Beginning Our Homeschooling Adventure - March 2012

Giving God Glory
God is always faithful in refining His children - Philippians 1:6 - For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.  This month the Lord definitely brought out some idols (things I was putting before my relationship with Christ) that were in my heart.  It has been hard to see the ugliness of sins such as pride, covetousness, discontentment, worry, and doubt, but it has also been so good to see the Lord's tender, patient, and purifying work in my heart.  I praise Him for growing me in humility, faith, trust, contentment, and peace.  I am grateful for the freedom and peace that have come as a result of trusting and resting in His wisdom and sovereignty.

What's on the Harrisons' Hearts
Beginning our homeschooling adventure - Wes and I are excited to begin homeschooling Noah.  We've talked about homeschooling even before Noah was born, and I made a commitment to wait to start intentionally "schooling" Noah until he was 3 (preschool age) to give him time to just be a kid and not start as soon as he was born, though there have been times the "school teacher" in me has wanted to come out.  Well, Noah is 3 now, so game on! ;)  I am pretty laid back about it since he is still young and am definitely using out-of-the-box and individualized approaches with Noah that I was not always able to implement in a classroom of 25+ children.  It is a lot of fun!  So, why homeschool?

Here are our top 10 reasons why we are homeschooling:
1. God is calling us (presently) to homeschool - for the future, we want to remain sensitive to His leading and how He's created Noah
2. Deuteronomy 6:5 - Discipling Noah; teachable moments; priority of personal relationship with Christ
3. Give Noah a biblical worldview and biblical principles with his education
4. Desire to spend time with Noah, to invest in him, and to be a part of his education
5. Age-appropriate exposure to the "world," though our goal is not to "shelter" him
6. More opportunities: hands-on learning, field trips, build wisdom through life skills & life experiences
7. Able to better tailor Noah's education to his gifts, strengths, & God's calling for his life
8. Stronger & closer family relationships
9. Proverbs 13:20 - Foundation of wise influences but also equip & provide opportunities for appropriate exposure to other influences
10. Schedule freedom - daily & yearly; plus Wes' schedule is great to help & to have family field trips

*The biggest concern we have heard and are aware of about homeschooling is the socialization aspects.  We have a vision and game plan to be proactive to help grow Noah socially, which we are very excited about!  Please feel free to ask us any questions about anything you may be curious about. :)

Having fun homeschooling!

I am enjoying teaching Noah each week in fun, creative, & hands-on ways:

*one Bible verse

*one Bible song

*one letter 

*one number

*one life skill

*skill(s) from Core Knowledge - What Your Preschooler Needs to Know

Noah is an excited little learner.  Teaching my own son is by far the most enjoyable and rewarding teaching I have ever done!  Wes and I look forward to discipling Noah and investing in the education of his heart, mind, soul, & body.  We desire to help Noah grow as Jesus did - 

 in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man (Luke 2:52).

Letter "A" & Number "1" activities - Pompom tape * Writing in shaving cream * Noah's "bulletin board" on the island in our kitchen

Writing the letter "C" in the dirt on a hike

 

Noah's letter "D" with chalk * Water/marker paper towel painting "D" (Great idea Kristen!)

Praises & Prayers
Friend's son - Praise for my friend's young son's surgery going well to have his adenoids removed and tubes put in his ears.  Prayers for her son (and the family as they seek to trust and rest in the Lord) as he has another surgery for his Cholesteatoma, a type of skin cyst that is located in the middle ear.
Tami - Continued prayers for the Lord to give my dad and other loved ones His perspective and that God would heal Tami, but ultimately that His will would be done.
Paul - We are praying James 1:5 for wisdom for the doctors and Philippians 4:6-7 for God's peace to guard Paul & Amanda's hearts during this time of Paul's health trial.  Paul has a rare condition at the base of his brain called Chiari Malformation Type 1, and he will be having surgery in April.
Our Family - Praise for the Lord growing and refining us.
Wes - Praise for the Lord continuing to grow Wes through his 3 Bible classes as he starts up another quarter (Homiletics = preaching, Advanced Hermeneutics = Interpreting the Bible, & Bible Ordination = prep to be an ordained minister - though the Lord is not leading Wes to vocational ministry at least as of now).  Continued prayer of 2 Timothy 1:7 for the Lord to continue to give Wes discipline and perseverance in completing the work for his classes and to continue to impact Wes' heart through his studies.  
Christina - Praise for the Lord refining my heart of idols and growing my faith and trust in Him.  Prayer of Psalm 51:10 for the Lord to give me a pure heart and to renew a right spirit within me.
Noah - God would graciously save him at a young age and lead him to walk with the Lord all of his days, if that be the Lord's will.  Praise for Noah growing in his "yes being yes and no being no" and for the Lord giving Wes and me wisdom in discerning defiance vs. thinking through a decision.  Prayer for Noah to grow in communicating in ways that honor Wes and me (Ephesians 6:1) because he has been wanting to yell instead of using his words with self-control when he does not get what he wants.


Marriage Memories

Wes and I enjoyed a spontaneous date night. :)  I was going to meet up with some girlfriends to scrapbook but was blessed with Wes taking the evening off of work last minute.  Adam and Wendy were already coming over to care for Noah while I was going to be out, so we figured we would take advantage of Wes getting off of work to be able to enjoy some much needed time together.  We ate a yummy (and very reasonably priced due to a good deal) all-you-can-eat sushi and then went to see the movie The Vow.  It was a wonderful night together!

Family Fun

Having fun hiking

Noah was a little "shy" for the camera, but he was in his element in the outdoors!

He is definitely a Colorado boy at heart!

Exploring * Pausing for a pic - he made sure his frog pillow pet, Frankie, was along for the adventure ;)

Noah is a natural when it comes to "bouldering" * I had my "mom moments" of getting nervous at times when they were up high on ledges like this... I prayed for God to protect them!

Hiking crew - Noah, Frankie, Sierra, & Daddy * Daddy & son teamwork

Daddy & son - Washing the "Silver Bullet" * Grilling

Wildlife we saw while visiting Daddy at work - they were right outside the firestation * Father & son

Playing at Parks

"Zip line" with Daddy * Focused on flying

Teeter-tottering with Mommy (& Daddy on the other side) * Our little rock climber

Noah News

Age - 3 years old
Cute Communication - "Yesssah!" with great enthusiasm for yes. :)  Noah's talking is really taking off!  He is now talking beyond 10 word sentences, and others are starting to understand a lot more of what he says.  Ex. One day Noah said, "I wah [want] to ri [ride] wi [with] Daddy, Mommy, Shekah [Sierra], and Frankie in a truh [truck] someday."
          Noah is now quoting whole verses and references that we teach him.  Sometimes I'll hear him randomly saying one of his verses while he's playing by himself.  Precious!  Every once in a while he will quote a verse in the midst of one of our "teachable moments."  Ex. When Noah had been being mean to Naomi, I was teaching him about how God wants us to be kind to others when he says, "Be kind [to] one anuhnuh [another] and buil [build] ea [each] uhuh [other] up. Firs [First] Thessaonians [Thessalonians] five eheh [eleven], Mommy?"  Melted my heart.

Latest Loves
Reading
Hiking
Biking - especially with his neighborhood friends
Machines - ex. backhoes, bulldozers, cranes, etc.
Building sand castles in his sand box
Wrestling Daddy
Games such as "Red Light Green Light" & "Hide & Seek"
Using his fork & he is good at it :)
Sprinkles
Book Pajama Time by Sandra Boynton
Trinity song
Creating/making up his own games such as "Get my lips" or "Tickle Game"
Jingle - "Who [Ate] the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?"
Frankie - his frog pillow pet

Playing in his sandbox with his friends * Having fun & being filthy (though the photo doesn't do justice to how his face was covered in sand)

Wrestling with Daddy - going for the pin!!

 

Playing in his sand box * Cracking himself up ;) * Looking cute & enjoying an apple

Bringing Our Baby Home - Our Adoption Journey

Here is a photo of all the paperwork we had to complete for our home study.

This is probably only half of it because (thankfully) our adoption agency had us complete as much as possible on the spot with them at our first administrative meeting back in December.

UPDATES:
Beginning of MARCH - Making Progress - We are excited that all our background checks are in to our agency, Hope's Promise!  This means the final process of our home study will begin soon, which involves multiple interviews and a home examination, and will take approximately one month.  This puts us in the position to enter the waiting pool (in which a birthmother would be able to choose us) around the beginning of April.  So, the Lord could bless us with another precious little one as early as April of this year, or we have heard the longest timeframe of waiting in the waiting pool at our agency has been 2 years.  We know the Lord will direct everything to work out according to His perfect plans and timing.  Our adoption is starting to become a little less surreal, and the excitement is beginning to grow as the time could be drawing near of welcoming a precious baby in our home!


Beginning of APRIL - In the same spot - We are in the same spot in the adoption process that we were a month ago and are still waiting to begin our home study interviews.  We were assigned a caseworker at the beginning of March, who will be doing our home study interviews and home inspection.  Our caseworker told us that she would be going on vacation and would not be able to begin these interviews until April.  Consequently, this has lengthened our home study process another month.  Our interviews and home inspection are tentatively set for April 4th, 12th, and 16th, so we could enter the waiting pool (where birthmothers would have an opportunity to choose us to adopt their baby) would hopefully be the beginning of May.  The Lord has been using the waiting to refine and grow us.  We are thankful that He has been giving us peace as we seek to rest in the truth that He is sovereign and is orchestrating every detail according to His perfect plans and timing.  His plans are always better than ours!  The Lord has also been reminding us of the importance of prayer, so we are very grateful for all the prayers for our family!


CURRENT: APRIL 24th - We are approved and in the waiting pool! - Over the past couple weeks, we completed our 3 home study interviews and home inspection as well as two 8 hour days of adoption training in Castle Rock.  The staff at Hope's Promise, our adoption agency, just officially voted to approve our home study, which means we have been approved to be an adoptive couple and to enter the waiting pool.  The excitement is slowly continuing to grow with us now being in the waiting pool (where birthmothers would have an opportunity to choose us to adopt their baby) and with knowing we could be chosen by a birthmother and have a precious little one join our family any day now.  However, the average wait time for our agency for infant domestic adoption is 1 year.  Also, the average wait time for domestic adoptions is getting longer as more couples are seeking domestic adoption due to more countries "closing their doors" to international adoptions, due to the wait time for international adoptions taking significantly longer, and due to the costs being significantly more for international adoptions.  The longest time an adoptive couple has been in the waiting pool at our agency has been 2 years.  We look forward to seeing the Lord's plans unfold. :)


Adoption tax credit update (as of now the tax credit expires at the end of 2012):
*This is from an article by the North American Council on Adoptable Children that our adoption agency shared with us.
          On April 9, Rep. Bill Braley (D-IA) announced that he plans to introduce the Making Adoption Affordable Act, a bill that will permanently expand the adoption tax credit to $13,360 and make it refundable.  At a local press event in Waterloo, Iowa, Braley said, "When a policy puts more kids in good families and also saves taxpayers millions of dollars in the process, renewing it should be a no-brainer.  Expanding the adoption tax credit makes even more sense and will help even more parents and children."

Where are we at in the adoption process?

The process for adopting an infant in the U.S. involves:

*completing an application & being accepted - 11-22-11

*home study process/training & being approved - 4-24-12

*being in the waiting pool - our profile book about our family (which birthmothers look at to choose the parents they want for their child) being shown to birthmothers - WE ARE HERE

*waiting anywhere from approximately 2 weeks to 2 years - AND HERE

*being chosen by a birthmother

*meeting the birthmother and confirming the match

*birth of baby

*bringing baby home with us from the hospital

*4 days (more like 1 week logistically) legal period in which the birthmother can change her mind

*after 6 months the adoption is legally finalized in court

Praying for our adoption journey

Praises:

*God giving us wisdom as we answered questions during our home study interviews

*Excellent adoption training and encouraging fellowship with other adoptive couples at our training

*Our home study being approved and entering the waiting pool

*Rep. Bill Braley announcing plans to introduce a bill to make the adoption tax credit permanent & refundable

*Prayer partners and words of encouragement

*The Lord's continued financial provision!  

Recent Request:

*James 1:5 - For the Lord to give all the birthmothers and adoptive couples wisdom and to make His will clear as He unites families through the adoptive process.

Ongoing Requests:

*Ephesians 3:21 & 6:18-20 - The Lord to be glorified and the gospel to be shared

*Galatians 5:22-23 - The Lord to begin preparing Noah (and us) for welcoming a little one into our family.  One of the aspects we are praying for is the fruit of the Spirit.

*John 6:44 - The Lord to begin drawing the birthmother (if she does not know Christ) and the baby He has for our family to Himself in salvation

*Matthew 25:19-21 - An ongoing prayer request for us to be wise financial stewards and for the Lord to provide for our adoption as we seek to save, to take advantage of extra income opportunities, to pursue grants, to provide fundraising opportunities, and however else He desires to.  We hope to be adoption debt free by the end of the entire adoption process, but we are holding this desire loosely and know that it may take more time.

*Philippians 4:19-20 - God's perfect timing with our adoption... the adoption tax credit that would immensely help out with our adoption expenses expires at the end of 2012.  We know the Lord will provide either way, whether through a tax credit or other means, and we are thankful to have a game plan for either scenario.

Book on Adoption
This month I read Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families & Churches.  Many people had highly recommended that I read this book, and I can see why.  Russell Moore writes about a key aspect of adoption that many people do not think about - the spiritual aspects of God's purposes in adopting believers into His family and also how adoption is one of the greatest means to sharing the gospel and fulfilling the Great Commission.  It was very encouraging to read many Scripture passages about adoption and also theology on God's purposes in adoption because this is where Wes' and my hearts are at...  Our main motivation for adopting is not because we want more children...  Our motivation for pursuing adoption is out of obedience to God calling us to adopt, out of gratefulness for God adopting us into His family, out of our passion for sharing the gospel in a practical and powerful way, and then also out of a desire for a sibling for Noah.  In this book, Moore also shares wisdom about practical aspects of adoption that he learned through adopting two precious boys from Russia.   In addition, he offers great insights to help those who are (or fear they might be) infertile to spur them on to have a biblical perspective and to seek God's purposes through this trial.  I highly recommend this book to everyone!  Here's the basic description (from Amazon):



A stirring call to Christian families and churches to be a people who care for orphans, not just in word, but in deed.  The gospel of Jesus Christ-the good news that through Jesus we have been adopted as sons and daughters into God's family-means that Christians ought to be at the forefront of the adoption of orphans in North America and around the world.  Russell D. Moore does not shy away from this call in Adopted for Life, a popular-level, practical manifesto for Christians to adopt children and to help equip other Christian families to do the same. He shows that adoption is not just about couples who want children-or who want more children. It is about an entire culture within evangelicalism, a culture that sees adoption as part of the Great Commission mandate and as a sign of the gospel itself.  Moore, who adopted two boys from Russia and has spoken widely on the subject, writes for couples considering adoption, families who have adopted children, and pastors who wish to encourage adoption.



Movie on Adoption

This month we did not see a movie on adoption, but there is one playing in theaters presently that we really want to see!  It's called October Baby.  Here's what a friend of mine had to say about it...  "October Baby is a moving account of a young woman who discovers she is an abortion survivor and how she copes with that knowledge...  If you care deeply about the issues of abortion, adoption, and the need for forgiveness, you will want to see this movie."  I have had others share great reviews of this movie with me as well, so Wes and I look forward to seeing it!

Memorable Moment of the Month
Our biker boy - With the warmer temps this month, Noah showed great excitement and interest in riding his bike with his friends.  Even though his legs were not quite long enough to pedal, he was thrilled to cruise down the street with Daddy's or Mommy's help.  His four and five-year-old friends would often race past him and sometimes would ride alongside of him.  Noah just enjoyed being out there "biking" with them.  He would laugh and smile every time one of his buddies would ride by or when they would pretend to be policemen and pull him over to write him a ticket for speeding.  Too cute!

Noah getting his "biking face" on * Cruising with Daddy

Noah's biking buddies in our neighborhood

Josh, Dylan, Noah, & Caleb