Adoption | FLIGHT PLAN!

Posted on 16 June, 2009 by danscott77

Yesterday we found out that we travel to Ethiopia on July 8 to go and get THIS GUY!

Taye (Abdi) Scott

Our flight plan:

Grand Rapids to Detroit
Detroit to Amsterdam
Amsterdam to Khartoum, Sudan (for a gas stop)
Khartoum to Ethiopia

I’ll purchase the tickets today and secure our trip.

On July 14 we’ll officially meet him and take him with us. We’ll spend a few days with him in Addis Ababa and head home on July 18.

Simply amazing. This is finally happening and fast! We were praying that we wouldn’t have to wait too long; we are SO thankful for the way God has orchestrated this part – every part really – of this journey.

Jenna and I were taking last night about the trip and meeting Taye. Pretty much we’re expecting the worst once we have Taye with us. We’re looking forward to explosive diarrhea, crying and roller coaster emotions – and that’s just us!

Kidding.

We know so little about him. We know that he’s shy and quiet tempered, which we’re praying helps that initial transition. We don’t know if he’s potty trained. He won’t know us, and we’re taking him from his home for the past seven months. We’ve heard mostly horror stories. One mother even said that the plane trip is pretty much equivalent to LABOR! But the truth is we have no idea what to expect. Everyone’s experiences have been their own unique story, and we expect nothing less for our own.

Now of course, we pray for the best. We will GLADLY live out the story where all is well with the world, the doors all open magically at just the right moment, and the world becomes slow motion as he runs, arms wide and beaming smile into Jenna’s arms crying “MAMA!”. If that happens we will feel exponentially blessed.

However, the fact is we ARE exponentially blessed just for being able to walk this journey in the first place.
God knows what he’s up to. Always has always will be. He knows what we want, but he also knows what we need to have the best life with Taye. He loves all of us. He cares for all of us.

We rest in his care.

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My Week…

Posted on 12 June, 2009 by danscott77

1. I can post pictures of this little guy now!

Taye (Abdi) Scott

Taye is officially our son. I still can’t believe that we have four kids. It’s crazy. A good crazy for sure, but still crazy! He’s almost all that I can think about it. Can’t wait to go get him and bring him home!

2. On Wednesday, we took a great day trip to Chicago. Beautiful weather and lots of fun for the family! Liam came home with over 1000 Legos thanks to saving up birthday money. He was in his glory!

Liam with his HUGE bag of Legos.

The girls came home with some fabulous sunglasses from the Disney store thanks to crazy sales – and an actual need for sunglasses mind you.

ROCK STARS!!

We ate some amazing cupcakes at Hershey’s.

Jenna is excited about the cupcakes!!

And me… well, I got a nice little video that Jenna captured while trying out our new camera.

3. On Thursday, my boss threw a Taye celebration with the staff at work. We shared a bit of our adoption story and had a DELICIOUS(!) cake. Good times!

Telling a bit of our adoption story.

Congratulations! Go TAYE!

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Where I’ve Been…

Posted on 8 June, 2009 by danscott77

While it seems as though I’ve been hiding under a rock, I’m still here. I’ve been writing but nothing worth posting I guess. But here’s a quick rundown of my life for the last week or so:

1. Adoption update:

On June 9, we have our second round of court. We found out that the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, who currently has custody of Taye, wants to find out more information about

Taye’s birth-father. Unfortunately, there’s not much information available as he’s deceased without death certificates or anything. We’re praying that whatever they’re looking for will turn up or they will give up and just give us custody of Taye on Tuesday.

We did get some great pictures of him and the orphanage. I wish I could post them, but let me just say. They were an encouragement. The orphanage is a really nice house with a playground out front. They even have a TV and DVD player! The kids are getting excellent care; they still need lots of love from parents, but we know they’re doing OK.

Jenna’s been great at passing the time and getting money together for plane tickets! (Click on that sentence to see her latest interview on WZZM-13 Grand Rapids.)

2. We’ve been having lots of fun at home:

Jeepin’ With the Top Down:

Jeepin' with the girls!

Making Ice Cream:

tripple pic copy

Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts:

The stage... Rosa Parks Circle - GREAT location!

Going to a Baseball game with Liam:

Daddy and Liam fun

3. Work Updates…

Work has been busy. Good busy, but busy nonetheless. I’m thankful for some new kid’s pastors in my life who’ve been a huge encouragement to me. It’s great to do ministry with other creative people, even if they are spread out all over the country! Ah, the wonders of e-mail, IM,  Twitter and Facebook!

Last week in a meeting I was told that I am “the man.” As in I used to work for the man, and now I am the man. Not sure how I feel about that, but it’s a new chapter and I’ll embrace it. Thankfully, I absolutely love what I do and almost daily wonder how I ever got this gig. I don’t deserve it.

We’ve got June off in Discovery Village, which allows the family to head out to Scioto Hills Camp for the second year and talk to some great junior high students about living for the One Thing!

That’s me in a few paragraphs. I hope to write more frequently now that life is quieting down for a season. Here’s to summer!!

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Life | Thoughts from Our Garage Sale

Posted on 22 May, 2009 by danscott77

I’m currently manning our garage sale while Jenna’s out with the girls.

We’ve been doing garage sales for years, and every year it seems like we have just as much junk out as we did the year before. However as I sit here and look around, I’m realizing that most of what is for sale is stuff that other people have given to us to sell for plane tickets to Ethiopia.

Meaning: hardly any of it was ours to begin with.

Last night I did the usual spin around our bookshelves and CD racks to find merch for our sale. I pulled two books and maybe 20 CDs. But hardly anything in the stacks was garage-sale ready. Most were music and books that we enjoy on a regular basis.

I looked through my closet. I wear everything. Shoes? Same thing.

I went through our knick-knacks hoping to find some trash that could become someone else’s treasure.

NOTHING!

And sure, we’re unloading lots of kids clothes that are ours as well as some toys that our kids have really lived without anyway. But overall, we’ve hardly anything to sell.

People are literally walking up to the front of the garage, realizing that it’s all baby/toddler stuff, and are walking away.

I think I’d be offended that people don’t want our stuff if weren’t for the fact that we don’t want it either.

Seriously, what has happened to us?! It’s like in the past year we’ve become un-American with the way we don’t consume as much as used to.

Could this be that thing that some people call “growth”?

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Adoption | Thoughts…

Posted on 20 May, 2009 by danscott77

Last night I had a dream about Taye; I’m not making this up.

Throughout the first part of the dream I was running through a mall of sorts trying to get to where I knew he was outside. It was one of those dreams where I just couldn’t get through the mall. I was on roller skates, I was falling. I was getting stopped by locked doors. I felt as though I would never get to him.

And then I did.

The whole family was there. Jenna, Liam, Elli, Addi… and Taye.

It was him. Looked just like his picture and his video. He could speak English. He called me Papa because that’s what they called me when referring to the photos we sent him. He sat on my lap and was at home.

And then I woke up.

If that’s not a picture of the reality of this adoption at this point, I don’t know what is. He is so close. We have him in our sights. We’re one piece of paper away. We’re running to him and are getting tripped up in the process.

Jenna tweeted today about feeling “overdue.” I think it’s just that. It’s God’s timing. We know that, but it doesn’t make the wait any easier.

I just keep looking at the three pictures I have of him in my office and pray a lot.

Thank you so much for your continued support of this process. Your prayers mean so much! We’ll keep you posted. I can’t wait to share his picture with the world and introduce you formally to Taye.

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This might get me on Photoshop Disasters

Posted on 15 May, 2009 by danscott77

This weekend we’re celebrating Jeff Manion’s 25 years at Ada Bible Church. Jeff is a great communicator who as we’ve come to know first hand practices what he preaches. He is a friend and mentor who has been an incredible encouragement to my life.

Because we have two campuses, we wanted to make sure that Jeff could be at both of them on Sunday. The worship arts team decided to make a full-body, cardboard stand-up of Jeff. I guess I must be the Photoshop guru at church because the worship arts director asked me to make a composite of Jeff as they didn’t have a full body shot.

I took this photo of Jeff.

jeff top

And this stock photo of a random guy.

random guy

And “created” this monster with my apologies to Jeff.

jeff WHITE BACKGROUND copy

It’s not that bad if I don’t say so myself… I completed it in about 15 minutes. If I had spent and hour I could have worked on the shadows on the shirt… Still, it was a fun project!

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Adoption | Update on Taye’s Hearing

Posted on 14 May, 2009 by danscott77

We finally heard from our case worker around 5 this afternoon. I’ll get right to it: We didn’t pass court.

Obviously, we are disappointed and wanted this all to go through today. However, in this midst that disappointment, there is a HUGE praise. Taye’s mother showed up at court and gave her consent for his adoption. In our minds, this was going to be the biggest hurdle to jump. We didn’t know if she would come to court or if she would change her mind once she got there. We are sad for her and grieve her loss; we are thankful that she is allowing us to care for her little boy.

Our new court date is June 9. This puts everything back a few weeks. If we pass, we’ll hopefully travel sometime in July. We at least know that our biggest challenge in this adoption hearing is done. We just need ONE DOCUMENT(!) from the Ethiopian Ministry of Women’s Affairs to finish the process. Our agency told us this is a very normal reason for not passing court the first time around and is usually ready for the second court date.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. The love and support you’ve shown my family and me has been truly amazing. Thank you for walking this journey with us. I’m not sure we could do this without you. He is as much your child as he is ours. Please continue to pray for June 9 and that those involved with get that final paper work finish and turned in on time.

We’ll keep you posted.

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Today…

Posted on 14 May, 2009 by danscott77

1. My mind is preoccupied with a court hearing deciding if Taye will be our son today or sometime in the near future. We’re obviously praying that this will happen today, but rest knowing that God’s timing and plan are better than ours. I’m not really thinking too hard on anything else, though I’m trying really hard!

2. I had a GREAT phone conversation with an awesome children’s ministry leader in Kansas. He and his team are asking such great questions of their ministry. I get so excited about ministry when I have these dialogues with others. I’m blessed to have such a great network of people doing what I do. There’s a huge feeling of we’re all in this together. So much is at stake and working together will bring exponential results than would doing this by myself.

3. I have a lunch appointment with one of my favorite team members. He’s got a great mind full of creative ideas and his excitement for our ministry is infectious. We’re talking through vision and planning for the future. I know that I’ll come away energized for what’s coming down the road.

4. I share my depression story in a pastoral care training on the same subject this afternoon. I’ve never shared this story to a group of people. But when I found out that depression was the topic for the training, I felt like I just needed to offer to share my story. I’m not sure I thought I’d be taken up on the offer, but I was and I’m ready. I feel like I’m past it enough to share objectively let close enough to speak from my heart remembering some of those moments.

5. I’ve got a night home with the kids. Jenna’s heading out to check some car seats. I like being home with the kids. It’s a beautiful day in Grand Rapids; we might have to take a walk on the bike path to enjoy it!

6. I’ll be exhausted by the evening, but there is a great night of TV ahead.

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Mowing the Grass and a Teachable Moment (FOR ME)

Posted on 9 May, 2009 by danscott77

It was supposed to rain all week (and thankfully didn’t), but I decided that I better mow the lawn on Monday night. Jenna snapped this picture of Liam and I:

this was simply adorable.

He basically did whatever I did, and even rigged up a plastic Target bag as his “grass catcher,” so he could dump his into the yard waste bin when I did my own. He just wanted to be like me.

Make you think doesn’t it. Even with all of the media our kids view every week, did you know that parents are still the most influential adult in their kids’ lives? It’s true. Liam wants to mow the lawn just like me. How about when I face a difficulty or frustration? Will he react like I do? Do I WANT him to react like I do? Chances are, he will.

I need to remember that my children want to be more like me than they will ever tell me. Each moment with them is an important part of their development towards maturity; I must constantly ask myself if I am a good example for them to follow. I sure hope so.

Keep watch. Guard your heart. Live well… others are following close behind.

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Best week ever?

Posted on 8 May, 2009 by danscott77

This is supposed to me my best week ever. Let me explain:

Each Tuesday morning our Family Ministry team meets to share some highlights of the previous week and specifically hear from one of the team members. (I wrote more about that here.) Then that person goes to the middle and the rest of the team surrounds him or her and anyone can pray. We have this running joke that when it’s your week, it is supposed to be your best week ever! This week was my turn.

I shared about Orange and how it rocked my ever living world, especially FRANCIS CHAN!! (Some day soon I’ll post on that sermon in more detail.) I shared that God is moving in our ministry. Kids are starting to understand what Jesus is all about, who he is and what he came to do in our lives. I asked that they pray for the balance all of us need between home and work. In ministry these tend to get blended all too often as ministry is more of a 24/7 sort of job.

I headed to the middle (and yes, this is a bit awkward), and seriously I think that 10 people prayed over me. I was overwhelmed with love as people prayed for my family, for Taye over in Ethiopia, for my ministry. They thanked God for my heart for ministry and what I bring to the Family Ministry team. Regardless if this is actually my “best week” I was encouraged to head into my work week with a needed jolt after Orange.

And actually, while sure this wasn’t my literal “best week ever,” this week has been great. I had more good conversations this week than I’ve had in a long time. I’m excited for the future both in my work and personal life. So much is on the horizon that came to light this week. I realized again how blessed I am.

Seriously, every ministry team should do this as often as possible. The stories and prayer give a much needed boost to any team’s morale. We get tired; we need prayer to make it through. God is at work; we should praise him for it.

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