Merry Christmas or Merry Mithra?

What is the true meaning of Christmas? I believe it has little or nothing to do with my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The beautiful lights, presents under the tree, Santa, Rudolph, family gatherings and other celebrations at this time of year bring many lots of joy. They don't do much for the lonely, depressed, and poor though. Santa brings the best toys to the rich and no toys for the poor. Good old St. Nick. I always look forward to spending time with family and friends and I enjoy buying a few gifts but for me, I am more comfortable leaving the name of Jesus out of the true meaning of Christmas.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the famous English preacher of the last century, said, "We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas ... we find no scriptural word whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Saviour; and consequently, its observance is a superstition, because (it's) not of divine authority ... probably the fact is that the 'holy days' (were) arranged to fit in with the heathen festivals ... how absurd to think we could do it in the spirit of the
world, with a Jack Frost clown, a deceptive worldly Santa Claus, and a mixed program of sacred truth with fun, deception, and fiction." (Quoted from Metropolitan Pulpit Series, Pilgrim Publications: Pasadena, Texas, 1871, p. 1026).

For more insight into the history of Christmas check out this link.
http://www.toolong.com/pages/christmas.htm
May you experience the love of Jesus in 2009

Happy 17th Birthday Stephen!

It is hard to believe but on December 13, 2008 Stephen will be 17 years old. Stephen you are a pleasure to have around. Thank you. We are proud to be your parents. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May His face shine upon you!

The following facts about the number 17 were sent to us by Stephen's Uncle Matt:

Here are a few random facts about 17 for the birthday boy:17 is a prime number. There are exactly 17 ways to express 17 as the sum of 1 or more primes [2+2+13, 2+3+5+7, etc.]. This is the only integer that is equal to the number of prime partitions of itself.There are 17 muscles in the human tongue.17 is the smallest number that can be written as A2 + B3 in two different ways: 17 = 32 + 23 = 42 + 13. The ancient Greeks had 17 consonants in their alphabet.An ancient guy named Jâbir Ibn Hayyân really dug the number 17. He wrote "All, in the universe, is governed by the number 17 - the metals for example have 17 'power'" and the form of any thing in the world is 17." No, I don't know what that means either.King Tutankhamen was wrapped in 17 cloths. Japanese haiku have exactly 17 syllables: 3 lines with 5, 7, and 5 syllables each. For example:

My nephew StephenIs seventeen years old now,So is he a man?

In the Bible,- the flood began on the 17th day of the 2nd month and the ark rested on the 17th day of the 7th month- 17 nationalities, or languages, are mentioned in the account of Pentecost in Acts 2- there are 17 things that cannot separate us from the love of Christ mentioned in Romans 8- sheep are mentioned 17 times in John 10- 17 "works of the flesh" are specifically mentioned in Galatians 5:19-21, unless you count "and such like", which is the 18th listed.
17 years old is the final year of minor, or childhood, status in the United States and some other nations.In the movies, Number 17 by Alfred Hitchcock and Stalag 17 are considered classics. A movie 17 Again, about a man given a chance to do his life over, will come out in 2009.In song, Janis Ian had the melancholy hit, At 17.===================

Speaking of music, the day Stephen was born, the number one song on the charts was Black or White by Michael Jackson. In it, he sang "It makes no difference if you're black or white", which is quite ironic coming from him.

Stephen Porters in the world include a metal sculptor (www.stephenporterstudio.com), an Associate Professor of Research and Evaluation Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (nice job title), a pediatric emergency medical specialist, a Senior Counsel appointed to the National Council on the Arts by President Bush, the director of the 1991 Broadway play The Miser, the Director of CIEL's Climate Change Program (see picture at http://www.ciel.org/Staff/porter.html), a concert pianist (www.stephenporterpiano.com), and the coauthor of a book about evolution, entitled The Quaternary Period in the United States. (I figured you'd like that last one).

Happy birthday, Stephen
(Thanks Uncle Matt!)

Tom & Heather have been married for 22 years

Pictures from our 2nd honeymoon in Shanghai China a few days before we met up with Andrew. Where does the time go? Let us see what the Bible says about time.

Jam 4:14
How do you know what will happen tomorrow? For your life is like the morning fog--it's here a little while, then it's gone. NLT

2Cr 6:2
For God says, "At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you."Indeed, God is ready to help you right now. Today is the day of salvation. NLT

Today is the day of your salvation. Please do not wait! Check our links if you have questions about salvation.

What are we thankful for?

Psalm 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, [and] into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, [and] bless his name. KJV

What are we thankful for?
*Our God remains on the throne no matter what
*His plan of salvation
*The many blessings we receive so casually each day:
(family, health, a roof over our heads, heat and air conditioning, free flowing clean water and food on the table just to name a few)

There are 143 million orphans worldwide and countless others living in deplorable conditions for many different reasons. Many might ask God,"Why??!!" God may just ask us the same question. Won't you join me in prayer for those less fortunate and for those who don't yet know God's plan of salvation so that they too may choose life.

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. KJV
(Questions about how one is "born again"/salvation? Check out Livingwaters or Biblehelp under my links)
Happy Thanksgiving!

Big brother Robbie insisted that Andrew should have this cute little jacket. He wasn't too sure at first but after awhile he was sporting a hat as well.

Andrew and our Golden Retriever "Manley"

Andrew was shrieking in fear when he first encountered Manley. As you can see, things have changed.

Please Welcome Andrew Porter

We are home!

After many hours in the air and 10 hours wandering around airports, we finally made it home. Oddly enough it didn't seem that bad. Andrew slept on all of the flights. We spent the airport time running off energy. It took a few hours for Andrew to warm up to his brothers but soon they had him rough housing with hearty laughs. Leah came home the next day. It took him a little longer to warm up to her. But as I type this they are playing cars on the kitchen floor with great enthusiasm. Andrew seems to be adjusting pretty well. Nights are still a little rough but once he gets to sleep he stays asleep with a few exceptions.

Red Couch Photos

Bethany families at the White Swan. I think we are all going home in the morning.

All of the Bethany "Babas"

Andrew is 2nd from the left top row.

Awwwww. Andrew and AJ. They came from the same orphanage. AJ spent most of his time in foster care but the boys are familiar with each other because our familes spent 7 days together in their province. We did not ask them to do this so this is an extra special picture!

A River Boat

I'm not quite sure what this guy was collecting but as these tufts of green stuff floated up he scooped them uinto a net. He also scooped up trash if he found it.

Medical Exam

They give the kids a medical exam before leaving China. Andrew did a pretty good job of cooperating. Today we received his visa after taking an oath at the United States Consulate promising that all of our information was correct pertaining to his adoption. Only one more full day here and it will be time to come home. We are ready.

Yeah~I'm able to post again

Entry gates at the orphanage.

Beautiful garden at the orphanage

I honestly can't remember if this was part of the grounds of the orphanage or a garden we toured later. They were similar.

Orphanage playground

Front Gate Suzhou Social Welfare Institute

Childrens play area at the orphanage

Orphanage Tour

Andrew and his best friend

Suzhou Social Welfare Institute
Childrens Building

Yesterday we were able to visit the orphanage. Andrews best friend is going home with his family in December. Oh how I wish that could be said for all of the children here. There are over 300 children up to age 16 living here. There is also an old folks home on the premises. We were able to visit Andrews room. It was filled with little beds. The kids were napping at 11:30am which is sort of weird for kids over age 3. Andrew started to remove his shoes. I think he was pleased when everyone laughed and he realized he didn't have to take a nap. It appeared that most of the kids were disabled. A couple severely. I actually took the hand of one of the little ones as he/she reached out to me. I'll never forget the feeling of that cold little hand. There was not a dry eye in the room. There were some smiles but mostly distant stares. After that we peered into the nursey which was wall to wall cribs. Andrew seemed comfortable through most of it. I think he looks a little concerned in the picture because he is unsure what will happen next. We were not allowed to take photos indoors. They brought his little friend outside for the pictures. We were also served a traditional lunch and were allowed to ask questions. I really didn't have any. Soon we were off to do a little touring of the Suzhou City. Andrew happily hopped on the bus waving and saying "bah-bye". One of his first english words. We were gratefull for this because we sense he misses someone at the orphanage.

Technical Difficulties

Hello everyone. Sorry I haven't updated the blog but seem to be having technical difficulties. I'm having my son give you this message from our computer at home since nothing goes through from here. Things are going as good as can be expected. I will update when possible.

God Bless~Tom & Heather

FP3 player

We downloaded some Chinese childrens music onto a FP3 player and Andrew really enjoys it. He listens to the songs that are in English too but when the Chinese music comes on he starts to move with the music. Very cute! By the way, FP stands for Fisher Price.

The Pool

We thought we would check out the pool. The water was too cold for Andrew and he was afraid. Soon he was asleep in my arms. Must have been nap time.

Here Andrew is sporting his very fashionable(required) bathing cap. It never got wet. when I took it off of him he threw it across the room. :-}

bonding time

While in this carrier Andrew played with my hair, offered to feed me, looked into my eyes and kissed me. The locals really stared because they probably think he is too big for this.??? they probably think we are are crazy foreigners.

Taking a stroll around the hotel area.

The Adoption is final

Today we went back to the civil affairs to finalize the adoption. We were given 24 hours to make sure we wanted to continue on. Andrew was happy to see his nannies again but ran back and forth between us. He was very excited to show them his sunglasses, comb and sippy cup. He did cry a little when they left. I'm glad that he loves them. He seems like a loyal little guy. Later he gave me a great big unsolicited kiss which of course made my day.

Our newest family member

What a day! Andrew was not at all happy about all of this but is quickly warming up to us. We took the train from Shanghai to Nanjing. There were a couple of stops along the way and guess who got on the train? Andrew and his nannies. Tom told me Andrew was on the train and I didn't believe him at first. Sure enough about 10 rows up there he sat. Then we had to watch him get off the train and disappear into the large crowd. A short time later we met up again at the civil affairs office. There were 2 little boys and lots of tears. One of the nannies was very kind and concerned about the boys. We will see them again tomorrow to finish up the paperwork. We just hung around at the hotel for the rest of the day. We are with another family who has a boy from the same orphanage. We let the boys explore the lobby but that is about it for today. Please welcome Andrew Youxuan Porter.