Snapshot of Life

Adoption:

We mailed off part two if the application yesterday. Last week on the 19th we had our final meeting with our social worker. He said that he hopes to have the adoption study completed for us to review by the end of the month. Completing this adoption study is a HUGE step in the process!

Angola:

We met with our Angola team on the 14th and 15th to discuss what we learned from our recent "Quest" weekend with Missions Resource Network (MRN) as well as our plans for the upcoming survey trip in June. Check out the news page on the Angola team website for more details!

If any of you would like to receive our newsletters, send me an email! - teaguemeyer@gmail.com

Silver City Church:

This is late news but I've been meaning to post it on the blog... Last month the High school and Junior high school girl's classes completed a True Love Waits/Purity study. On the evening of Sunday February 17th each of the girls made a commitment before God, peers, mothers, mentors, and bible class teachers to live a life of purity. I am very proud of my girls! Here is a picture of the girls and their teachers...

Last Sunday (Easter Sunday) was a one man show. Robert lead singing, communion, and preached! Robert talked about how Resurrection means new life for us today, not just in heaven. He spoke from Ezekiel 37. Robert ended with "Days of Elijah," but the rest of the church wasn't finished singing yet!...they started making song requests and Robert would lead them. It was random, unorganized, and beautiful! It showed how God is at work in the lives of the people at Silver City. They are moved by songs that give glory to God. We love our Silver City Church so much!

The majority of the church was on their way to Juarez, Mexico on Easter Sunday to build a couple of houses for families in need there. Silver City takes a group of teens each year. This year they had a record breaking group of 36 people, so they built two houses instead of one! They come home today and it will be nice to have them at church on Sunday!

Educating for Eternity

That's our motto, we're Harding Alumni :)

Since the last post we've been working hard on the second part of our application to CHSFS as well as the other aspects of the adoption study. We have collected various documents, completed interviews in person with our social worker, and answered written questions on our application as well as in our adoption education workbook. When these things are completed, sent to, and approved by CHSFS we will be moving forward to the next step!

We have found that education is a HUGE part of the Adoption process! We have probably spent 20+ hours so far completing the required education and answering thought provoking questions about adoption, culture, attachment, special needs, parenting, and so much more that are required for our application/adoption study. On top of that I have spent time reading parts of various books that I checked out at the library as well as blogs and posts on adoption forums by other adoptive families.

All this adoption education has opened our eyes wide to many (but not all) of the challenges that we may/will face later in life as adoptive parents (we definitely became a little overwhelmed by it all at times as we made our way through our workbook). We recognize that being adoptive parents (to children of another race & culture who may or may not be out of infancy) is not going to be easy and we are up for the challenges that we will face. Until the moment that we become parents we will be educating ourselves further, brainstorming ideas and plans, dreaming, and praying for our little ones.

When we met with our social worker this past Wednesday, one of the questions he asked us was essentially "How will being parents change your marriage?" The answer seemed clear to me. If Robert and I are unified in our parenting goals and if we are willing to back each other up when disciplining and teaching our children, then being parents will definitely strengthen our marriage.

Robert and I want to be intentional with parenting and every aspect of raising a child. We recognize the importance of backing each other up on parenting/discipline decisions made. Don't get me wrong, I do not think that we are going to be perfect parents (you'll see :), but I do believe that we have the right priorities and goals in mind.

So, we have begun our adoption education. We are looking forward to seeing how God uses this journey into parenthood to help us grow!

James 1:2-4
"Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing." (NLT)

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (NIV)

(I couldn't decide which version I liked better)