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Waiting For Superman

My Journal

2/15/14


Today I don't want to be introspective. I want to just be superficial, which is kind of different for me, not in an arrogant way, just in a factual way. I thought it was interesting when I read an article about a guy who decided to follow Ben Franklin's schedule for a day. Ben left time for study and to deal with spiritual things. The author said he almost never did that, and it was an interesting thing for him to do. Thinking about big things like God and purpose and why we are here and doing research into those questions is something I grew up doing and something I do all the time. How can you not wonder about that? How can you just go through life and just go to work, come home, be with your someone, party sometimes and that is it. That is satisfying? Really? Don't you wonder about things as a whole? Don't you wonder why we are here or how, or do you just take science's or God's word for it and leave it at that. I guess in a way you could have more of your emotional energy available to fritter away on personal drama. That might be interesting. I know it is kind of a weight on me to wonder about my, and our purpose, to wonder what or who else is out there, and it is a huge itch I am just dying to scratch to see everything as it really is. I used to think I would just go to heaven and God would explain it all to me and I could live with that. Now I am not so sure I will ever know, and ugh, that is annoying.

But to live without that burden, to me is to live in a closet. To live in the small world of what I see now. I just need to get out into the air and breath and wonder, and make wild guesses and hope. So with that comes the burden of what I don't know, of making choices and just not knowing if they are the right ones because I can't have all the information. I can't see past death or into the new millennium, so I have to make some of my best guesses blind.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

We have moved into a new phase in our family. Our application has just been accepted by Dillon International to adopt through their new pilot program in Ghana, West Africa. I for one feel like I am going home. I understand international adoption. There are so many aspects of it that resonate with me. The quality of private organizations is one of them. I respect the contribution we can make to a child of another culture, and I appreciate how celebrating another culture enhances our family. As to be expected in international adoption it will be a long, expensive, and paper heavy process, and we are bracing ourselves for all of it. But we have been there before and we made it through, with great success. We will actually be working with the same social worker we worked with to adopt Arin. She remembers us, and is excited to work with us, too. Wow, such a night and day difference from what we dealt with over the last two years.

I will keep you posted on our slow steady progress and I look forward to introducing you to our new children or child two or three years from now.

In the meantime. I am passing on the opportunity for you to contribute to our adoption if you choose. We would welcome positive thoughts or more concrete things like money. If you drink coffee I have started a store at www.justlovecoffee.com/spieringfamily. Anything you buy from this store will contribute to our adoption. All of the coffee is fair trade and some of it is organic. They also offer decaf and espresso, so please take a look, or pass the web address along to anyone you know who may enjoy some fresh coffee.


Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The North Wind and the Sun

Our foster care journey is over, and I am still processing everything we experienced during the process. One of the lessons that I would like to embed in the minds of many people we worked with during this process is expressed very well in the parable of the North Wind and the sun. I saw so many people blustering their desires, when a calm, sunny approach would have gotten the job done. It is such a simple lesson that it just boggled my mind that many of the people we were working with did not know it, and seemed completely unable to comprehend it. My hope is that others will listen, learn , and make the world a more peaceful, friendly place because of it.

This is the story

Friday, April 8, 2011

Cinnamon rolls







Yeast and I don't often get along. That, or I somehow always get the yeast that underachieves. Early in our marriage I discovered I didn't have the touch. When I saw how much time I had to invest at something that didn't give me much satisfaction or anything edible in return I decided to turn to other pursuits, like trying to get to all the toilets before they were grodey.

So you may understand that it was no small endeavor when I decided to take on a cinnamon roll recipe that included my nemesis, yeast. The way Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond described her Cinnamon Rolls I felt all warm and and comfortable, like a person in a blanket sleeper with a blanket and a good book in front of a fire with a light snow outside and, well you get the idea: basically the ultimate in warm fuzzy contentment. I wanted that, and I was willing to risk an encounter with yeast to get it. So on Arin's birthday, Nina helped me as we mixed up the dough. I checked every few minutes to see if it was rising. It was. I was afraid it wouldn't stop and would engulf the kitchen like a dough monster. What was supposed to make 16 servings(I doubled the original recipe), ended up making ten pans of 6-8 cinnamon rolls each. Needless to say we are well supplied with them for the rest of the year. They do taste really good! They are so sweet, in fact, that I start getting a sugar overdose about halfway through one. We did it! Thanks, Ree! And for those who want to bring all the warm fuzziness home, as well as a good coating of flour all over the floor (Wow, that was a mess) here is the link. Tell Ree I sent you. (She is a pretend friend of mine in my own mind since I read her book)