The Blessing of Children follow up

Here is another article by Mr. Wait in regards to adoption of children. As always, it is eloquent and thorough. I've often wondered about adoption being compulsory since the thought of adopting children overwhelmed me in an already fruitful marriage. So, I particularly like this excerpt as a clarification on the subject:

...the concept of adoption is a Biblical idea but it is only explicitly
found in the New Testament. But the only sense that Scripture speaks explicitly
of adoption is the spiritual adoption of believers as the children of God. From
the doctrine of adoption we see that it is by free choice rather than
compulsion. So, perhaps we can say that we are free to adopt children who
otherwise would be outside of the covenant, but we are not required to do
so.

The Blessing of Children

Our good friend Erik Wait has posted a very thoughtful and eloquent article on his website covering the issue of children as blessings. Erik is a friend and was a fellow elder at our church back in California. He was also our neighbor in the duplex which we nicknamed Elder Row. His duplex was closer to the street than ours so he would trap all the Jehovah's Witness' in arguments before they had a chance to get to our door. They would be stumped in their defense of their faith after about two minutes talking with Elder Erik. After he moved in I never worried about being bugged by these persistent visitors :) Erik is very, very well educated in many theological issues as well as he is a savy wine enthusiast. Have a go-see on his site and look around a while.

Film festival

Colin got back late last night from the film festival and was very encouraged if not completely exhausted. We both find being around so many wonderful families completely invigorating to our spirits. I stayed home this year so that I could tend to the little ones and especially our newest little one. I was hoping to attend and bring the kids and maybe my niece to help, but my mom ended up having surgery last week and all available hands are on deck with her trying to help her recuperate from an unusually difficult time of it right now. So, I will have to wait until next year. Colin had a great time talking with folks and getting to know many new faces. In fact he has so much fun he forgot to take photos of any of them :) So if you'd like to see the happenings of the event, go visit Doug Phillip's blog or The Rebelution gentlemen or maybe even Kim's Life in a Shoe. :)

In the mean time, how about a memory of film festivals past...

Are you tired of baby pictures yet?

Okay, that's the last one for now. I'm trying to learn to sew. These are t-shirt dresses my mom helped me with. I think they'll fit better come next spring. Not bad for a first attempt at sewing ever!