the political campaign model

In honor of "Super Tuesday," I thought I would post some thoughts (Yes, I know... it's dangerous to stray too far from pictures and stories about my daughter, especially into politics!).

A friend of mine posted on his blog asking what the church could learn from political campaigns. The following was my reply:

"I'm afraid it has been a lesson in what-not-to-do, as it relates to faith and the kingdom of God...
1. Campaigns exist to promote the leader. In the church, God's design is for leaders to promote the people (though we see it modeled the other way all the time).
2. In campaigns, it's all about the event. You get people to make a "decision" the will determine their (sic!) future. Though this is how a lot of people talk about Christianity, I think Jesus models a faith that is intended to be more of a journey that has several key points of commitments and evidences of maturity all along the way. Our faith is intended to move us toward the image of Jesus reflected in us, not simply praying a prayer, a.k.a. marking the right box on a ballot.
3. In campaigns the ultimate commodity is image. You can't afford to be really authentic-- it's too risky. On the other hand, the church should be a community of real people who live authentic and vulnerable lives, modeled by its leaders.
4. Campaigns often don't seem to differentiate in priority of issues. On a scale of 1 to 10, everything is a 10: health care, social security, the economy, national security, civil liberties, judgment, education, etc. In the church, not everything is a 10. The death and resurrection of Jesus is a 10. What translation of the Bible you prefer is probably a 1. (However, as we all know, there are many churches that treat 1's like 10's.)
5. In campaigns, the most utilized way of influencing people is through well-placed rhetoric (either inspiring or fear-based). Commercials, billboards, debates, yard signs. "America first." "Change you can believe it." I think the leadership example of Jesus says influence comes through relationships, serving one another, and tangible expressions of love. "They will know you are my disciples if you love one another."

I guess that's enough for now. There's a lot to learn from the political campaigns, but I'm afraid it mostly helps me see how the ways of God are fundamentally different from the ways of the rest of the world!"

What do you think?

since we've been home...

Well, we're back home from China, and everyone is doing great! It's much colder here than it was in Guangzhou.

I want to say "thank you" for all the support and encouragement that so many of you have given to us while we traveled to bring home our daughter.

Mostly because our last moments in China and flights back to the States were relatively uneventful (with some exceptions), I won't rehash any of that. You can check out Amy's blog for some of those updates.

But since we have been back, we have been very busy. We got in on Thursday, grabbed some dinner and pretty much went straight to bed. So last Friday, with a full night's rest, I got up and went to work that morning to get some things done... and took Kate with me. As you have probably read, she's a bit of a daddy's girl so I thought I'd try to ease her into my absence by taking her with me that morning and letting everyone else get some more sleep. It was fine because I always love showing her off, and Kate amazes me with how she handles new things so well. So that afternoon I had a meeting, so I left her at the house with Amy and kids and again she handled that very well, too. Kate has the boys-- who she absolutely adores!-- around most of the time (Ben has school only until 11:00am and Will only goes twice a week). So I think my going back to work has actually helped her and Amy's bonding experience. We finished up the day with some visits from friends and a good homecooked meal (Amy's meatloaf, mashed potatoes and peas = yum!), and judging from the amount Kate ate, she must have really liked it :)

(she loves those gloves)

Each night we've been trying to adjust our sleep to the new time zones and slowly it's getting better and better. So Saturday morning we laid around the house (the boys watched Qubo). And that afternoon I was leading a church event most of the day, so Amy carted the kids off to lunch with the girls in Lexington. I ended the night by finishing some prep for church and catching up on a little college football.

Sunday we went to church. That was fun. Kate went to big church with us and had a great time. She didn't seem to be at all overwhelmed... maybe a little nervous at times when strangers got too close. But she did great. She loved the music--she wouldn't sit still, clapping and wiggling around to the music! And I loved showing off my beautiful daughter. Later, Grammy and Boopa stopped by to meet their newest grandchild, went out to eat and came back for a little belated birthday cake and ice cream. Though Will sang "Happy Birthday" to her over and over on her actual birthday on Thursday and with the "party" on Sunday, I'm not sure she understands this whole birthday thing yet.

Monday Ben started back to school, and we're working hard to get back to "normal." It was my day off, so we just hung around the house. Amy did some grocery and clothes shopping. The boys watched some movies they got in China (Bugs Bunny and VeggieTales "Pirates Who Don't Do Anything"). Later, "we" carved the pumpkin... "we" means that I gutted it myself, carved it myself, and got to clean it up myself... they told me what shapes to make the eyes, nose and mouth :) Later, when Amy bathed the kids, I cleaned up the kitchen and baked pumpkin seeds. This was the first time I had ever tried baking pumpkin seeds myself, but I remember when I was a kid my mom doing this all the time. So I called my mom to ask what to do. Funny thing is that she said my brother, Brian, tried the same thing this year, too. It turns out Kate likes the pumpkin seeds, too.

Tuesday was pretty uneventful, I guess. I took the kids to school and went to work. We had spaghetti for dinner, and Kate loved it. We're glad she likes so many things, though she still doesn't seem to care for peanut butter, pizza, oranges or milk. I gave the kids their baths, but I had a hard time putting Kate to bed. I guess I forgot how tricky bedtime can sometimes be with two-year olds. Amy was great and was eventually able to get her in bed.

Wednesday was a big day. The church had their "Trunk-or-Treat" event where the adults decorate the trunks of their vehicles and pass out candy to the kids dressed in their Halloween costumes. It's a lot of fun. The boys dressed as Transformers--Ben as Bumblebee and Will as Optimus Prime. Kate became the third of our kids to wear the hand-me-down puppy dog costume, but she was very cute. It turned out to be an appropriate costume, too. I had told the youth on Sunday morning about my daughter and her middle name, Xuna, which was part of the name she was given at the orphanage. The "Xu" part of the name represents the year in which she was born, according to the Chinese zodiac. She was born in the year of the dog, and when each dog year roles around on the calendar it is paired with an elemental attribute. 2006 is fire dog. So many of the youth of my church are going around calling my daughter "Fire Dog." So anyway, it was a great time... lots of candy, tired kids and frozen toes :)

This morning our son Will got to show his preschool class pictures from his trip to China. We helped him show pictures of him with his sister, pictures from on the Great Wall, Tian An Men Square, the stone animal road at the Ming Mausoleum, and on trains, boats and playgrounds in China. I think he was proud to show off a little.

We have been unbelievably blessed with Kate's progress so far. She is such a joy to our family, and praise to God for bringing her so far so quickly! It is so amazing how in love I am with this little girl. And if you've not met her yet, I can't wait for you to see her.


* I apologize for not having more pictures here, but the battery on our home computer completely died so we can't access almost all of the pictures we've taken since we've been home. Hopefully soon.

guangzhou

Here is some video from Suzhou... It's fun to see our family interact. I think Kate must think all we ever do is eat (which seems to be okay by her!).

We are now in Guangzhou. We flew in early yesterday (Monday morning) from Nanjing. Here's a picture from the flight, not long before she spilled that cup of water (pictured on the right) all over my shirt and lap. Nice.

Once we arrived and checked into the White Swan hotel, we had a fairly Americanized lunch at Lucy's down the street. More expensive but worth it. We then took Kate to her visa picture and medical examination for the paperwork for the American consulate. Not fun, but I'm glad she's so healthy. That evening, Amy worked diligently preparing all the paperwork to be filed this morning. (Great job, honey!) Because that took a while, we ate a late dinner at an Italian restaurant a little walk from the hotel. Not bad. I think everyone enjoyed it pretty well.

This morning we really didn't have anything scheduled. Just be available in our rooms from 9:00am to 10:30am while our guide filed our paperwork with the US consulate so she could contact us if there were any complications. Along with the other families from our agency, we dressed up all the kids in traditional Chinese clothing for pictures. Isn't our daughter beautiful? Then a little trip to go shopping and pick up some pizza for dinner. Because there were no naps, we just sent everyone to bed early tonight!

Tomorrow is our last full day in China. I guess we'll take part in the oath ceremony at the US consulate and try to get everything packed up. This may be my last post until we're back, but, for all you who twitter, I'll probably update once we arrive in Detroit.

24 things I've learned about my daughter

Since tomorrow morning it will have been a week since "gotcha day," I thought I would post a few of the things I have learned about Kate since we met...

1. She is absolutely perfect.
2. She loves to be carried by her Baba.
3. She could eat bananas and shrimp (which she needs me to peel and de-head) non-stop.
4. She has a fascination for electronics... constantly playing with the phone, the cameras, the tv remote, and any other buttons and knobs she can get her hands on.
5. She likes to carry things around, either her toothbrush or comb (though she doesn't actually like to use them) or she puts things in bags and carries them around.
6. Speaking of toothbrushes, she doesn't like anyone messing with her lip or her mouth (which makes it hard to brush teeth).
7. She likes the color pink and looks adorable in tights.
8. She needs a nap in the afternoon and wakes up in a good mood.
9. She feels the need to hold the water bottle lids, and occasionally comes along and grabs open containers and dumps them out.
10. She loves peek-a-boo, kissing noises, is ticklish, and has a hilarious low-toned belly laugh when she gets going.
11. She slaps her head after she has bumped it on something.
12. She's got these long, slender fingers and toes (and, when I put her in bed, she likes it when I kiss her feet).
13. She poops in twos.
14. She usually calms down when she is sung to.
15. She uses her head to block food she doesn't want to eat (it looks like she's bowing).
16. She cries all throughout bath time.
17. She thinks her Mommy is hilarious and thinks it's funny when she makes kissing noises.
18. She loves attention from Dai Ge Ben and Er Ge Will.
19. She seems to think sunglasses are great for leaving fingerprints.
20. She is hot-natured and sweaty.
21. Though we think she might have an ear ache now, she is generally healthy and has been well-taken care of (and takes medicine pretty well).
22. She doesn't drink from a bottle, straw or cup, only with a spoon (because of the cleft in her palate).
23. She has learned to appreciate chocolate ice cream.
24. She is more wonderful than I deserve!!!