating Gentile believers — formerly goddess-worshippers and Caesar-magnifiers and all the rest — began confessing Jesus as Messiah, some Jewish Christians demanded to know, "Are they circumcised?" The Gentile believers would respond, "Yes, with the circumcision made without hands, the circumcision of Christ." From the heated letters of the New Testament, it is evident that the response was along the lines of, "Yes, but are you really circumcised, and you know what I mean."

This was no peripheral issue. For the apostle Paul, the unity of the church as a household had everything to do with the Gospel itself. And where the tribal fracturing of the church was most threatening, Paul laid out a key insight into the church's union with Christ, the spirit of adoption.
In other words, these well-intended questions reveal that too many of us still accustomed to thinking that biology is more important than legality. The opposite of "real parents" is "fake parents." The opposite of "your own children" is "children not your own." There is something about "adoption" that makes us think that relationships are somehow less real.

But we must put on our gospel-centered glasses and ask ourselves: Am I really a child of God or not? Is God really my Father or not? Is Jesus really my brother? For those who trust in Jesus the answer is unambiguously Yes!

Remember, we have no biological connection to Jesus. We began our lives in a different household, slaves of a different master. But we have been adopted, and our new legal relationship is true, real, and glorious. A right understanding of spiritual adoption can transform the way we think about physical adoption.

Jesus Was Adopted

Have you ever stopped to think that Jesus Christ was himself adopted? Now we have to be careful — if we say that he was adopted by his eternal heavenly Father than we've expressed a heretical understanding! But at the same time, it's often easy to forget that Joseph was Jesus' earthly father — they had no biological connection but the relationship was very significant and real.

Believers Are Adopted

One of the hallmarks of liberal theology in the 20th century was the "fatherhood of man" and the "brotherhood of man" — God is the Father of everyone, and all of us are brothers and sisters. But both of these notions are unbiblical. God is everyone's Creator, but he is only the Father of believers.

1 John 3:10 divides all of mankind into two categories: (1) "the children of God, and (2) "the children of the devil." Now "children of the devil," to our modern ears, tends to sound like a bad horror flick, something outlandish. But the Bible is clear: all of us "were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind" (Eph. 2:3). The members of our "spiritual household" were those who worshipped anything and everything but the one true and living God. God himself was our Creator. We remained in his image. But he was not our Father, and we were not his sons.

God the Father has one eternal Son: Jesus Christ. And before the foundations of the world he predestined that many of his creators — members of the household of unbelief and rebellion — would receive "adoption as sons through Jesus Christ" (Eph. 1:5). Through the Son, God the Father enables us to become sons. And we now become members of the "household of faith" or the "household of God" (Gal. 6:10; Eph. 2:19).
Paul spells it out in Galatians 4:4-7:

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Jesus was born for a mission: to proclaim the good news of the gospel of the kingdom, and to redeem those who were under the law. But why did he do it? Why did he willingly allow his body to be bruised and broken? Why did he choose to follow his Father's wishes and enter into a time of being forsaken by his eternal Father? Why did the most honorable person to ever walk the planet subject himself to scorn and mockery? Why did the only sinless man take upon his back the sins of the world?

One of the reasons was to demonstrate his Father's righteousness (Rom. 3:25-26). But it was also so that we might receive adoption as sons. Think of what this verse is saying: Jesus died so that you could be adopted. You used to be a slave to sin, impurity, and unrighteousness (Rom. 6:16-20). But now God has made you a son. And if you are a son, then you are also an heir of God! God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your heart so now you can cry Abba! Father! (see also Rom. 8:15).

Abba is Aramaic (probably the language Jesus spoke). It means something like "dearest father," a term of endearment and intimacy from a child to his father. Scholars have scoured the Jewish literature trying to find a single example of an individual using the word "Father" to address God. No other examples exist. Jesus was the first — but not the last! We too have the awesome privilege of calling the Creator of the Universe, the Eternal I AM, our dearest, heavenly Father.
Jesus died so that we could become his brothers, to become his co-heirs, to become God's sons. Amazing love how can it be! No wonder Packer can say, "Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption."

Pure Undefiled Religion

Does the Bible tell us to adopt children? No, it doesn't address that issue one way or the other. But it does tell us to "Give justice to ... the fatherless" (Ps. 82:3), and it tell us that God himself is "Father to the fatherless" (Ps. 68:5). James tells us that part of "pure and undefiled" religion before God involves visiting orphans (James 1:27). Adoption is one way that we can imitate God and fulfill these commands.

Just Ask

How can we do to support adoption? I think one key thing each of us can be doing is to start by asking questions.

Ask your local crisis pregnancy center how you can help or volunteer. Crisis pregnancy centers are on the frontlines of the battlefield, doing everything they can to persuade birthmothers to choose adoption or parenting over abortion. Maybe they need help raising money to buy a new ultrasound machine. (When women actually see their baby move, they often realize that it's a lie that this is simply a clump of cells that can be discarded.) So maybe you can distribute empty baby bottles at church and encourage everyone to fill theirs up over the next month with change.

Ask families that are in the adoption process how you can help (babysitting their other kids, having a garage sale to help them raise money, etc.). They might not need anything right now — but you never know until you ask! And everyone can use prayer!
Ask the Lord if he might be leading you to be an orphans ministry in your church. (FamilyLife has some resources that could help).

Ask the Lord if adoption might be a part of your future. Whether you are single, engaged, or married, be open to the Lord's leading about your future and the role adoption in it. For many couples adoption is only a "second option" — something to consider if having biological children doesn't work out. But perhaps for some of us the Lord will plant a desire to adopt no matter what the fertility situation.

Finally, all of us can praise God — our Father — for the incredible gift of his Eternal Son and the privileged of being a part of their family.

I found this article here: http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001609.cfm

Do you think this simple color wheel would take a whole 40 min class period to make? Neither did I! Today I divided up my third graders into groups of 4 or 5 kids and they made these color wheels out of icing and food coloring. It was a good learning experience since most of them didn't know how to mix colors, but boy was it CRAZY. Anything that involves food makes kids go wild! They only had time to do the primary and secondary colors. If there had been more time they would have added the tertiary colors too. At the end of class they were dying to eat them!! Who would of thought that some vanilla wafers with a little bit of icing would make kids go crazy? You would have thought they won a million dollars! :o)

Here is a description of the show that I copied off discovery health's site:

"With two year-old sextuplets and six year-old twins, the Gosselins are hardly your typical American family. Jon and Kate are the ambitious parents of this adorable bunch and they are battling all odds to make sure their brood has a normal, happy childhood. We follow them as they tackle seemingly ordinary life events like pumpkin picking and birthday parties that become extraordinary when you have two sets of energetic multiples."

I recommend watching it...it's entertaining. It comes on TLC on Monday nights at 9pm and it also comes on Discovery Health Channel.

Here is a link to find out more about it: http://health.discovery.com/convergence/gosselins/about.html

So we tried two of the deceptively delicious recipes. Walter made the butternut squash quesadillas and I made the brownies with spinach and carrots. The quesadillas were pretty good. I actually liked them a lot. Walter liked them, but he thought they were a little too bland. The brownies were just nasty in my opinion. Walter didn't care for them either. Every time I opened the lid to the pyrex dish I smelled spinach and not chocolate. They didn't taste good at all, but I guess these brownies are just meant to disguise the vegetables, so kids who hate veggies will eat them. I really don't think we will try these recipes anymore....well at least not until we have kids because we decided we just like vegetables by themselves. We enjoy eating vegetables so to have them mixed in with all this other stuff is not as appetizing to us. If anyone tries any of the other recipes on the site let me know how they turn out.

Our cute pup has fleas. I'm a little stressed about it...I know that sounds ridiculous, but I HATE BUGS!!! After Walter and I researched online about how to get rid of fleas..it seems to be a major problem. We are treating him with FrontLine tonight then we have to fleabomb our apartment for 24 hours. So tomorrow night we are going to stay at my inlaws house while we bomb our apartment. This is a mess. When we come back home we have to vaccum everything and wash everything...every sheet, blanket, and all the dishes. Luckily, we haven't gotten them. From this point on we will NEVER EVER miss a front line treatment again....it is not worth all of this mess! I know this sounds like a silly prayer request...but PRAY our place becomes FLEA FREE so this doesn't happen again.

One thing I strongly dislike about this time of year are Judgment Houses. They are everywhere. What I think is so ironic about Christians in the South is the fact that people are so anti-Halloween (which I think there are valid reasons for), yet we have Judgment Houses everywhere! Here are some reasons why I think Judgment Houses are wrong:

-they scare people into salvation. I believe that people accept Christ at Judgment Houses because they want fire insurance. They are petrified of Hell and they want whatever it takes to make sure they don't go there. Hell is a very real place, but I believe people should accept Christ because they know they desperately need a Savior, not because they want a ticket out of hell. This also takes the focus off the cross and focuses on fear instead. "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive togehter with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." -Ephesians 2:4-10

-they are manipulative. Instead of sharing the Gospel with people or witnessing, Christians are using scenarios (some real and some fake) to persuade people into accepting Christ. The Word of God alone can convict people. Just spreading the Good News and sharing your testimony are enough to lead people to the LORD. "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." -Hebrews 4:12

-they aren't REAL. From scripture we know a lot about what heaven and hell look like, but there is no way on Earth to show that in visual form of a play. We don't know exactly what angels look like, but we know that they aren't frilly and sparkle like so many of the angel costumes. That is a cheap representation. I remember a Judgment House I went to in college because a friend invited me. Not knowing what this experience was going to be like, I brought a friend with me who was not a Christian (bad decision). By the end of the show there was a man dressed in a red devils Halloween costume screaming and she was scared to death. She actually was hysterically crying, so when the pastor gave the invitation to accept Christ she was the first one at the altar. Did she really accept Christ? No. She knew nothing about sin, repentance, salvation, redemption. All she knew was that she was scared to death and she would do anything not to go to HELL because she did not want to live in torture for eternity. One thing that was good about that night, was the fact that I was able to clarify things for her and tell her the GOOD NEWS of what Christ did for us on the cross. That was what made it awesome, after she calmed down from crying. I don't know for sure if she is a Christian today or not, but I am so glad that I had the opportunity to really share the Gospel with her that night.

I didn't not become a Christian because I wanted to avoid Hell, although I know that is where I deserve to be because of my sin. I realized that I could be forgiven because of what Christ did for me and knowing His grace was the greatest gift I could ever receive. I know heaven is going to be amazing and I anticipate seeing God in all his glory and glorifying Him forever in heaven...it's going to be AWESOME...well awesome isn't even a good enough word to describe it. As wonderful as heaven will be, I am just grateful to know the Lord in the present, in my everyday life. I need to live everyday for Him right now. I need to have an eternal perspective and my life right now counts too. I need to know Him now and grow in my relationship with Him now. I don't need to wait until I get to Heaven. I see His goodness in my life now and I am grateful.

Andy and Lyndsay Rader happily married in Hawaii!

Well, let's see it's been a little over 9 months since I have last blogged. I could have had a baby and no one in the blog world would have known...just kidding...haha. I'm really slack about blogging, but I am going to try to get into it again. I might just use it to post pictures and memories and such...just anything I am randomly thinking of. Walter redesigned my blog. I think he did a nice job. Here is a recent picture of me with my sister and my future sister-in-law, Lyndsay at her 80's bachlorette party in Gatlinburg. It was a lot of fun. Think of Andy and Lyndsay in your prayers tomorrow...they will be having a private wedding ceremony (just the two of them) in Hawaii tomorrow!!! I am so excited for my brother and Lyndsay. He is blessed to have such a beautiful future wife (inside and out).


Mary Beth, Lyndsay, and me!


Andy and Lyndsay

If you want to see more pictures in our fabulous 80's outfits, you can click here.

It's a new year! A lot of people are posting New Year's resolutions on their blogs lately. Honestly I don't have any New Year's resolutions. The only thing I would like to change in my life right now is my job, but I can't complain...CMS is obviously where I am supposed to be, although sometimes, I don't understand my purpose there. I know God has a reason for me being there....but I don't understand what it is!!!

Last semester, I feel like I had a glimpse of my purpose, when one of my sweet six grade boys was called the "n" word. It was the worst thing I had ever seen a child go through. It took me about twenty minutes to figure out what was wrong with him. He was so ashamed that he wouldn't even tell me what she said. He hung his head in shame and as tears streamed down his face, he told me about his first experience with racism and it happened in my classroom. While my student was hanging his head in shame, I took him in my office and told him he could sit there until the principal came to my room. I knew he was embarrassed and didn't want to be seen crying in front of the whole class.

As I dialed the principal's number, tears streamed down my face. I have seen kids say the most vulgar, inappropriate things this year, but it has never made me feel as sad and angry as I felt in that moment. And what made it even worse was the fact that the student who called him that completely denied it to my face and the principals face. It was horrible. There was no punishment or consequence for the student who called that little boy the "n" word.

Reflecting on that moment, I know I should pray for both of these students. The girl who called him that terribly offensive word was probably influenced by someone older than her. She also has had many other behavior problems that indict she has a lot of stuff going on at home.

I want to show my students how to treat each other with kindness, and how to think outside of the situations they are in. I want to teach these kids basic social skills and to show them that there is a way out of their lives of poverty, but I know I can't do that with my own strength. Please pray for me. Please pray that God will use me as witness to these children through my actions and how I handle situations in the classroom.

Legally, I am not supposed to talk about God in the classroom, but the day after the racism incident in my class I felt compelled to tell him the truth. I had prayed so much for him. He needed to know he was valued and appreciated and that he was created by God! So the next day I took him aside and I said, "Amar(not the student's real name), no matter what anyone tells you, I like you just the way you are. God created you in his image and he thinks you're wonderful. He created you and loves you! There is nothing you should be ashamed about, no matter what anyone says."

I know I am going to have many trials ahead in this semester, sometimes I feel like my classroom is a battlefield. Please, please pray for me!!!