Ni Hao Cowboy

On again off again...

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 18:25:00 +0000

Anyone else have those on again off again ~~arguments~~ conversations with God? Melissa and I have been in one of those for what seems like about 6 months now. In fact, if you look at the post just below here from July, it sort of hints at that, and probably why this blog has gone dark since. There for a while we just KNEW what we were supposed to do. So we....

Had 2 garage sales
Sold a bunch of stuff on Craigslist
Sold some other stuff to a jewelry store
Saved up some $$$
Threw this $$$ at the adoption agency
Filled out a truck load of paperwork

Then it happened....

We were down to the very last item, me getting my physical and blood work. This in and of itself is no big deal, it's just a logistical pain in the rear! Our family doctor only does blood work 2 days or something stupid like that, and they are NEVER timely when I go over there and end up missing a half a day of work just to draw blood. I went to an appointment, had to leave for an important meeting because they couldn't poke my finger for at least another hour after my scheduled time, couldn't reschedule for another couple of weeks, blah, blah, blah.

Then we found out the 2 children our agency had been in the process of getting assigned had been placed, ouch! Now, we don't know what a physical miscarriage is like as we never experienced it, but this is probably what I imagine it would emotionally feel like. I'm not sure Melissa and I talked about it for many days, we had just lost 2 children! This lead to the, "that's it, I'm done" declaration to God. And we both meant it. So that settled it, we were done. It's too stressful, we're getting too old, I don't want to raise any more money, we're tired of people asking when are we traveling, we're focusing on other things for a while... did you hear me?

WE ARE DONE!

God patiently listened and said nothing, for quite a long time. Then one day, I don't remember when, like a faint whisper, I could sense something. "Are you ready to talk about it again?" It came as such a loving nudge from God. I was overcome with a sense of loving warmth and God's desire to speak to me and my heart. It was really just a simple, "it's not time to give up, there is more".

I scheduled some time with Herbe at Lifeline to understand the logistics of waiting. I was so encouraged by him and his staff, they are truly amazing workers for God! So I am going to find a way to get that stupid blood work done, and we're going to sit and wait for a while. Our home study and majority of our paperwork is good for a while, at least long enough to sit and listen more.

Now, if I can just learn to listen as patiently and lovingly to my kids as God has done with us during the past 6 months!

White Bread World

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 18:33:00 +0000

This month marks the 10 year anniversary of our family moving to Birmingham Alabama. We moved here from Broken Arrow Ok in July of '02. I'm not sure if it was a leap of faith or just a leap of I Need Out of Oklahoma and now. Chris and I can be pretty impulsive sometimes. It's gotten less so over the years but we really flew by the seat of our pants for a while. New cars, new houses, have another baby, whatever.

We decided in March of '02 that it was time for a change of scenery so we took a spring break trip to B'ham to look at houses. I'm pretty sure we didn't pray too hard about that decision. Chris found a job pretty quick teaching computers at Vestavia High. Talk about a demotion. He was a doctoral professor at Univ of Tulsa and now he was going to teach keyboarding. But the Lord blessed that decision. Thank goodness. Turns out we love Vestavia, Birmingham and the south in general.

The only problem with our little world here is that we kind of live in a bubble. A little white bread bubble. Our neighborhood is white. Our church is white. Our school is mostly white. Our family is not white. Well that's not entirely true. Chris and I are white, our bio kids are white. E & F are not white. Any future kids that may join our family will probably not be white. I love that about our family. I've always loved lots of color.

What will it be like for E & F as they get older in this little white world? I really don't feel any need or desire to move to a more colorful part of town. I don't feel called to change churches or schools. So I guess we will stay and try and make things less white around here. But what will E & F have to deal with? Right now they are young and treated just like any of our other kids in church, hood and school. But what about middle and high schools? Will they be shunned by old friends or treated differently by teachers?

I hope not.

I'm not sure that's realistic tho'.

I think it's my job to let them know that their family will always accept them. Their true friends will always accept them. Especially Jesus will always accept them. They will always have Jesus to lean on and guide them through every difficult situation. I want them to be proud of their culture and heritage but I also want them to know that they belong here. Just like everyone else around here. They belong.

I know many people around here think that we are crazy. 5 kids, 6 kids, 7 kids? Who knows. When will you stop adopting? When God tells me to. Not when I decide. When He decides. What would I do with myself? Play tennis, PTA President, shop. No thank you. When I'm old I want to know that I did something worthwhile. Not just the bare minimum. I want to make a difference in the world and to my children. All my children. Even the ones I don't know yet.
Melissa

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 01:18:00 +0000

Hi there.

This is Melissa writing this post. Chris has been doing it up to now but he's having a hard time finding time and inspiration so I'm taking over for a while.

Growing up I loved the idea of keeping a diary but could never keep it up. I would write for three or four days and then nothing. Every diary I had was basically empty but I kept trying every couple of years. I do write a Christmas letter every year. I thought about quitting but I skipped it a couple of years ago and caught all sorts of grief from different family members so I haven't let that happen again. I try not to be too braggy in the letter but since I can only get a few sentences in about each family member I don't feel the need to mention the negative aspects of each of my children.

I figured out today that there are 34 days left of summer. The summer has actually been going pretty well this year but I do love the school year. I like schedules and consistency. Loosey goosey days are not my cup of tea. The kids have done pretty well tho'. Bailey and Channing are old enough now to make their own plans and keep themselves busy with friends, church, camps and dance. Dutch has discovered D1 and football camps. He loves it up there and I love the fact that it's two minutes from the house. The little boys have done various church camps and church school. All they really want to do is swim though.

We haven't been to the beach or Oklahoma yet this summer. We probably need to squeeze both of those things in pretty soon. Fisher has only been to the beach once since he came home so he is dying to go back. Saying he loved it is an understatement. He loves all sorts of sand, dirt, mud etc. The beach is right up his alley.

I wish I could give you a major update on our adoption progress but there isn't much to report. We are STILL working on our homestudy. It's been about five months now. Basically Chris and I stink at homestudies. I can't believe how long it's been taking. We have made some mistakes that cost us some time. We sent in our fingerprints without getting the police officer to sign the cards. How stupid are we?! Little things like that have really slowed us down. I'm finding it harder and harder to believe that we have actually adopted twice in the past. How did that happen? Apparently I am capable of getting paperwork done but you wouldn't know it by looking at things now. Maybe once the kids go back to school I can focus!

So there's the update for now. I'll try and include some pics with this post. Chris is out of town so I'll have to figure it out on my own so if it doesn't happen I'll try again next time.

The Week of Chris

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 18:35:00 +0000

For those of you who were a product of the 80's, it seems just about anything we do now in life can always be referenced back to something from Sienfeld. Every year there is a week in June that I appropriately claim as the week of Chris.

The reason I've claimed it as the week of Chris is because our anniversary is on the 12th, my birthday is on the 16th and Father's day is that Sunday. Unlike George, I at least like to try and find something better to do than try Frolf. Some years, the week of Chris comes and goes with little fanfare depending on that season of life, what the kids have going on, etc...

But this year... the stars and planets must have aligned up correctly because it was one of the best weeks of Chris I can remember.

It started with Melissa and I actually getting to go out to dinner ON our anniversary, it just doesn't seem to happen all that often. We had a great evening just hanging together over dinner and doing a bit of shopping for new bedding. I know, not terribly exciting, but hey, you take the wins when you get them after 19 years! To be clear, the bedding search was for a nice new down comforter as I think we were sleeping with bedding that we've probably had the entire 19 years we've been together. We were stoked, and that's what counts, right?! What actually made it great is we went through an entire night out and returned home without 1 single text or phone call from anyone at home crying, telling on each other, asking us to tell so and so to stop being so mean, etc... It was the first time we could EVER remember leaving all of the kids home together and this happening!

The very next morning I was up at the crack of dawn to catch a plane to a conference for the remainder of the week. Normally this would be a total drag given that it IS the week of Chris after all, but would you believe it? The conference was in Park City, Utah! So while I did spend a decent amount of time inside at some sessions, we had enough time to do and see plenty of this:

The Canyons just outside of Park City was beautiful. For those of you that know me, being in the mountains does something for my soul in a way that is hard to explain. I'm probably the only person you'll ever meet that moved away from Vail to Oklahoma, twice! So while I was there for "work" it was the most refreshing conference I've ever attended!

Saturday the 16th is my birthday and I spent all day traveling through airports to get home Saturday evening. For some reason, getting to the western 1/4 of the country is relatively easy, getting back always seems to take twice as long due to flight schedules. So while my birthday itself was nothing to write home about, one of my sweet daughters, C, mashed up some pics and I was pleasantly surprised when I received this as a text message while sitting around in the Memphis airport for 3 hours:

Now how awesome is that?!! She is now 14 and this might have been one of the sweetest gestures anyone's done for me that I can remember.

The next day was Father's day and we got to do something I've wanted to do with some of my kids for a long time after church:

We went kayaking on the Coosa river! It was such a great time with my Dad, B, C, and D. It's only about an hour and half away and we spent about 3 hours on the river together. I couldn't think of a greater way to have spent Father's day afternoon. It had it's adventures and trials as getting dumped in the rapids and rocks can be a bit daunting for the kids first time, but in the end I think everyone really enjoyed it. They are still laughing about some of it this week.

It will be hard to live up to the 2012 week of Chris, but anything close to this will be hard to beat! It really was an amazing week and I'm so thankful for the variety and joys received through all of these events this week.

21 Take Aways from Honduras

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 01:08:00 +0000

Here are 21 things I learned from our mission trip to Honduras this past week to work with students at Plan Escalon just outside of La Entrada.

1. United Airlines out of Birmingham is absolutely awful! (We're sorry to intrude on your time by wanting to actually fly somewhere...)

2. UA workers in Honduras are pleasant to work with and seem to enjoy/appreciate their jobs

3. Moving with the groove and a conga line are requisite items for praise and worship

4. From 10 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. when that close to equator, it's hot as blazes!

5. Sidewalk chalk is great in any language

6. Not everyone heeds the one wipe in the toilet policy/warning

7. Today's kids have no idea how to easily open/close the windows on a school bus!

8. Was reminded why I don't miss dealing with this on a daily basis

9. The current use of the word "cougar" in the U.S. gets a bit lost in translation

10. Some people still call Birmingham, bombing-ham, who knew?!

11. Sara L. has mad plumbing skills (see number 6)

12. Young boys can indeed wash clothes

13. Honduran kids can do amazing things with a ball and their feet, but they can't throw a football worth a darn

14. The answer to the riddle of "how many Hondurans can you get into the back of a truck" is... one more!

15. All kids love to play and get hugs!

16. Guys like girls with skills, you know, like riding a burro with kickin shades on

17. I can barely get cell coverage in my house with a cell tower in our backyard, but in Honduras you CAN get cell coverage here...

and here...

Oh yeah, and if you are the read while you do your business type, here...

18. We found some help for Ingram the next time she needs to make chicken salad for thousands of people

19. We are all adopted into God's family and created in his image

20. God is doing some amazing work in some of the most remote places on the planet

21. I have some amazing brothers and sisters in Christ in my church!

A butterfly flapping it's wings in South America can effect the weather in Central Park

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 02:38:00 +0000

Image from Trey Ratliff - stuckincustoms.com

We received a great update today regarding Xiao! Apparently one of the larger adoption agencies who works a ton with China has a family matched with Xiao. We received a call today from our agency with the news.

It was presented to us as a "not so good" update. We however are totally stoked! Our intent was to advocate on this little boys behalf, share his story with others, bring awareness to HIV+ babies in China, and get people praying for him. Us becoming the forever family for him was really way down on the list. So as I look over the reasons why we blogged about him and shared his story, I can say, check, check, check, praise God!

I think we often feel like if we aren't the ones to resolve an issue or step up and simply just do it ourselves it won't get done. I think this discounts what God is doing with his flock and our role within His larger community. I have no way of knowing if anything we did had anything to do with Xiao getting matched with a family, but that doesn't hamper my enthusiasm for what God is doing and what the power of prayer may have done from those who read about him and simply included him in their prayer time.

I often think of this in term's of Edward Lorenz's butterfly theory which is always covered in chaos theory:

A butterfly flapping it's wings in South America can effect the weather in Central Park

As a part of God's larger community, it's not a stretch for me to apply this notion from chaos theory to my spiritual walk. My small prayer in Alabama can effect the trajectory of a little boy in China in need of a loving forever home. Now that's something I can get excited about!

Living on the edge

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:52:00 +0000

With the girls out of town and some moderate temperatures, it was a good day for the boys to get out and explore. We ended up at Ruffner Mountain checking out a few of the trails. It ended up having some terrain I was a bit nervous with as can be seen with D hanging his legs over, and yes it was straight down from there! F kept crawling on his knees to stick his head over and look. I couldn't hang out at this spot too long needles to say.

It was good getting them out to get dirty, throw rocks and sticks, pee in the woods, and generally let their inner caveman out for a while. You should check out the slide show and see how primitive they got.

We topped it off with burgers and shakes and I think I saw one of them loosen their pants and collapse in front of the TV. The girls are still gone so the inner cavemen can hang around a little longer I suppose.

Can Doing God's Work Screw up your Kids?

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:09:00 +0000

I can honestly say this is probably not something most Christians ever even wonder. I think most people I know would say of course not, how could that be possible? I bet if you ask a missionary though, you'd get a response like, "Well.............." If they were being honest anyway. Very few of us are ever put in a position of even thinking about this. We are never pushed to think perhaps there is even a chance of us doing something that might not be in the best interest of our children or even thinking God would ask us to do this.

This had been weighing on my mind a bit lately (more as to why in a bit) when I received an update from a missionary family our church supports. Within it was the following:

It was one of the harder letters I’d ever written. The gist of it was this: “Boarding isn’t working for your child, despite all the support you and we are offering. You need to make a change.”

Let me clarify what a “change” implies: For a bush missionary whose child doesn’t “make it” at boarding school, almost everything about life must change. It may mean bringing that child back to the bush/village and homeschooling them, which may require one parent giving up part or all of his/her ministry. It may mean the family needs to move to a different location where the child can be a day student – giving up home, ministry, church, and friends. It may mean a return to the home country, giving up all the above as well as “Africa”. Whatever the cost, letters like mine are among those missionary parents hope never to get.

You can imagine, then, why this family’s humble and open response brought tears to my eyes. The gist of what they said was: “Thank you for sharing this. What should we do? We are praying for God’s wisdom and help in meeting our child’s needs.”

Seriously? I mean, I can't quite fathom having to wrangle with God on this. Here this family is doing what they believe God called them to do in the middle of stinking no where Africa for a people group they've been lead to, and it's wreaking havoc on their child. How could this not be screwing up their kid, and their family? Just think if they end up leaving and this kid knowing he/she is the reason their parents had to stop doing what they thought God wanted them to do. Holy smokes, that's heavy!

I had been thinking on this just a bit myself because I have been spending a decent amount of time organizing some missions opportunities for our church and I found myself telling my little boys, "no I can't play right now because I have to get this trip organized and some information out tonight!" I immediately felt bad about it, but then told myself this is what God has asked me to do right now, surely it won't hurt my kid's feelings too bad. Will it?

Please don't think I'm at all comparing my few Sunday afternoon and evenings of short term missions planning instead of tossing the football in the yard or playing the Xbox for the umpteenth time with my boys anywhere near this families struggle. It just got me thinking as both events occurred within the same week and as I dive more into short term missions, orphan/adoption advocacy, another adoption, and other generally "Godly" endeavors on top of my regular work a day life.

I don't have any answers other than God has my family and this missionary family in His hands and His grace is so overflowing that it will be ok, I hope, it will, right? So how does one balance God's callings and kids?

C'mon man, this is crazy!

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:05:00 +0000

Do you ever find yourself asking, how did anyone live without the global connectivity and speed of the interwebz? I mean, coordinating a group outing by actually calling everyone on their home phone is so 2007, right?! I even recently pondered, how in heaven's name did missionaries actually get anything done in terms of communicating their activities, vision, and fundraising? How did anyone ever plan a short term mission trip for crying out loud with a missionary in the field? Are you serious, pick up the phone at some predetermined time to call half way around the world to have a sketchy conversation at best and try and organize something? Or God forbid have to do it by writing letters back and forth! How did God mobilize his armies and people around the world? How did He do that without all of this technology? I mean, seriously? C'mon man, how did all that stuff actually get done?! I seriously want to know how Moses created the first flash mob to make a run for it out of Egypt?

Just this week alone I've coordinated a mission trip to Honduras in 140 characters or less, Skype on my cell phone connected to a public wireless access point, and a crap load of email blasts. This alone was exhausting, I'm on the verge of carpel tunnel. I think I'd have to take the pencil to my eye if I had to have written everything i've digitally composed this week with said pencil!

Annnnd, we received a most amazing update on our advocacy for Xiao. Through the last blog post and a few emails from that, we received the following from someone on the ground, in China!

Last night we spoke to a US family living in Xi'an who are willing to bring him into their family as a foster child (and in this way we can get the right investigations done, get their immunisations done to international standards, and get them on ARV's (which they almost certainly are not on when they are in their orphanages)

Seriously, how crazy is that?! Now I'm not saying just because I was killing time surfing Google+ late one night in bed, and emailed an article to Melissa about a boy in China with HIV being neglected, then wrote a blog post about it, which had Melissa bumping around the interwebz for all things China, HIV, orphans, etc... to then run across someone on the ground there, who she emailed, who read our blog, who posted some feedback on our blog with another contact, who we emailed, and then began digging a bit, is why Xiao might be having a family to foster him... but C'mon Man, this is craaaaazy!

What an amazing example of how all things we create, dream up, build can be used to God's glory and to accomplish His mission. Keep praying for Xiao and we'll keep blasting emails, tweets, FB posts, and blog posts until we know he is where God wants him to be.

You are ONE

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:59:00 +0000

What If?

You were misunderstood, isolated, never held, never educated, had to wash your bedpan, had no concept of mom or dad, weren't allowed to touch anyone else, but were actually perfectly normal by all appearances (except one unseen diagnoses)? As crazy as this sounds, this is the story of Xiao Ling, a 3 year old from Zhonshan, China.

For many reasons, beyond being discussed in this blog post, HIV is not something China has a lot of experience dealing with. Subsequently, many of the same misconceptions, misunderstandings, and unjustified fears of years past are the norm. Xiao is HIV positive but is being dealt with as if he has leprosy and can't be touched or isn't worth educating. Through a random posting I encountered this article about Xiao and it has touched something deep within me and Melissa.

I should probably back up and explain why. In November we attended Lifeline's annual fundraising banquet which we always thoroughly enjoy. It's extremely encouraging to be around so many like minded people wanting to defend the fatherless. The theme was ONE, that you can help one, it only takes one person to make difference, etc... is something we've always shared with people who ask why we've chosen the path we have for our family.

Heading into the banquet Melissa and I were at the point of praying for where God would lead us next on our orphan advocacy journey. We both had prayed and agreed we were not supposed to go down the traditional adoption path again; fill out application, pick a country, wait for a referral, etc... We simply agreed we knew we were to be at the ready when God calls to act, and this is where we've been for many months.
In the midst of the banquet while David Platt was speaking, our new path became apparent to me. We were to advocate and seek for the orphaned in China who have been diagnosed as HIV+. I didn't mention this immediately to Melissa as I needed to make sure this "stuck" if you know what I mean. We've all been swept up in the emotion of an event to only wonder later what in heaven's name were we thinking?! The clarity around this never subsided in the coming weeks so I finally shared my heart with Melissa at the next opportunity. I told her we should tell Lifeline we are willing and ready to help ONE child in China who has been diagnosed HIV+, she hardly blinked and said YES.
Very shortly after while searching adoption and oprhan stories in Google+ I found the above article and simply sent it to Melissa because it was in line with our discussions. Not so much to say here is a child, but to begin the discussion around the apparent need. If you had read the article it states this boy is not adoptable (which isn't correct) and it didn't state what orphanage he is in. Through some internet sloothing I believe we've found the orphanage and have talked with Lifeline, who has previous experience getting HIV+ children adopted into the US. They have indeed been able to help us locate him and we are now waiting to hear what can be done for him. At the minimum he needs someone to go there and love on him. So at this time we are advocating for Xiao. Whether he is to be a Freeman some day is unknown but we are trying to see if there is a foster family near him willing to take him or anything to get him out of his "jail" like conditions.
He is ONE boy, made in the image of God, who needs ONE person to make a difference. Please join us in praying for Xiao and how God can use us to help and advocate for him.

Why I celebrate Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 04:17:00 +0000

We were singing this Sunday during the observance of communion and couldn't help but think of Christmas.

How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure, that he should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure! How great the pain of searing loss, the Father turns His face away as wounds which mar the chosen One bring many sons to glory.

Behold the man upon a cross, my sin upon His shoulders. Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held Him there until it was accomplished. His dying breath has brought me life, I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything; no gifts, no power, no wisdom, but I will boast in Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection. Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer, but this I know with all my heart, His wounds have paid my ransom.

This is why I celebrate Christmas, to recognize and celebrate the coming of the one that paid it all for me yet passed His reward onto me.

Why do you celebrate Christmas?

Christmas Card Photo

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 03:00:00 +0000

When we first had B 16 years ago, it just sort of felt like fun to send out a Christmas card showing of our new bundle of joy. As this year's pic can attest, it just becomes an attempt to tame the chaos just long enough to get something in focus. Melissa's dad wanted family pics made when we were in Tulsa this summer, which included her sister and her kids too. There was no way we were going to attempt to even try and accomplish this again for Christmas cards so we found something from that batch. And when you look at this picture that we actually chose from the pile, you have to ask, what did the others look like if this is the one you picked?! At least in this one, we are all looking at the camera. None the less, the kids look great and are excited for Christmas. As you could probably ascertain from the photo, Melissa and I are just hanging on, in a good way though.

Tis the season!

Navigating Pink Meanies, the penalty box, and losing my jelly beans!

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 04:21:00 +0000

Well, it was about 5 1/2 months in the making but Saturday morning at Ironman Florida finally arrived! I made it down in time Wednesday evening to check in before the big rush on Thursday morning. It wasn't much different checking in for an Ironman than other shorter triathlons around the region except that I noticed on Thursday the lines were huge. Glad I got down Wednesday evening.

A friend of mine (he completed 2 previous IM's) who talked me into this, but later bailed decided to come and provide support which was huge! He and I went out Friday for a short practice swim as I had just purchased some new goggles. A weather system had passed through Thursday night and the surf was rocking and rolling! So much so that I eventually got slammed into a sandbar, up-ended, and lost my newly purchased goggles to the Gulf. I guess it was my sacrifice to the Gulf for what I hoped would be calmer conditions on Saturday morning.

Saturday morning began at 4:30 with the alarm. I quickly gathered my special needs bags (bike and transition gear were checked in on Friday) and dropped them off, put my bike computer and bottles on the bike, checked tire pressure, then went back to the condo to eat breakfast. This was huge as a lot of the athletes have to mill around the transition area waiting because they were staying outside of reasonable walking distance; it was dark and cold, so not ideal in preparation for a 10+ hour day. At 6:30 we walked down the beach toward the start area.

The pros went off 10 minutes prior to us so it got everyone pumped up and ready. I eased my way toward the wide side of the pack on the beach and about 4 rows back. The cannon went off and 3000 people merged into the Gulf. As an acquaintance of mine who's been age group XTERRA world champ multiple times says, it was asses and elbows everywhere! Even though I was attempting to stay wide and out of the middle, the first of the two loops was action packed with people everywhere. The swim is a 1.2 mile out and back loop, run on the beach and do it again. The 2nd loop thins out some, but turning around the buoys is an activity in self preservation in the water to say the least!

By the 2nd loop, the sun was fully up, the water clear, and we could then see the plethora of Pink Meanie jelly fish all over place. At first the thought of, why are all of these plastic bags floating around out here came to mind until you almost swam into one to only realize they weren't plastic bags. I was fortunate to not have gotten stung, plenty of people did.

After an hour and 10 minutes in the gulf it was off to the bike. Getting your legs under you, grabbing the transition bag, and putting on gear in the scrum of men in the change area was a close body contact activity for 5 or so minutes for sure. Volunteers handed me my bike at the end of the rack and off we went. Overall the bike was good, albeit extremely windy for for the first 3/4 of race. So much so that the first 20 miles saw a ton of drafting penalties handed out because you simply couldn't get away from each other for fighting the wind. I was one of the unfortunate ones to get flagged and had to go to the penalty tent just after the 20 mile mark. There were so many people there the timers couldn't keep up and were having to time 3 and 4 riders at the same time to keep up. Fortunately the timers let use the time as a potty break and head off into the bushes so all wasn't lost by being put in the penalty box. It was a bit silly actually, especially when late in the race officials seemed to have disappeared and huge packs would roar past me like it was a weekend group ride with no consequences to be had. Oh well...

Fighting the wind was tiring but with 3000 other cyclist out there you could shield yourself a decent amount, even if you were the legal 7 meters from someone and not incurring a penalty. Upon turning onto the infamous bumpity bumpity HY388 I was thinking it wasn't as bad as everyone had made it out to be. This positive mental outlook lasted for about 10 minutes before I was finally cursing under my breath and wondering what wanna be road engineer paved this road. Perhaps it was one of those orange clad prison crews and done on the cheap. It was a rhythmic jarring for miles upon miles! Our bike special needs stop was on this road which provided a welcome few minute break. I made a new drink mix for 2nd three hours of ride, scarfed a PB & J, made a quick break adjustment, threw my bag of jelly beans in my tri suit back pocket. I was set and ready to go for the next 60'sh miles with some well deserved sweet calories awaiting me. But alas, HY388 had other ideas. Not long after leaving the special needs area, the constant jarring of the road tossed my bag of jelly beans out! I was already into a full head of steam and didn't want to cause a pile up behind me by abruptly stopping and attempting to double back for candy so I had to reluctantly let my well planned out "treat" go by the side of the road. HY388 claimed another victim, arggghhh.

Just over 6 hours later I handed my bike to another wonderful volunteer and was off to put on run gear. The run was as expected for me, tough as I am a terrible runner. The first loop of 13.1 wasn't too bad for me, sub 11 minute pace. The second loop of course was considerably slower. At mile 17 I thought for sure I was done until I finally decided to grab a cup of chicken broth and almost instantly I had a burst of energy. I did a run/walk pattern for the whole 26.2 miles taking chicken broth every other mile from mile 17 in. My run/walk pattern paid off for me as I was able to continue this all the way to the finish, passing many who had finally packed it in to walk the remainder. Usually a 2 loop marathon can be a bit mind numbing, but given the time of day and my snail like pace, it got dark and much of the 2nd loop took on a totally different feel and perspective in the dark so it wasn't too mentally exhausting. Not to mention that at some point on the bike my right eye fogged over. No, not my sunglasses, but my actuall eye. I've never had that happen before so had all sorts of bizarre scenarios running through my head as to what was going to happen upon finishing and telling someone my right eye had totally fogged over. So needless to say I was a bit on high alert once it got dark and attempting to see out of 1 eye. Oh, and for those of you that don't know me that well, I wear glasses to see but don't exercise in them so you can imagine what a 1 eyed half blind guy might look like attempting to see straight 17 miles into a marathon. (I must have gotten sunscreen, salt, sweat in my eye because it was finally back to normal the next morning).

Coming into the shoot 13 hours later was exhilarating to say the least. It was well into the darkness by this point, but the last part of the finish is lit up like a runway with the entire route lined with screaming supporters on all sides. Always fun to give out high fives to kids sticking their arms through the barriers that you don't even know, but you can tell they are excited for you none the less! My longtime friend was in the chute screaming for me and I hit the banner with a huge smile and sense of accomplishment.

It was a great day!

Knowing that several people joined me in the journey and we were able to raise $1500+ for orphan care in the process is simply icing on the cake. Thanks to those folks for their support and willingness to partner with me and Lifesong for Orphans in this adventure.

11 Takeaways from Together for Adoption including cottage cheese

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 05:21:00 +0000

For the past 2 days I've had the privilege of representing Lifesong for Orphans at this year's national Together for Adoption conference in Phoenix. What a great honor and blessing this has been to be in the middle of such an amazing group of people and to share about the great work Lifesong is doing!

I've got so many things flinging around my head that it's difficult to string them together, but a few takeaways from the 2 days in no particular order of priority or seriousness:

it's still seriously hot in late October in the middle of the afternoon in Phoenix (the exhibitor tables/booths were all outside!)

there isn't near the volume of hipster christians at an adoption/orphan conference as there is at a Catalyst conference, but they are still seriously committed and crazy about orphans!

young couples with no children who travel to an adoption conference to learn about advocating for orphans and knowing God has called them to this journey deserve a HUGE amount of praise, respect, and support (and no they aren't infertile and don't "have" to adopt)

Noel Piper can draw a crowd!

God never calls you to do what YOU can do, but rather what He can do so there's no doubt who's pulling it off! @JeffVanderstelt

American Christians have to figure out concept of "enough" to make big kingdom impacts in areas like adoption

Christians should be about social justice because we have God's grace, shouldn't do social justice to get God's grace

If I was anywhere near Memphis I would definitely be trying to get to Bryan Loritts' church Fellowship Memphis

Black people, for the most part, don't/won't eat cottage cheese (see Bryan Loritts above)

Young pastors with families who start new churches in difficult places amaze me! (see @JeffVanderstelt above)

There are some crazy cool organizations doing amazing things for orphans and adoption in general and I'm learning so much about God's grace through it all!!

Going the distance for the fatherless!

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:04:00 +0000

This past year or so has been a very transformational one for me and my family. We saw the 5th addition in a young and energetic 3 year old from China. Fisher is our 2nd adopted child and even though we already had adopted Eli five years ago, God really began a work on the hearts of our entire family for the orphaned, the fatherless.

We have truly come to believe in the redemptive picture we see in the earthly adoption and care of orphans in how God loves us, his children and has adopted us into his heavenly family.

Isaiah 1:17 implores us to "...learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause."

James 1:27 provides a directive for what religion should like: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."

In that vein the Freeman family is committed to advocating and defending the fatherless in any way we can. Even in painstaking ways like swimming, biking, and running for 140.6 miles at Ironman Florida on November 5th! (yes, in one day)

I have had the fortune of partnering with Lifesong for Orphans along this journey. I'm hoping that you too would consider partnering with me, and Lifesong, to plead the cause for the fatherless and those who need defending, visiting, taken care of, and adopted.

Follow This Link to visit my fundraising page and help me in my efforts to stand with these children.

Were you building something? Yes, relationships

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 01:36:00 +0000

The first question we get upon our return from Zambia is some variation of the following:

Were you building something, a school, a house, a well, or what?

This seems to sum up the American Christian perception of missions; it's all about "doing" something. Or put another way, it's task oriented, it's about the accomplishment of something, the to do list of items to be completed, etc... There isn't anything inherently wrong with wanting to do these things for other people, but they seem to often take on the central purpose. Much has been written, spoken on, blogged about the whole short term mission idea and if it's even the right thing to be doing. Does it have to be all or nothing? Is there any worth at all in showing up in far flung places for a week with gifts, cameras, a VBS program, hammers, nails, and then leaving a week later?

There has actually been formal research on this and couched under the oxymoronic notion of When Helping Hurts. This is a great book by the way and should be required reading for any church sending short term mission teams out. It will challenge just about everything you probably thought you knew about taking the Gospel to the far reaches of the planet and especially the poor or "least of these". There has also been much anecdotal discussion from the perspective of those in the field and sometimes even heatedly so amongst fellow "brothers" and "sisters" in place like here, and here.

So what has my answer been to this ever present question of, so what did you DO?

We built relationships.

We didn't build anything physical in nature.

We spent time loving on and playing with 200+ orphans and highly vulnerable children.

We listened to the Lifesong for Orphans school staff tell their stories, their testimonies, their dreams, their prayer request.

We listened to 12 and 13 year olds share their horrific life stories to date and how grateful they are for God's grace in rescuing them and a new found hope.

We listened to a caregiver in the local village share what she has to go through to scrape together enough for her $10/month rent and her dreams for her children.

We wrapped our arms around the missionary directors and their 3 children under the age of 6 and prayed over them.

We praised our creator and Father with a freedom rarely seen in the American Christian church.

I look forward to God cultivating these new relationships. And from these relationships will come true understanding of need, mutual respect/love, and Kingdom building opportunities.

Because at the end of the day, everything we saw Jesus model was relational in nature.

Prayer in the town square and drunks

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:15:00 +0000

Wow, what a day it has been! We started it off with the staff members of the Lifesong school getting their praise and groove on African style. You couldn't help but move yourself and grin imagining the angels in heaven singing along to such heartfelt praise.

We then got to see the children begin their day in praise and bible teaching. This isn't a passive activity either mind you. The Africans are the epitome of kinesthetic learners, always moving and grooving.

It is so apparent the love these staff and teachers have for the 200+ children here. It makes me want to take a sabatical and come teach with them for 3 months!

The picture of Dutch was taken just after the children surrounding him asked if he'd pray for them. So he did, right there on the spot! So proud of his heart with the other children this week.

Unfortunately just after this, a few of the town drunks started causing a scene so we found our way out of the market center. We had just walked what through what they call the compound and met with some of the children's caretakers or moms. Most either have only a mom or neither parent and are simply living with someone else or an aunt or uncle. It seems that while staying with an aunt or uncle is the norm after both parents die or leave, that's not much better than a stranger sometimes. I see my own children in their eyes and smiles and can only glimpse how God must look at us, His children, and his outpouring of love and compassion for us.

What a day!

We are ALL children of God

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 06:16:00 +0000

We have successfully arrived in Zambia at the Lifesong school! Needless to say we have been greeted with an amazing outpouring of excitement and love.

I can't help but walk around and sing, red and yellow black and white, we are all precious in His sight!

Riots in Zambia - trip canceled - trip back on...

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 22:48:00 +0000

What a roller coaster of emotions the last 24 hours!

I somewhat jokingly asked my Sunday School class who had not prayed as I had requested regarding the Zambia elections and potential unrest as news was reaching our team yesterday regarding riots and markets burning in Kitwe and Ndolo. This is where we are going to be traveling and working, the orphan ministry is in Kitwe and the missionaries there said to not come and had everyone staying inside for safety. Roads were blocked from the airport in Ndola to Kitwe!

Melissa and I had just made a run to Big Lots for school supplies, soccer balls, footballs, candy, etc... for me and D to take with us and were eating lunch when I got a call from Lifesong. Melissa said while I was listening it looked like my face was going to fall into my lunch. In lieu of the unrest, it had been determined to not travel today. Devastation! I just looked at Melissa and said, well it's God's timing and plan, but I don't have to like it! D cried in the car on the way to football practice.

Fast forward to mid day today and we receive the following via email:

Friends,
Well...as you probably know, the election results came back, and the opposition supporters got what they desired - a new president. Looks like there is great celebration right now in Zambia & our contacts there have given the "green light" for safe travel.

Below are the re-bookings we received from travel agent, for departure on 27th... Please look at your itinerary because some flights/times/city connections have changed slightly.

See you all very soon!

Holy cow, we're back on and leaving Tuesday! God is great and I now have time to pack properly this weekend. :-)

As always, any help is appreciated on what is no doubt going to be a memorable experience if the last 24 hours are any indication: http://www.razoo.com/story/Changetheirstory

Soccer balls, candy, elections, and prayer

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:14:00 +0000

I was talking with one of the missionaries in Zambia today about needs, including items and prayer. I didn't get a lot from him other than basic school supplies (pencils, spiral notebooks, etc...), candy, and soccer balls. He said they really go through soccer balls and can always use them. I had already picked up 2 today but if anyone has any used ones in decent shape, we could probably take those too. His main item on the prayer front was for stability in the city as the national elections were held yesterday. Votes are being tallied and he's prayerfully hopeful there will not be any issues. Great, just in time for us to show up! :-)

From what I've read, it's a fairly stable situation and doesn't seem to have much unrest although there were some recent demonstrations that turned ugly leading up to the elections yesterday. So I'd ask for prayer for the citizens and the process in the coming days. I'm also asking for prayer for the children and the native staffers we will be working with, that they'll be receptive to us and we are able to serve them appropriately.

We've made some modest headway on fundraising but have quite a ways to go. We'll still be raising funds upon returning. If you are wanting to partner with us, you can do so here: http://www.razoo.com/story/Changetheirstory

I'll be trying to update everyone while we're there as time and access permits.

Thanks for everyone's continued interest in our trip. I'm looking forward to sharing upon our return!

He's party rockin fine, thank you

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 02:13:00 +0000

It's been 18 months since F joined our family from China. Having come to our family as a 3 year old, it's logical to wonder how a child of that age will adapt to a new family, new language, new culture, etc... We quite often get the question, "how has F adjusted?" Well let's see...

For better or worse, I'd say he's doing just fine, thank you for asking.

But, but, but...

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 01:54:00 +0000

We've all been there right? We whole heartedly believe God wants us to do something spectacular, jump in with both feet, do something requiring stupid faith, right? Right! So we commit, and we tell people we have committed to _____, and we say to ourselves,

whew, glad I'm obeying that call, glad I've got some time to figure that out, i've got some time to figure out how to ask others for $$ to pull off this God sized project

And then.... it's "some time" later and we/you/I have that, oh crap! moment, it's just around the corner! We then go through the but syndrome.

but God, I'm so busy right now
but our septic tank just went out
but work is really chaotic and time off might not help my career
but that's a really long time to leave the wife and kids at home
but that's a stinking long way from home
but those travel arrangements are ludicrously difficult
but I feel REALLY cheesy/grimy/slimy asking people for $$ to do something God asked ME to do
but....

I'm now at that point where I asked God to open doors for me to use my education, training, experience in missional ways, and you know what, he brought them to me. But... they are in Honduras, Zambia, India, Liberia, etc... and those are a long way from home and cost a lot of $$$ to get there and back.

Dutch and I are going with Lifesong for Orphans to their orphan care ministry in Zambia at the end of September. So here it is much closer than I had in my mind, and we don't have extra piles of $$$ laying around to get us to Africa and back (we do have 5 kids after all). Those of you who know us, know we've been to Guatemala and Honduras this past year or so, but didn't have to raise any money. Going to Central America isn't much different than California these days, airfare and other things included. But going to Africa is on another planet for airfare and logistics!

However, we are being faithful, committed to going, committed to using the skills and knowledge God has provided me to help their teachers and 200+ orphans and highly vulnerable children. Will you consider helping us go and serve these children by donating $25, $50, $100?

Will you help us begin to change their story? (link to fundraising page or you can talk do me directly)

Brush to Berries from Lifesong for Orphans

Tower of Babel

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:54:00 +0000

I don't think there is hardly a single day that E doesn't miss an opportunity to construct a fort and/or tower in our house. He's been doing this for several years now.

I joked to Melissa the other day that had he been born over 2000 years ago, I swear he would have been the architect and foreman for the Tower of Babel project. It's no surprise he LOVES this story every time we read it in the Jesus Storybook Bible.

So come to our house at any time and you are sure to find something looking like these:

I never hate to discourage his creativity, but I can't begin to tell you how many times I've picked up every single one of these pillows to just be able to sit down when I come home from work!

So in about 20 years, if you see a story about the tallest building being built, you should check and see if E is part of the project.

E is certainly having fun but as Christians we all seem to have our pride points and towers of babels. Mine seems to revolve around "justice", but in all of the wrong and misplaced locations. My tower comes out in what i've begun to call the "justice police" mode which in turn props me up as being more righteous than others, or smarter, or more... fill in the blank. We all seem to create works drivin pathways outside of faith and love to reach a higher level of recognition and "closeness" with our creator. The more I self reflect, the more I see that I too attempt to be a master tower builder nearly everyday!

What are your towers of babels?

After posting yesterday, I was greeted this morning with this after hearing, "Dad, come look how high this is!"

Gas and go pit stops

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 17:04:00 +0000

On Friday morning we set out on what for sure has to be our most round about (i wanted to put circuitous here but Melissa says I shouldn't use big words like that too often) trip to Tulsa ever. As you can see from the map we had to first go nearly in the opposite direction to pick up D from camp before progressing toward the great plains. All was well until about 45 minutes from arriving at camp shortly after we exited the interstate and headed into the Smoky Mtns. Our van began lurching and not accelerating at all in low gears before it would "catch" and began to accelerate like a mini-van with a complex. As long as we were traveling along at a reasonable speed and didn't have to stop or seriously slow and go, it would limp along, begrudgingly. Upon hitting the windy 2 lane road snaking into the mountains, I thought I was going to have to go all Fred Flintstone to get there. We were lurching, sputtering, spitting, accelerating all over the mountain road. The only solace was it didn't look much different than all of the grammies and papas attempting to drive the same mountain roads and decide if they should stop yet again at another fudge store.

We limped into camp and hoped the short rest would do the van some good, but alas while attempting to leave and accelerate up a hill at a stop sign, we died. At least we had a view and an ice cream shop to enjoy. While the rest of the family enjoyed some fresh mountain ice cream, I began looking for the nearest Honda dealership I could find. Fortunately there was indeed one about 30 miles away in the direction we needed to be heading. We had to get there before they closed, it was going to be close. I'm sure the guys at the service center let out a big groan as we rolled into their service bay about 10 minutes before closing time. And of course, what happens anytime you attempt to take a car to the shop to diagnose a "mysterious" problem? Nothing! The 30 mile drive to the dealer was flawless, no lurching, no lunging, no sudden decelerations! So of course they couldn't find anything wrong. Great!

I will say they graciously tested, retested, drove around in it, etc... well after closing time in attempts to help us. Maybe it was the fact that kids kept pouring out of the van while I was desperately explaining the issue and that we were over 5 hours from home and 10 hours from our cross country destination. They surely felt sorry for us. None the less, despite their best efforts to reproduce the issue, none could be found. So off we went to dinner and then off toward Oklahoma. We had no further issues that evening. We headed out yesterday morning after staying somewhere in TN and drove most of the day yesterday without incident, before...

This was by far not as nice a spot for the van (which we have now named Lurch) to decide it was done for a while. So we grabbed some snacks, sat in the shade at a gas station for a while, topped off the tank and finally rolled on. We did this off and on for the last several hours until we finally got into Tulsa last night. For whatever reason, pulling over, topping off the gas tank and waiting about 5 minutes settled Lurch down for a while. It was like watching the later stages of a NASCAR race with splash and go pit stops, gas only, gas only! Don't you think we need 2 right side tires? No, just splash and go, go, go! We will be here until Thursday and will have to make some decisions about Lurch before schlepping back to Alabama. Of course everyone is voting for leave it, leave it! This is coming from everyone without a job, no financial planning time on their resume, and no responsibility other than to shower themselves occasionally and help do some chores, so we'll see what happens this week.

No one comes for us, the teachers...

noreply@blogger.com (The Freemans) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:09:00 +0000

A week ago today, Dutch and I were resting from an action packed 4 day trip to Honduras. We had the opportunity to visit Plan Escalon which was in full swing as compared to my trip there in January. This time around we had some ground to cover with their teachers and staff as well as trying to work in a service trip into the mountains (food supplies and teeth pulling, ouch!).

Ever since the girls got to go to China to help us get F, and I took them on a mission trip to Guatemala, D has been like that little dog jumping up and down and nipping at your heels wanting to go on a trip out of the country. Honduras was a great opportunity for his first trip oversees and for some missions related activity. He was our de facto videographer and photographer for the trip. A long time friend from my doctoral program at Pepperdine who currently resides outside of Boston joined us. (this is a post in and of itself on how God brought us back together and his endeavor into this Gospel oriented outreach as a devoted Roman Catholic) We left on Wednesday and were back home Saturday night.

The main purpose this time was to work with a core group of the teachers at Plan Escalon (they teach about 550 students who live there full time) and begin the process of developing a plan and vision for utilizing their newly installed learning labs in their core curriculum. This was a major flashback for me as it is exactly what I used to do for public schools as a technology specialist and eventually director of technology for a school district. It's like God has taken everything I've been doing since I started a career in Education 18 years ago as a middle school teacher and all of my formal education up through my doctorate in Educational Technology and put it into a ministry context. It's hard to put into words other than to say, it's an amazing feeling to be in phase with God's frequency. And mind you when I say to be in phase, I'm not suggesting I worked hard myself to make it happen. I simply became open to God's urgings, prompts, external variables, and have found myself in a position where everything He's had me doing the last 18 or 20 years is pouring out in missional opportunities.

On many levels this was a hugely successful trip from the outward facing teacher aspect to exposing D to something much larger than the context he's used to and being shaped by in Vestopia, as well as my buddy Eric and God's pulling at his and his family's heart. The depths of how God works in 2 1/2 days is amazing! I've been summing up the trip by the following scene we found ourselves in the last night there.

Eric and I were enjoying watching all 500+ kids going nutty for their Honduran national soccer team put a beat down on Grenada (in a big revival looking tent used as the Church) and visiting with a few of the teachers and faculty when we started into a somewhat serious conversation in Spanglish with one of the teachers we'd been working with for the previous 2 days. He finally began telling us thank you and how much it meant to him for us to come work with them. He then started telling us how most people coming to visit them come one time and do a service trip; fix a wall, work on the soccer field, repair a bunk room, stairs, etc... And then he said the one line that caused Eric and I to pause, catch a quick glimpse of each other, and know it without saying it, we're committed my friend, there's no turning back now. Our new friend Ever said, "...and when they are finished with their service trip, we never see them again, no one ever comes to work with us (the teachers) and on the education of the children, you two can be our mentors." Eric and I of course smiled and thanked him for his kind words and assured him we would be willing to continue on this relationship and helping them as much as we can. Upon returning to our bunks shortly after I simply said to Eric, that's a heavy burden, are you ready? Without hesitation he said, I'm in! I don't know what this will look like moving forward, but I'm confident God knows and has an amazing plan that will blow my mind and heart out of the water! I can't wait for it unfold.

Here are some images courtesy of my son...

Short video from the mountain village we went into. Required some serious 4 wheel driving plus a hike to get into and out of.

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