We got her!

It's been a wild time, and a bit challenging. The good news is Ava took to all of us immediately. She laughed and laughed with us off and on all day. We went to the grocery store and out to eat, and she was a champ. She played with the girls and played with us a ton. She seems very curious and very funny. She loves to have fun and giggle and laugh. She also seems very healthy, but we have a lot to learn about where she is developmentally. He can cruise, but probably not walk on her own yet. She loves to touch and scratch things, very tactile.

The bad news is we are trapped in some kind of bizarre sleep netherworld. Ava was supposed to nap for 2 hours at 1:00pm yesterday. We tried to put her down but she cried and cried and cried and cried. We couldn't let her cry it out in the crib because the crib the hotel provided has sides slow low that she jumped right out. Thankfully I was ready and caught her or she would have landed hard on her face! So she missed her nap.

Her bedtime is 7:00pm and we had her asleep in our bed by 7:30pm and she is still asleep. However, she wakes up and cries for 20 seconds about once an hour.

Our older girls on the other hand are in a totally different schedule. Yesterday they woke up at 1:30am. We couldn't get them to sleep, so they were just up. That came back to bite us yesterday afternoon when they put themselves down for a nap at 3:00pm!!! That nap lasted until about 2 hours ago (1:00am). Right now (3:00am) we are awake, I'm typing this, the girls are watching Mary Poppins, and Jessica is laying in bed with Ava. So we are basically functioning with 3 kids on 2 different sleep schedules. Jessica and I are very tired! Irrationally tired. Please pray we can all get on a semi-normal sleep schedule!!!!!!!!

This is us with Ava's foster mother and an orphanage worker.  The foster mother has a 6 year old at home as well.

Everyone is a helper!

I had her asleep like this for a few minutes, but she freaked when I tried to lay her down.

We have some better pictures and a ton of video, but I can't upload the video, and some of the pictures are in the other room, where she is sleeping.

2 more hours until Ava time!

This is a picture of Zoe and Alex anxiously waiting for Ava (and coloring to occupy themselves).

We have indeed been awake since 1:00am. It is currently 7:50am on Monday morning (5:50pm on Sunday in Houston). We are cleaning up and getting ready for them to bring her to our hotel room. Pretty bizarre that we are waiting in a hotel room for a child.

Thank you for all the comments, emails and mostly for all the prayers! Please pray for Ava to bond with us quickly. We are anticipating this being an issue. Unlike Zoe, Ava has been in foster care for almost a year, so she will be most likely missing her foster mother/parents. I'm sure this will be a traumatic experience for her, so pray that she would miraculously bond with all 4 of us, and quickly. We are also going to be on a steep learning curve with her diet. Her cleft palate will be a new challenge for us, so pray we get some good info from the orphanage director that brings her to us.

Finally, we won't be able to post a video of the big moment until we get home, but there will be pictures galore!

Uh oh, we're awake

It's 1:24am Monday morning (11:24am Sunday morning in Houston) here in China and we are all 4 wide awake!!! This is probably not good. Pray we can all get back to sleep in a little while. Roughly 8 hours til we meet Ava.

good morning from Hefei!

We slept a solid 5 hours last night, but at 5:30 we were all wide awake, so we got up and took much needed showers. Then we went to the top floor of the hotel (Holiday Inn Hefei) and ate breakfast in the rotating restaurant. It was one of the great breakfast buffets of all time and is included with the room. Needless to say the hotel is very nice. We have two adjoining rooms and they are well furnished. Thanks for all the prayers and encouragements.

We have no access to Facebook or Twitter (although I am getting email notifications when people mention me on Twitter). I'm trying to figure out a way to circumvent this, but I'm not hopeful. You can email us or post in the comments on this site, also FaceTime works perfectly and I'm on Skype as derekbonesteel.

I'll post some humorous China observations later.

PS- 9:34am here on Sunday (7:34pm on Saturday in Houston)

We have arrived in Hefei....Finally!

Wow!!!!!!!!

We were so tired on the flight from Shanghai to Hefei we all 4 crashed out.  I was asleep before we took off.  Best hour of sleep ever!

Current time in Hefei, China  = 11:34 pm.  Current time in Houston = 9:36am.

 Haven't figured out how to view/post on Facebook or Twitter yet, so someone may need to post links on my wall or something for that to work.

We just put the girls to bed.  All said and done, we left Jessica's parents house at 4:30am on Friday, and we arrived in our hotel room at roughly 8:45am on Saturday. For 28 hours of travelling I don't feel that bad.  Although we are super tired, I think I'll stay up for a little while and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..............

Arrived in Shanghai

Current time 6:27pm in Shanghai which means its 4:28am in Houston. Just having dinner even though it's almost dawn on our body clock. One more flight to catch in a few hours. Then a one hour flight.

In Chicago

We have arrived in Chicago and are waiting to board our 14 hour and 30 minute flight to Shanghai. Here is a shot of our girls in front of the plane.

DFW

We are at our first Gate and ready to board the first of 3 planes today. First leg is Dallas to Chicago.

First stop....College Station?

We stopped for lunch on the way to Dallas at CFA.

Packing Light

We are traveling light because we will be hauling 3 kids through 6 different airports.

What makes Young Life unique? Choice.

What makes YL unique?

There are several things that make Young Life unique amongst other ministries that seek to reach high school folks. Unique doesn’t necessarily mean better, it just means that these are things we do that differentiate us from other ministries. I firmly believe that Young Life is just one small part of the body of Christ that fulfills a specific purpose.

Today I want to point out something that makes YL unique that we rarely talk about, and is almost never mentioned in any YL training. But first, let’s cover a few other things that make YL unique.

In most Young Life literature and training you’ll discover that what makes us unique is our focus on relational ministry. Our goal is to develop trusting, no strings attached, relationships with high school folks so that when we share with them about who Jesus is and what it means to follow him, they are hearing from a trusted source, instead of someone who is just a religious leader on a stage. While this is true of Young Life, it’s not terribly unique. Most evangelism and outreach is somewhat relational, even if that isn’t readily evident at first glance. What makes Young Life unique relationally is that we befriend the non-Christian. That’s who we want to get to know.

Another thing that makes Young Life unique is that we have the luxury of organizing ourselves the same way that kids do, by school. When I talk to youth pastors I’m always overwhelmed at what their job entails. They are trying to know and reach kids at many, many schools. They don’t have the laser focus on one school that a YL leader has.

However, the most overlooked thing that differentiates Young Life from many other ministries is this….

It is totally and completely voluntary.

What do I mean?

Pretty much every student who shows up to a Young Life club is there voluntarily. There is no one forcing them to go. They aren’t there out of obligation. They chose to show up. Their parents didn’t force them to go (there are rare exceptions to this), they didn’t have to be there to get credit for something at school or church, and they came to YL because they made their own independent decision.

This is the heartbeat of what makes YL successful. The entire premise of Young Life is that it is voluntary. Whether or not you show up at YL is voluntary. Whether or not you believe the gospel is voluntary. High school folks are independently mobile. What that means is that they can decide when and where they spend their time. So they can choose to be a part of YL on their own, or choose not to. They aren’t dependent on their parents to get from one place to another. So if they want to be a part of something, they are, and if they don’t want to be a part of something, they aren’t. This is in contrast to your average church youth group, where a much higher percentage of the attendees are there whether they want to be or not.

The decision to show up to YL club (or Campaigners or any other YL event) actually is a decision that oftentimes costs kids something. It costs them time away from studying, or other activities that they could be doing. Because high school folks have more choices now than they ever have before, it is potentially more costly than ever.

It’s incredibly encouraging that every kid who is involved in Young Life really wants to be involved! What a gift, and what a testimony to the effectiveness of “earning the right to be heard” and living incarnationally among young people.

Book Review: The Big Short by Michael Lewis

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you want to better understand the housing collapse of 2008 and have your brain turned into mush at the same time, read this. I was always intimidated by the complicated investments that lead to the demise of the subprime housing market and should have lead to the collapse of every public firm on Wall Street. Once I read this book I still didn't understand these investment schemes, but I felt better about it because neither did most of the people who were buying and selling these bonds, including the CEO's of all the big banks.

As always Michael Lewis tells a great story, and this one has affected every one of us.

View all my reviews

Why Astros fans should be excited about the move to the AL

Now that the Texans season is officially over it’s time to talk about the Astros.

There seems to be a large percentage of Astros fans that are upset about the Astros move to the American League in 2013.  These fans are mistaken in their angst, and should in fact be excited for the move to the American League.  Here is why….

1. The Astros will finally get a true rival, the Texas Rangers.  Texans fans, think about how much you hate the Cowboys. Wouldn’t it be awesome if the Texans played the Cowboys 2 times every year. Those tickets would be outrageous, and the whole state would stop to watch. Well, the same kind of atmosphere will develop with the Rangers in a few years. Especially once we eliminate them, or they eliminate us from the playoff race with a sweep in September (this obviously won’t happen any time soon).  Imagine the division championship comes down to a final weekend series against the Rangers in Arlington. That would be awesome, and it will develop into a truly great rivalry.

Many Astros fans think we already have rivalries with the Cubs and Cardinals. We don’t. Cubs fans hate the Cardinals and to a lesser extent the White Sox. The Brewers are another potential developing rivalry with the Cubs (Milwaukee is ridiculously close to Chicago) now that the Brewers are in the NL and aren’t a joke franchise anymore.  The Cardinals hate the Cubs, and to a lesser extent the Royals (who are unbelievably terrible). While Astros fans may see these two teams as their rivals, the Cubs and Cardinals don’t see it, and never will. Why, because the Cubs and Cardinals have been rivals for over 100 years!!!!   The Rangers don’t have a natural rival, so adding the Astros to their division creates one, and it will be awesome.

2. I know many Houstonians were upset when Albert Pujols signed with the Angels, because now he’ll be able to torture Astros fans for the rest of his career. True. But at the same time, we will get to see Albert destroy all kinds of records in the next few years. I think Astros fans will be glad he’s in our division, especially once his skills start to deteriorate and his contract remains huge, thus handcuffing the Angels.

3. If the Astros ever end up with a guy like Carlos Lee, he wont’ have to play the field again. Sadly, we have to wait a year to move to the AL, and after this year Carlos Lee will be but a bad memory. However, the Astros could use that DH spot to bring back an aging veteran who can hit to finish his career in Houston at a reasonable rate. Yes, I am talking about Lance Berkman, or someone like him who can still hit, but is a liability in the field. Carlos Lee should have been a DH 5 years ago, probably the city of Houston’s worst signing ever (besides Scottie Pippen).

4. You get to see the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays play in Houston every year. Yes, the Rays are really, really good.

5. This one is personal, but it applies to many Houstonians.  There are lots of poeple in Houston who moved here from other places, or their parents taught them to be fans of other National League teams before they moved to Houston (namely, the Cubs, Cardinals, and Braves). I am a huge Cubs fan, which wasn’t a problem before 1994 because the Cubs and Astros were in different divisions and never once met in the playoffs. However, once baseball created the stupid, 6 team, NL Central, my loyalties were constantly divided, as were many other fans.  Now, I can be an unabashed Astros fan knowing that there is almost no chance of an Astros v. Cubs World Series. I’ll probably go out and stock up on some Astros gear for 2013 once they announce the new uniforms, logos, etc.  (Bring back the orange caps!)

So get excited Astros fans, we are gonna own the American League……. in 5 years.

The Number One Question facing College Football for next year.

The big question facing college football next year isn’t whether or not the BCS will be destroyed and replaced with an actual playoff system. It won’t, sadly.

The big question for college football next year is this…..

Will Texas A&M change their fight song, now that it makes absolutely no sense?

If you aren’t familiar with the Aggie Fight Song (aka Aggie War Hymn) Below are the lyrics:

Hullabaloo, Caneck, Caneck

Hullabaloo, Caneck, Caneck

All hail to dear old Texas A&M

Rally around Maroon and White

Good luck to dear old Texas Aggies

They are the boys who show the real old fight

That good old Aggie Spirit thrills us

And makes us yell and yell and yell

So let's fight for dear old Texas A&M

We're gonna beat you all to Chigaroogarem

Chigaroogarem

Rough, Tough, real stuff Texas A&M

Good bye to texas university

So long to the orange and the white

Good luck to dear old Texas Aggies

They are the boys who show the real old fight

'the eyes of Texas are upon you'

That is the song they sing so well

Sounds Like Hell

So good bye to texas university

We're gonna beat you all to Chigaroogarem

Chigaroogarem

Rough, Tough, Real stuff, Texas A&M

Saw varsity's horns off

Saw varsity's horns off

Saw varsity's horns off

Short! A!

Varsity's horns are sawed off

Varsity's horns are sawed off

Varsity's horns are sawed off

Short! A!

The lyrics are weird, but it was written a long time ago, and some of the stuff that seems like nonsense now, actually made sense back then. If you’re interested in what it all means click here.

Basically, most of the song talks about beating the University of Texas (full disclosure, I have a degree from said University of Texas). Now this was moderately weird before, because even when the Aggies were playing other teams besides UT, they would sing about beating Texas. But at least then, they knew they would actually be playing Texas at some point during the season (usually the last game) so you could kind of play it off.

Now, however, Texas A&M and the University of Texas will not be playing against one another in any sport, period.  Barring both teams making it to the National Championship game of any given sport (ha!)  there is no chance they will play one another in anything until 2018. It is beyond ridiculous to be singing about a school you hate that you won't even play in the forseeable future.

The Aggies chose to move to the SEC, which may turn out to be a great move for them. Personally, I think they will end up regretting this move, but I could easily be wrong on this one. With that choice they more or less abandonded the relationship they had with Texas, so it's probably time to start developing some new traditions.  This is the knock though. If you've ever been around Aggies, or gone to College Station, then you know that tradition is a huge part of their modus operandi (I think that's Latin, or maybe Chinese).  Once you buy into the importance of tradition so thoroughly it is very difficult to start new traditions that do away with the old.

So, will the Aggies change their fight song?

I think they should. What do you Aggies think?

New pictures of Ava!

Here are 2 new pictures of our daughter Ava who is waiting in China for us to come and get her. We think we'll be traveling to China in March. Hoping to get confirmation on that soon.