The Real Power of Choice

I sat in bed this morning enjoying the tranquility that comes when the whole family is still asleep. This is a rare blessing of serenity that I enjoy as a father of a family of eight. I laid in bed trying to motivate myself to get up-and-at'em in hopes that somehow at the the end of the day I would be conqueror rather than conquered.

As I was running through my mental list of things I needed to accomplish today sounds of creaking beds and the stomp, stomp, stomping of playful feet interrupted me (they have never been pitter-pattery????). In this moment I was again thankful for those mothers that placed the lives of their children over their own. I thought of their personal choice. A choice I am sure was not easy. A choice I am sure brought and continues to bring deep ache. A choice that was unselfish. A choice of love.

 In a day that is filled with selfishness and self promotion it is easy to call out "THIS IS MY LIFE! AND THE CHOICES I MAKE ARE MINE AND MINE ALONE!" I agree I have the right of choice. I am an agent unto myself . I can chose happiness or I can chose sorrow. I am the creator of my own destiny and with that I need no permission or to excuse myself in the least. But our choices or not ours alone. Yes we are free to make them for ourselves and by ourselves. But every choice we make sends out a ripple that can be felt by those around us. It maybe felt as a hiccup, a bump or an earthquake. It might not be noticed today but but might cause a great impact tomorrow. For good or bad. It is up to us to make the choice that is the right choice. The choice that might cause pain today but bring happiness tomorrow.

Today on National Adoption Day I am grateful for women who placed a child's choice to live above their own self choice. It might have been easier for these women to listen to the world and call out "Pro Choice" then extinguish the light of a child. Extinguishing a light that has brought so much brightness and warmth into the world. A light that continues to grow each day and change the world that has been gifted to them by this selfless act of love.

These children of mine have come to me through tough choices. Choices many of us are not willing to make. Choices that we will never understand and will not be able to comprehend the pain that follows those who have made them. I will not pretend I know the pain...I cannot. There are some dark valley's that I know I could not walk through.

I am grateful that you chose life over death. I do not have much to offer you except that I would want you to know that your children are loved, they are valued. I hope to raise them in such a way that they will come to know the power of choice and the freedom that comes through the acts of charity. Know that they are experiencing life with all their ups and downs. Know that I will always be there for them, they have all of my love. They will always have my love in the brightest of days and the darkest of nights. Please do not have sorrow. Your choice has given so much light to so many people. I thank you for not choosing the worlds selfish call to live life only for yourself. I thank you for your ability to see the value of life and the real meaning of choice. I thank you not only today but I thank your for eternity. God bless you! God bless you!



Thanks for sharing my adoption journeys,
Jared
Thinking about adoption?
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Paper plane fly off

We chose tonight to have a paper plane design and fly off. It was a simple spur of the moment activity. All you need is paper, crayons and a willingness to have fun. All the things we have plenty of.

We brought in the paper and went to work. From oldest to youngest it was fun. The best thing I enjoy as a parent is to sit back and watch it all happen. Older ones were helping smaller ones. Laughing, giggling, some smack talk that had to be kept under control. Mom was not to happy that I made her stop.

We cleared the kitchen and the Family Room for our flight area and gave each family member three throws. I was actually impressed. From those that went the farthest, to cool loopty loops, to the ones that seemed to go farther backwards than they did forwards. (That by the way was mine.) All had fun! We awarded on design and length of flight. For participating each child got 2 homemade cookies (Thanks Mom) and the winner of design got an extra cookie (everyone a winner) The longest flight got 2 additional cookies. So the winner achieving a flight of 24 feet received 5 cookies. And the winner is...drum roll please......My oldest son!!!!!

It was a lot of fun and paper airplanes are still being thrown today. We encourage you please take time for moments. The opportunity to make them will leave all to quickly.

Looking for great ways to fold a plane?Paper Plane Instructions

If you have done this activity please let us know how it went or what you did to improve it by commenting below.

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HAPPY FLYING!

We Can Stay or We Can Fight!

Life seems to have a way of leading you down the path you are suppose to go, not necessarily the path you want to go.

I center myself by walking around graveyards. If I am driving and I happen to pass a cemetery I will pull in, park my car and walk. I take time to stop by as many grave markers as I can. I read each marker and then make sure to read the surrounding markers. I have seen young couples that have left behind precious little ones, I have seen little ones that have left their parents, I have seen parents and spouses finally unite with those that lay beside them after several decades of being apart. I have seen markers of mothers that had laid several of their children to rest to somehow continue through their life only to be found sharing the same ground with their children. Most of these markers are old and have no flowers surrounding them, because those that might have remembered those events are now found a short distance partaking in the same sleep. 

I sit and imagine the pain of the somber day that must have rested on the shoulders of all those present. The weight of wondering will the day pass, can I make it through and the repeating question of why? Why? WHY?!? I am sure that this is not the path that any of those living or those that are  resting was eager to take.

I think of the poem of Dylan Thomas that says

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light...

Do not go gentle into that good night." 

 I am sure that can be said about every path we find ourselves on that we did not want to travel. But there are times in life in order to travel from A to C we must go through B. We may not want shoulder a particular load. We do not want to shoulder the burden. We find ourselves calling out for relief from friends, strangers or who ever is near. Sometimes we sit under our crushing load silent not wanting any one to notice but hoping someone will.  Hoping someone will lighten our cares and easy our troubled mind.  Better yet, it will remove itself before it completely destroys us.

When going though paths that I did not think I would have to travel I think of this video. I am sure you have seen it but it is always worth watching again.

We all journey this life with high hopes and big dreams. There our moments that we win the race, there are other moments where we are glad the race is over and then there are those moments that we fall and do not want to get back up. There are those moments that we think if we just stay down it will stop the hurt. But that is not true! Pain will come and pain will go! However, if we give into the pain it will be our master it will bind us down, it will chain us to failure. It will control and direct our lives because we are not willing to believe in our possibilities it will remove our faith and replace it with fear! And Fear is demobilizing.

Life is not always sunshine and rainbows. We must keep moving forward. At times it is only inches but inches are what miles are made of. We have to believe something different can happen if only we continue to move forward. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We must make the choice we must decide. We move forward not to be the best in the world but to become the best that we can be. We must fight to stand in the light when all we see is darkness. We must fight our way back in the light. We must Fight our way out of HELL! Take the hits and keep moving forward.

It is your actions that calls out to the world 

I will show you how powerful I am

What are we going to do?  
We are going to move. Yes, in pain if we have to! But we will move.

If you are down today do something to get up.
                                                       If you can not get to your feet
                                then to your knees
if not to your knees then  
                   prop yourself up.


If you are up and on your feet today
                                  look around for those struggling
to get up or those that are waiting for the count down to call them out and
          go to them and be their shoulder to lean on.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

You can do this! We can do this!

 Your Journey will never end so make the most of it. 

Because the Joy is Truly in the Journey!

Thanks for sharing my adoption journeys,

Jared
Thinking about adoption?
Like us on facebook.com/connectadopt and see how we are planning on opening your adoption opportunities with a revolutionary tool that will change adoption.

Share our Journey with Us.

For all those who are coming to this blog, THANKS!...Get ready for some continued fun. Please put in your email to follow this blog and we will make it worth your time. Your support to this blog is important to Tricia and myself. We love family and all that is involved with family. We are passionate about adoption and have great insite on trans racial adoption, sibling adoption, infant adoptions, relationships with birth parents, and blending a family to make all feel welcome and apart. It is not because we are perfect it is because we make mistakes and we learn...well sometimes...other times we make the same mistakes and try again. Anyhow...Comment, share, and laugh with us. We are excited about sharing with you and we hope you are excited about sharing with us. Like us on facebook as well at https://www.facebook.com/connectadopt. There are some great things we have lined up to change the world of adoption. Please join us and encourage your friends to join us too.

Thanks for sharing my adoption journeys,
Jared

Thinking about adoption?
Like us on facebook and see how we are planning on opening your adoption opportunities with a revolutionary tool that allows you to be shown to multiple birth parents, by multiple adoption professional nation wide, increasing your ability to find your family:
Like us On Facebook at facebook.com/connectadopt

Tic tock does it ever stop!

This is how I have been feeling lately. Trying my hardest to hang on to time as it quickly slips through my fingers. If any of you have any suggestions on how to control time I would appreciate some advice. If you are wondering, I can not get a hold of a Delorean or a flux capacitor and I do not know how to create 1.2 gigawatts. I know for most of you that was your solution.

Over the past months a lot has happened. Finally after 10 grueling months

TIME WAS FAST, AND ADOPTION, WELL…MONEY WAS SLOW

As a young boy I had a myriad of different punishments inflicted on me when I went against the house rules. The one punishment I enjoyed most was sitting in front of the ol’ yellow kitchen oven and watching the clock. 5min, 10min, 15min, the time would just roll past. I felt a little like Br'er rabbit as I would cry out “mama please, oh please don’t throw me in front of the ol’ yellow stove! Whip me, send me to my room anything but watchin’ that clock”. With vigor mom would take me to the kitchen and I would climb up in the chair, position myself like I was at the movies and sit back letting my brain wander (there were times I would actually get lost in there, that is for another blog…or my therapist).  All that I was missing was popcorn, a drink and a box of red vines (NOT those nasty Twizzlers).  I was a simple child with a simple mind, but I made the most of it.