I was appreciative of a text message this morning from a dear friend telling me they were inspired by an article in this morning’s Index Journal.  I still have only read the short version on the website and not read the entire article, but I was interviewed earlier this week concerning adoption.

Honestly, it took me a moment to realize why I was being interviewed for two reasons: 1) There are plenty of other families that do more than us for the cause of adoption, and 2) I forget that Eli is adopted.  In fact, I don’t like talking about it when one child is distinguished as the biological child and one as the adoptive child.  God brought both of our children into our family.  Different ways, but they are both our sons.

I went along with the interview because today is National Adoption Day, and I figured, if our family could inspire others to adopt, that’s a good thing.  That’s worth it.

We had a wonderful day as a family today playing in our home and helping with some friends’ wedding, but it ended on a very bitter note.  Right before family worship tonight, I read a tweet from a dear friend that read:
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Bloodlines Documentary with John Piper from Crossway on Vimeo.

Pastor John Piper’s newest book, Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian, is now available. Earlier this year Crossway traveled with Pastor John to his hometown of Greenville, SC to revisit the world in which he grew up. This 18-minute documentary takes us through his experience of racism in the 1960′s American South.

Watch the video above!  Incredible, honest, convicting.

In college, I was blessed to find many friends that became family.  Two of those were Josh and Tasha Via.  The Vias have led worship at North Side before, so that’s where some of you might remember them from.  They are wonderful worship leaders on and off the stage.  They have 3 wonderful children, 1 bun in the oven, and 1 more child coming home very soon.  Here’s an excerpt from Tasha’s blog:

Last October, Josh and I took a trip to Uganda where we met our little girl.  She lives in an orphanage in Bukaleba.  We are naming her “Alethia Grace.”  We have been praying for this orphanage before it was even built so we have quite a history with these children already!  While working at this orphanage back in October Josh and I fell in love with our little girl and we immediately began praying about bringing her home and becoming her “forever family”.  She just turned two in December and is apparently very spunky and lively, which is exactly what her name means.  We pray for her often as a family and Areyna and Zeke (and Cai as much as he can be:) are anxiously awaiting her arrival!

They are taking the entire crew to Uganda next week!  They will be in country for 6 weeks, please pray for them as they work on bonding time and all the paperwork that this time entails.

Another way you can help is by purchasing my “Coming Home” CD.  I used this 18 months ago to help support our adoption.  So many of you were gracious to donate money on my bandcamp site and support it, I would love to help them out as well.  The songs were written concerning all that God was doing in our hearts about our spiritual adoption and Eli’s coming home party.  So, here’s the deal: support my buddies, and this week I will take 100% of the proceeds to go towards their adoption.

On the site, the album is $9, but you can pay anything above that that you want.  So buy my CD for $1000 and really help them out .  These songs were birthed during our time in the word and on our knees, and God used it to help alleviate the finances associated with adoption.  I sure would appreciate you helping them out!  And I can’t wait till she gets to meet her Uncle Trav!

Here’s the link: HELP THE VIAS

It’s hard to think that we celebrated Eli’s 1 year being home anniversary yesterday.  We took the boys up to Dollywood this weekend to celebrate our wonderful year and had a great time.

It’s impossible to use words to adequately describe how God has moved over this last year.  Last year, I placed our son in the hands of his mother in an airport with him crying in terror that he was being left again.  This year, they are inseparable (actually, they were inseparable within two minutes, but that’s another story).  Last year, my son couldn’t walk or crawl on all fours.  This year, he was running up hills at an amusement park.  Last year, my son didn’t want to eat any type of food and only knew one word.  This year, he asked to pray over his fajitas, chips, and salsa at La Hacienda.  Last year, he was afraid to get buckled in the car seat.  This year, he begged to get strapped in a roller coaster (see below).
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Eli came home on May 1st.  It is hard to believe he has only been home a year, because I can’t remember what our family was like before he was here.  I can honestly say that when I look at those two boys, I see my two sons.  I don’t see one biological and one adopted, I see the two Agnew boys.

Yet there are still moments when I say something that reminds me how much he is mine.  Sometimes if he gives me a look or I have a flashback of our time in Ethiopia, I remember for a moment what it was like when we were strangers.  More often than that, I find myself forgetting that he hasn’t been with us all the time.

Which brings us to what happened last week.

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