Our Crossway Video

Remember this post back in February about our opportunity to interview with the publishing company Crossway about our adoption process?  Now that we've come upon the one year anniversary of Dr. Russell Moore's book, Adopted for Life, the video of our interview is available on the Crossway blog.  I'll include it below too.

This was just a week before we went to Ethiopia to bring our kids home.  I think you might be able to tell how excited we were...

Swings

Our babies are full of happiness.  They laugh throughout the day, and their personalities are really starting to come through.  It's so fun to interact with them.  May their joy only increase as they get older!

Here they are enjoying the swings at the park.  Oh how I love them! 

Adoption on the Rise

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The adoption agency Bethany Christian Services says interest from couples in adopting is significantly ahead of what it was last year, a trend that is being seen elsewhere and, adoption leaders say, is an example of a growing adoption movement among Christians.

International adoption placements through Bethany are up 66 percent this year compared to last year while inquiries about international adoption are up 95 percent, the agency reported July 19. Domestic infant adoption interest also is up: Applications are up 23 percent and home studies up 15 percent.

See the rest of the article here.

Our Agency's Orphanages

Check out this blog documenting a mission trip to Ethiopia to visit several of the orphanages that our adoption agency works with.

Hubby's Birthday

I love my husband's birthday more than I love my own.  And we had a great day today celebrating his life!  For the details, and a fun video the kids and I made for him, check out his blog.  Here's a preview of what you'll see there...

Time to Start Rearranging the House...

Couldn't Have Said It Better

A friend shared another family's blog with me, and I just had to repost their adoption announcement for you...

Adopting a child (and especially a child from Ethiopia!) is not something that I ever imagined us doing. Adoption was nowhere in my future plans. You see, I have learned that this is often how God works. We make plans for our life based on what sounds logical to us. We keep God in mind, of course, but we also give a lot of thought to what seems fulfilling to us. That’s when God steps in and says, “No, my child. Your life is not for your own fulfillment. It is a sacrifice to Me. Follow Me and I will show you how to have abundant life. I know that this wasn’t what you expected, and it doesn’t make sense to you right now. Trust Me. Obey Me, and you will never be sorry that you did.”

***

When Madeline was about two months old, I asked Daniel the question: “If the hospital called and said that they had mistakenly sent us home with the wrong child, would you want to trade Madeline in for the child that was actually ours biologically?” We both realized that, without a doubt, the answer would be no. It was then that adoption first entered our minds. I realized that I do not love Madeline because she has my genes. I love her because I spend day and night with her, investing my all in her and constantly praying for her. That is what makes me her mommy.

I searched the Word for every scripture that I could find about adoption, and I encountered passage after passage in the Old Testament describing the special love and protection that God gives to the fatherless. He commanded his people to provide for them through benevolence and tithes, and He promises judgment if they ever mistreat them. He promises to be a Father to the fatherless, and He makes it clear that it is His will to set the lonely in families. (Psalm 68:5-6) He holds close those that are abandoned by their father and mother. (Psalm 27:10)

It has been my prayer for a long time now to have a heart more like HIS. To love who HE loves and to desire what HE desires. God has a special love for the orphan, and He desires that they be set in families. In what better way can we love those that He loves and be hurt by the injustice that hurts Him than to adopt a precious child?

As soon as we said “yes” to God by deciding to adopt, we found that so many things in our lives began to make sense. We have long questioned why we have been given such abundance spiritually, materially, and familial-ly, when so many in the world don’t have the food, shelter, or medical care they need just to survive. We have felt restless, knowing that we were certainly made for more than quietly living out our average American lives of abundance, going to work, going to church, and raising our 2.5 kids. How are we making a difference? We have been reading a lot of eye-opening books lately. In one of them, Red Letters, Tom Davis writes about what he believes would happen in the world if the church began to actually live out the words of Christ (written in red in many Bibles). We want to obey Jesus with all our hearts when He says to go to all the world with the gospel and to feed the hungry and clothe the needy.

Baby Food

Remember this post from four days ago, when I was feeling sad that our kids weren't taking to the homemade baby food I had made to try to save money?  I'm completely humbled by God's grace and kindness to us...because He just provided more than 50 jars of baby food completely free, plus rice cereal.  And there might be more to come.  A friend of a friend has a little girl that doesn't eat baby food anymore, but she's able to get 32 free jars of it every month for the next couple of months.

God continues to amaze me with His generosity toward us.  How kind of Him to provide for us, and in a way that doesn't require me to make the food from scratch!

Like Psalm 37:25-26 says, "I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.  He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing."

Snips and Snails AND Sugar and Spice

Our kiddos are very much a little boy and a little girl.  In the one corner we have grunts, an insatiable appetite, energetic curiosity and a love for anything that drives by on the road.  Daddy already has his favorite sports teams picked out.

And in the other corner we have giggles, crossed ankles, batting eyelashes and a love for snuggling.  Nobody needs to tell this girl how to melt her daddy's heart.

It's so fun for us as parents to experience both!

Dancing in the Minefields

I was having a hard afternoon today.  I'd love for my kids to eat homemade baby food because I think it would save us money.  I also have a bunch of homemade yellow squash and green beans in the freezer, and I'd hate for it to go to waste.  But we've had to resort to baby food jars because I've had disastrous results when I try to feed them the homemade stuff.

Today, after a couple of weeks of them eating baby food out of jars, I tried them back on homemade.  Well, let's just say it was wildly unsuccessful and resulted in an yucky, big mess.  Discouraging for mommy.  Especially when I'm feeling sore and tired from a chiropractor appointment yesterday.

Then my husband emailed me this.

I'm silly for being discouraged by such a little thing, and for being concerned about a small expense like baby food when God has provided in much larger ways for our family all along.  But even in our small "minefields," it's a million times nicer to walk through them with someone else.  My dear husband, I'm glad that someone is you.

For the Young Mother

Being a mommy has been a big transition for me.  I've talked to several friends about it.  Before we had kids, I was very busy outside the home.  I was working full-time, teaching classes online, and really involved at our church.  We love spending time with people, so there's usually a lot of that in our week.  And I cook low-carb gluten free food for hubby, which takes a bit of planning and time.

Now I've cut back on some of those things because I have the privilege to stay home with our sweet babies.  There's nothing I'd rather be doing!  But it is an adjustment.  I find myself sometimes feeling guilty for being less involved with things outside the home that I used to be able to do.  They're all good things, but I have to keep reminding myself that they're not the main and best things that God has called me to be investing in right now.

A good friend sent an article to a few of us the other day called For the Young Mother: Ministry, Guilt, and Seasons of Life.  It was so confirming and encouraging!  It reminds mommies like me that our primary mission field is our children.  What a high calling, and what a privilege!  It's hard work, and it doesn't always feel like the most immediately rewarding work.  But I want to cultivate a love for our home, like the article says, and delight in serving Christ as a wife and a mother.

Titus 2:4-5 "Train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled."

Chompers

Call me silly, but I'm totally excited that our kids are getting teeth!  I can't explain it, but since those little white chompers have been coming in the last few weeks, I've taken to admiring them through the day and showing them off to friends.

It may be hard to see in this picture, but our little mister has both bottom teeth popping through.  He's a big grinner, so we get to enjoy them pretty often.

And our little miss has the same bottom teeth coming in, though they haven't come through quite as far.  She has a different kind of smile than her brother, so here's mommy helping her show off her pearly whites...

Churches Adopt Adoption

Check out this encouraging Christianity Today article!  Churches are getting real about adoption's challenges -- and helping families after the child arrives.

Where's Waldo?

Our kids were invited to their first birthday party!  Carson Hunter, who was also adopted from Ethiopia, turned two years old this month, and his parents threw him an airplane themed party.  There were several adoptive families there, and we had a great time.

Can you find the Philpot fam among the guests?  Hint: Daddy and I are both holding a brown baby (though there were quite a few of them at the party, which was wonderful!).

More Families Adopting

We currently have 23 young couples at our church (several singles, older couples, elderly and visitors also, but I'm focusing in here on the young couples).  The majority of the husbands are in seminary, and I'm fairly sure all of the 23 couples are preparing to serve the Lord by going into full-time ministry of some sort, if they don't already fall into that category.  So these are couples who are not wealthy and many of them are in transition.

When we began the adoption process, we didn't know anyone else who had adopted.  But since we've brought our kids home, praise the Lord, there are three other couples at our church who have begun the adoption process!  I've spoken with two other couples at our church who hope to start the adoption process within the next couple of years, and four other couples who are considering it for the future...some pretty strongly considering it.  The former Associate Pastor and his wife (who already have four biological children) have also started the process of adopting twins from Ethiopia.  And there are a few other couples we know from college and work that are also talking about adoption now. 

I'm amazed at God!  When He began a work in our hearts, He had much more in mind than just His plans for the Philpot family.  And isn't that always the way?

Friends and family who have been part of our journey know that we're just regular people.  So if we can adopt, it makes adoption seem less intimidating in general.  I hope the joy we've known and the miracle of redemption our kids have experienced inspire other families to bring orphans into their families!

Of course, we know that what God has done in our lives has only been one part of what may have motivated friends of ours to think about adoption.  But praise the Lord that we can be a small part of His work in the world!!

Happy Fourth of July...

From our little Americans!

The Dad Life

Hubby sent this video by email one day.  Dads with daughters may be able to especially relate.  Think Swagger Wagon.

Adoption: The Heart of the Gospel

I just came across a sermon by John Piper with eight similarities between God's adoption of us and our adoption of children.  You can read it or listen to it here.

Even if you just skim the eight similarities, it's excellent!  Best of all, it ends with a beautiful letter John Piper wrote to his wife when he decided that they would adopt their daughter, Talitha Ruth.  He was 50 years old at the time.

Da-da and Bubble Blower

Playing Together

Cousins

Our babies with their cousins on daddy's side (there's one more on the way later this year):

And with their cousin on mommy's side:

 
We are so thankful for our families!