• 6/10/2007 8:00:00 PMSunday PresentationWe celebrated "Children's Day" at church today.  This is a long forgotten holiday in America.  From what I understand, the 2nd Sunday in June was traditionally devoted to celebrating the raising and training of Christian children.  Since the time Mother's Day and Father's Day were officially recognized in the U.S., Children's day has been dropped.

    The entire service was geared towards kids.  In our opening chorus we sang "This little light of mine" as well as some other popular children's church songs.  We also had 2 families dedicate newborn children to the Lord.

    Normally I would have delivered the Elder's prayer, but today I combined it with some scripture that included a passage from James chapter 1.  Verse 27 says:

    "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

    I then played a 6 minute excerpt of a video I had received from the adoption agency that recorded Yuri's journey from his orphanage in Russia to our home.  It was very moving and some people in the congregation wept as they watched it.  After the video, I spoke of our decision to adopt and how we have already received so many blessings that we had not considered.  The biggest of which is the restoration of broken relationships within mine and Peggy's families.

    I invited the congregation to check out our display in the foyer and told them how they could participate if they were interested.  If you are reading this, the invitation applies to you as well.

    1. Pray
    - Pray that eyes, hearts and minds will be turned back toward God
    - Pray that forces opposed to this adoption will held back and out of the way
    - Pray that the necessary funds will come in
    - Pray for safe travel to and from Russia
    - Pray that what was taken from Yuri will be restored.  Namely, a home and family

    2. Give
    - Consider giving your time to help spread the word
    - Consider helping us sell Seroogy's Chocloate Bars
    - Consider helping us man the fireworks tent.  Either working it or spending the night.
    - Consider donating money to help with the cost


    Since we have made the decision to adopt, our lives have been changed.  Stresses, pressures and joys we did not consider have been with us continually.  To say it has been an "adventure" is an understatement.  It is quite a ride and I would not trade it for anything.  All praises to the Lord!