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The Fight for Isaiah is Over

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The first mediation session ended without success because Lola decided that she needed to talk to her drug rehab counselor at the last minute and we could not find him. We were all guardedly optimistic about the second session. We started to worry when Lola arrived. She looked really bad. I had seen her like this many times before. She told us that she had not talked to the counselor and that we were going to have a trial because she was not going to sign anything. When she came back, she told me that she had lost the pictures … Continue reading →

The Fight for Isaiah, Round Five

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There were a lot of people in attendance at the mediation meeting. Our state social worker was there, with her boss, who brought her boss. The volunteer from Child Advocates was there, with her boss. The remaining participants were the mediator, Lola and her lawyer, the state’s lawyer, Nancy, and me. Apparently, a lot of people thought that there was a lot at stake. I certainly did. The mediator was doing all of the things that he could do to calm everyone and facilitate a free discussion. Lola was clearly uptight. The fact that it was Lola and her attorney … Continue reading →

The Fight for Isaiah, Round Four

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As we moved closer to the day that a decision had to be made about Isaiah, Lola was talking more and more like she was assuming that she would retain her parental rights. Her drug rehab counselors were giving her pep talks and her lawyer was apparently encouraging her. She would talk about these things in front of me as if I was disinterested in what was happening. Some of her talk was clearly fantasy. For instance, she told me that she was going to be trained to be an ultrasound technician for a hospital. She had not finished high … Continue reading →

The Fight for Isaiah, Round Two

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In a previous article, I described how we received a surprise phone call that informed us that the birth mother of the four boys that we were about to adopt had given birth to yet another boy. We quickly agreed that we wanted him. Talk about a surprise pregnancy! However, there was one problem. The first state social worker that saw that he would be available ignored the fact that his siblings were about to be adopted and placed him in another home. Her reasoning was that Nancy and I were older parents. And, she noticed that early on we … Continue reading →

The Fight for Isaiah

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We were well on our way to adopting our oldest four boys in early July, 2004. We had the goodbye visit with their birth mother just before Christmas, so we had not seen her in over six months. Caleb was 18 months old and for some funny reason, we had started saying things like we had lost our baby. We had even told our adoption agency and the state that we might be willing to take another child. It was not so much an intention as it was our attitude. One morning, the phone rang and Nancy answered it. She … Continue reading →

Is the World More Peaceful?

I see it often expressed that we are living in a world of increased darkness and chaos. Fears of terrorism reach a diversity of people, regardless of ethnic background, location or social class. People are afraid to ride the subway, sit down in a café, and this isn’t just in the Land of Israel, but the fear penetrates even in former safe havens, such as Middle America. Right now, we are worried about Iran and its nuclear capabilities; its declared enemies are the U.S. and Israel, which it plans to “wipe off the map (but we are approaching the holiday … Continue reading →

Patterns in the Bible

Don’t you love the way certain themes and ideas crop up again and again in the bible? Take the story of David and Goliath and the life of Jesus. Here are some of the similarities. It was 40 days that the Giant Goliath taunted the Israelites, 1 Samuel 17:16. Interestingly that is the same number of days that Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, Matthew 4:1-2. The taunts of Goliath and temptations of Satan have a certain similarity too. Goliath insisted that Israel prove themselves and in a sense their God, by sending their champion to fight against him 1 … Continue reading →

Adoption Options for Single Parents: Adopting from the Child Welfare System

Unmarried individuals may wonder about their options for parenting. Certainly parenting a child who needs you is an admirable goal. Some individuals may not feel they can parent without the support of a partner. Certainly the support for you and the role modeling for your child are advantages to having a partner, but many single parents do adopt successfully. As one children’s worker stated, “All children really need to thrive is someone who’s crazy about them.” Perhaps you can be that person for a child. The U.S. foster care system is very open to adoptions from single parents. Older child … Continue reading →

Ready, Set, Watch!

Yesterday was the first official day of the 2007-08 TV season. This week is an especially critical time for networks as they unveil their newest contenders in the battle to win over as many viewers as possible. In a departure from years past this season’s new shows are straying from the reality genre and offering more of an escape from real life. Supernatural and science fiction genres featuring characters who use their “extraordinary” gifts to conquer the bad guys are getting the most buzz this season. In other words, several networks are hoping to share in the success of NBC’s … Continue reading →