White People Don't Exist

Did you know that there really are no white people in the world? Most people aren't aware that all human beings have the same skin color.

We all have a pigment called "melanin." If you have a lot of melanin, you can be very dark...even "black." Other than albinos who don't have much pigment, no one is really white.

It can be shown from simple genetics that if we started with Adam and Eve as middle-brown, that, in just one generation, they could have had children who were very dark or very light brown...or anything in-between!

Now, why do groups of people in our world have these varying shades? After the event of the Tower of Babel, populations split into groups, which - through natural selection - resulted in certain shades of melanin being concentrated in particular groupings. These groupings have "lost" genetic information for other shades of melanin, which explains why two light skinned people mating today rarely birth a dark skinned child.

This is a great example to help us understand that all human beings are descendants of the first couple, Adam and Eve.

Adapted from the August 14, 2007 broadcast of Answers...with Ken Ham radio program. answersingenesis.org

Mackenzie

Amy, Hendrick and Davis went to Cincinnati for the week (Tuesday-Friday) to help care for the new big sister, Zoey, and give her a very special week (while her parents were in the hospital). We stayed plenty busy with trips to the playground, farm, and aquarium - the kids had a ball! It was a treat for us to be able to help our family in this way - and a bonus to be able to spend time with Erin and Scott and their new perfect baby, Mackenzie...but we missed Daddy!

New Niece

We are so thrilled to share that we have a new niece!

Erin and Scott welcomed Mackenzie Morgan (5 lbs. 1 oz.) this afternoon.
We cannot wait to meet the new baby.

Congratulations Erin, Scott, and big sister Zoey!

Bath Time

A bathtub full of bubbles is a fun place to spend time on a HOT day!

Hendrick and Davis

Butterfly

We have a large butterfly bush in front of our house - it is wonderful to have it covered with butterflies every summer. Hendrick especially enjoys chasing them!

Adoption - what's going on?

We have had the referral of our baby boy (6-9 months old) for one month...so what's going on?

The next step in our adoption process is the Court Date: where our boy will legally become ours, and the adoption will be "final".

The Ethiopian Courts are officially closed...so, for the next few weeks, our adoption process is on hold. The court re-open date is unknown - we have heard rumors of it opening sometime between September 24 and October 15.

Once the Court re-opens, our agency will petition for a Court Date. This could take place up to one month from filing (and there is usually a back-up after the court closure). Our Agency will represent us in court. We hope for a quick final decision, but delays of weeks and months are not uncommon.

After we successfully make it through court, we need to wait for our child's visa and birth certificate to be issued and all post-court paperwork to be completed. This may take 4-8 weeks. Then it is time to travel - the trip will be 5-7 days and will involve an Embassy Appointment. Then, finally, our son will come home!

We are hoping and praying this will all go quickly and smoothly. We would love to have him home before Christmas...but we trust that this will happen in God's perfect timing.

Cincinnati - August 11-12

We managed an incredibly quick weekend trip to Cincinnati for Amy's sister's baby shower. Erin's second little girl (Mackenzie) is due to arrive early September - big sister Zoey is very excited. Hendrick had a ball hanging out with cousin Zoey for the day.

We were also able to spend wonderful time with Mike's family. Hendrick went fishing with Grandpa, and we all enjoyed a dip in the lake. It was great seeing cousin Will again, he has grown so much since we last saw him 2 months ago.
We also celebrated Amy's birthday! (the Big 2-7!)

Our Family Continues to Grow

We have been blessed beyond measure - early February 2008, we will be welcoming another baby home. We are humbled by this awesome gift, thrilled to parents of four, and excited to see what God has planned for our family.

For the record - after we explained that not all babies come from Africa, Hendrick predicted a boy!

5 Years

5 years ago today...Mike and Amy were married!

A lot has happened in five years:

• We graduated from Purdue University
• We took 10 vacations (including our honeymoon trip to Mackinac Island, and a trip to Ireland)
• We went on 7 camping trips
• We lived in three states (Indiana, Minnesota, Tennessee)
• We lived in four different apartments/homes
• We sold 4 cars and bought 4 cars (we currently own 2)
• We added 2 dogs to our family
• We had two children (and are in the process of adding more)
• We put over 140,000 miles on our cars
• We worked five jobs
• We visited 6 Major League Ball Parks

It has been a wonderful 5 years - we are truly blessed. We look forward to a lifetime together.

Those Eyes

Davis is doing wonderfully well and is getting stronger everyday. He just graduated from combat crawling to "real" crawling. We are so proud!

Care Package

We are so pleased to be able to send our little boy a few gifts. We sent a care package to our baby with a family traveling to Ethiopia this week (to bring home their children). We are so grateful for their willingness to take a package to our boy - what a blessing!
In the package, we included a "lion" onepiece (Lion of Judah!), a baby photobook full of family photos (complete with captions), a small toy (selected by Hendrick), and a disposable camera - with the hope the caregivers will take pictures of our baby over the next few months!