Friday News and Chapel Sermon

What a looooonnnng week. We have committed to buying the element (from one of my students) and are getting it Tuesday...WOOHOO. Adam and I have never bought a car and are looking forward to having a reliable and roomy car for the four of us to travel in. Toya ( my toyota corolla ) is being passed on to Adam. We are so so so blessed to have our school family who has thrown us a huge shower already and is throwing us another one this Wednesday.

Goober didn't have a great week at school. His clip got moved twice this week and he didn't get a sticker today. He pushed someone in line since they didn't let him back in his exact same spot after he got back from washing his hands. He also "accidentally" punched a girl in PE. The teacher says that the little girl told Goob thank you for punching her later on in class b/c it made her tooth loose....so we aren't sure if he did it b/c she asked him too or if she being funny about it later on. Regardless he did not get to ride his four wheeler today. Oh yeah, the sweet sweet Boteler family from school gave Goob a four wheeler!!!!!!! He is super stoked to ride it....uhum, tomorrow :).

I'm not sure if this week of bad behavior is Goober coming off of his ADD meds or if its him getting comfortable with everyone and pushing their buttons. Regardless we are finding out that Goober gets overwhelmed very easily and needs constant reassurance that no one is mad directly at him, just at his actions. His fears turn to tears very quickly and he becomes unable to tell you what is wrong.

On a better note today I was eating lunch with him and his friend said " why do they call it shampoo? is it because you are shamming poo into your head?....I MEAN REALLY? Kids are just soooo dagum funny. Through all of this I have found out that I have a problem....its called laughing when you are not supposed to :). Ribbit makes the funniest faces when you tell her NO and I just die laughing so Adam comes over and finishes the discipline :). Geesh, who would have ever thought that I would be the softy?

Goob learned a Noah song in music and has been singing it over and over. He also learned " you get what you get and you dont throw a fit"!!! We like that one!! We have watched Ice Age about 10 times, normally right before bed we let Goober turn the tv on and everytime he asks for that movie.....I am going to go crazy if I watch it one more time!!!!

Ribbit is talking better and better everyday. Her thank you, please, shoes and dinner is getting clearer. She has a cold right now and therefore my sleeves stay snotty. She loves to dance whenever she hears music. The other day I was walking her into walmart and a car came by with really loud music. She started dancing and shrugging her shoulders ...the drivers (who were teenage kids) thought it was really funny so they rolled down their windows so she could hear the music better..thanks guys :).

I thought I might share the main talking points of my chapel presentation with you guys. I'll condense everything down though.

I was really focusing on showing my students just how much they have in common with my kids, even if they weren't adopted. I told them how Adam and I had committed to the Lord that we would adopt children and that God answered our prayers a year and a half later. Then I told them that if they were a Christian then they had been adopted as well and if not then I was going to show them how they could be adopted into God's family.

Similarity #1 between kiddos and my students-

Kiddos's mom drank alcohol the whole time she was pregnant with him, thus after he was born he body still craved it. In the same way Paul says that there is nothing good about us and that is because we are born into sin and our flesh craves it. The only cure for kiddos was to detox off that alcohol and the only way for us to be cured is to allow God to come into our hearts and change those desires so that we no longer crave evil.

Similarity #2

Sometime in August,the four of us will travel to a courthouse and sit before a judge. The judge will change kiddos birth certificates in two ways. One, Adam and Kinzie will be their parents and two their last name will become ours. In the same way, our high judge changes our identity when we become christians. We are no longer creatures of sin but children of God. In both situations the judge makes everything happen, he will sign papers for kiddos and God has already sent Christ to allow our spiritual adoption to take place.

Similarity #3

In August, kiddos will be ours forever. There is no such thing as unadoption. It's harder for a child who is adopted to disown their parents than it is for a bio kid to disown their parents. That's due to all of the court involvement and paperwork. In the same way, Romans 8:38 tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God, we are his permanently.

Similarity #4

Kiddos will be the heirs to our inheritance. We will pass on to them some physical and financial items but also an inheritance rich in Christ. Even though they dont look like us they will have full rights as sons to our inheritance (no matter how small that may be). In Galatians 4:4-7 we are told that Christ came to redeem us and give us adoption as sons. As sons we will be co-heirs with Christ, receiving heaven, eternal life and God will be our portion. We are no longer treated as slaves, but as sons!!!!

Similarity #5

E and B just took on a whole new family.....us, grandparents, uncles, cousins, church family, school familys, SWBTS family. Our family has laughed with us, mourned with us and loved on us. In the same way, when you accept christ you are welcomed into the family of Christ, the body of believers. I shared with them how our church Wedgwood, had been able to see that body in a very physical way as christians around the world encouraged them after the shootings ten years ago.

I then explained that there were two very big differences as well for my students spiritual adoption and my kids adoption.

Difference #1

For the next six months CPS can pop in and out of our home as they please. Adam and I have to daily document what our kids eat, the activities they are involved in, the medications they take, the injuries they accrue, the things we do to become better parents, etc. We are essentially proving ourselves worthy to be these kids parents. Luckily, God does not ask us to clean up our act and proves ourselves worthy before coming to him. Romans 10:9 says that if we confess Christ then we shall be saved. Not saved in 6 months and not saved after we have done all these things but SAVED-automatically.

Difference #2

No matter how much I tan and lay out and apply lotions I will never have that beautiful Hispanic skin of kiddos's. No matter how much Adam curls, perms or gels his hair he will never have kiddo's tight tight curly afro. The kids will never have Adam and I's bright blue eyes either....it just ain't gonna happen. However, as Christians we can begin to look and act like Christ more and more every day. It takes a daily denial of ourself and allowing God to work though us but we can look like him in our attitudes, behavior, speech and actions.

That was the jist of it, I am still thinking of other similarities and differences every day. I think its a neat way to use our personal story to show others how awesome both physical and spiritual adoption is and how God is the creator of this idea.