teamhuerta

curse words

// April 18th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Children, Christianity, Fathering, Life, Uncategorized, Youth Ministry

WAIT

Patience

Creation

Virgin

Modest

God

Marriage

What have these words become in a culture innoculated by the virus of Anti-Judeo Christian values.  The rise of P.C. and the “Tolerance” gospel have festered these beliefs for many years in America.  These 7 words are my first attempts to identify what the world would identify as threatening language and/or a faulty or “naive” worldview.  What other words would you add to this list?

Why does this concern me?  Well, I am a Dad and I want my children to understand these words as positive parts of a Judeo-Christian worldview that I believe provides more answers and hope than a humanist or pantheist or even atheistic worldview could ever pose to provide.

Please challenge your children to “think” and challenge the world they live in, to challenge the ‘popular’ gospels of today.  If you have a teenager or older child, consider going to view the new groundbreaking movie in theatres now, “Expelled.”

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Finding Nemo in Psalm 23

// April 9th, 2008 // No Comments » // Children, Funny

For the last couple of weeks our kids have been learning/memorizing Psalm 23.  They have since got it down but every now and then Monkey, our daughter, gets to the verse that says, “He prepares a table before me in the presence of my anemones.”

I hope you are laughing as hard as we do when we hear her say what she thinks is the right word.  Supermom, corrects her and says no monkey, it is not ‘anemone,’ it’s enemies.   He prepares a table …in the presence of my enemies.    Sometimes we wish we had it on video for you to enjoy.  Life continues to happen and take us by surprise.  Hope you are enjoying your ride as much as we are.

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Postmodernism- Part 2

// March 11th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Children, Christianity, Fathering, Life, Parenting, Uncategorized, Youth Ministry

Postmodernism infiltrates our culture everywhere.  From the virtual reality of the SIMS to the streets of GTA(Grand theft Auto.)

    This kind of thinking is dangerous because it says that nothing is real until I “FEEL” it.  That’s one of the reasons 17 teens in one U.K town have taken their lives within a couple of months. (see story HERE) What you feel is not and should not be THE determining factor in understanding truth.   Two movies that come to mind related to this subject are Pinnochio and The Truman Show.  In the Truman show, we see Truman struggle with finding out that truth was bigger than his present reality.   In Pinnochio we see Jiminy Cricket giving advice to a toy.  What’s his advice?  “Let your conscience be your guide!”

    Why is that a dangerous notion?  Because your conscience is part of your sinful nature and it is easily corrupted.  The Apostle Paul addresses this in the book of Romans, chapter 7, when he says, “For I have the desire to do what is good but I cannot carry it out…. I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.”

    I am not saying that feeling will not be an influential factor in understanding your world but when we use our feelings to solely define truth, there is cause for concern.  Just because I am sad that my dog died, doesn’t mean all dogs that die make me sad.  There must be other factors that hold truth firmly stable when my emotions are constantly shifting.

What do you think?

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Postmodernism-Part 1

// March 6th, 2008 // No Comments » // Children, Christianity, Life, Youth Ministry

I read this in a recent edition of a newsletter I get related to ministry.  Feel free to visit the source if you would like to read the entire article at this website, Men Passing the Batton. Post modernism is not something new to anyone who has studied history or philosophical thought.  Post modernism is not in itself evil or bad but the thought process and beliefs assimilated through post modernism can be dangerous.

Whether you want to admit it or not, we live in a world filled with this kind of thought.   You, your friends, and your friends children all process this world different than our fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers.

“Whether you do or do not believe post-modern thinking today is the social and academic ocean you are swimming in, is beside the point. The chickens are coming home to roost! What we have been sowing in our classrooms and academic elites for decades is blossoming today. Kids think as post-modern umpires, instinctively. They have to be lead into objective truth, if we believe in truth outside ourselves. Truth is up for grabs!” -Jim Mearadith (MEN Newsletter)

Who is going to teach our kids about truth?  The media, grandparents, babysitters, the T.V, movies, the Wii?  In the case of the umpires, they are all right.  Or are they?  Why or why not?

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…Sometimes…

// March 3rd, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Children

…We laugh at our kids.

…We discipline our kids.

…We cry with our kids.

…We sacrifice for our kids.

…We have it all figured out.

…We have nothing figured out.

…We pull our hair out so we don’t pull theirs out.

…We breakdown and cry.

…We get stressed.

…We wish we had a ‘happy place.’

…We rock in the rocking chair.

…We build, play or wrestle together.

…We tickle each other.

What are some other …sometimes… for you?

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If I only had a brain.

// February 22nd, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Children, Fathering, Funny, Life, Parenting

       If I only had a brain I would have done this a long time ago. Give
up one of the most unhealthy things for my body and Bringing
children into my home.  Spending time with my son has helped me
remember how much I love playing with Legos.  I just wish I could do
that all day.  Lego houses, lego planes, lego dragons and lego
everything.

The joys of fathering are becoming more and more
evident as the time goes by.

Also, Just today, Supermom comes home after being out with Manny at
the store and tells me a great story.

Walking down the soda pop (or coke, depending on where you grew up,
ya know!) aisle at the supermarket Manny points at a generic cola
drink and says PAPI, PAPI, as if to say let’s get this for Papi, he
likes this stuff.  When supermom corrects him and say no we’re not
getting that.  He proceeds down the aisle only to spot the Dr.
Pepper and his eyes become as large as baseballs and he excitedly
jumps up and down and says PAPI, PAPI, PAPI…

• Supermom says yes that is PAPI’s favorite drink.
  Manny-we get it for him?!?!?
• Supermom-No, Papi doesn’t drink that anymore.
• Manny-yes!
  Supermom-No
• Manny-why?
• Supermom-Cause it is bad for him
• Manny-me, some!

—–at this point he gets excited that I must have given up Dr.
Pepper and he thinks he needs to take on the challenge and pick up
where Papi left off.—–

Just a little reminder that our kids are always watching.  Always.

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Little Monsters

// February 6th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Adoption, Children, Fathering, Uncategorized

Parental authority, what is that anyway.  Quickly approaching 1 year in the good ole US of A  and we can certainly see that parenting is more difficult than once expected.  They all have little quirks that can irritate to no end.  Sometimes we think God forgot to properly attach their ears to their little bodies.

Just last night we were falling asleep watching our regular episode of Seinfeld.  This is the episode where George, Jerry, Elaine, and Kramer are searching for their car in the parking garage and can’t find it for hours.  Well George is quite irate with the present situation and begins to yell at a mother who is dragging her son to their car kicking and screaming.  Well, George interrupts and says to the mother, “You shouldn’t hit little kids.  They’re so innocent and if no one else will stand up for them, I will.”  He proclaims to the mother assured of his stance.  Then the 8 year old boy turns to him and calls him “Ugly and four eyes and fat.” causing anger to arise in George so he spouts back, “Yeah, well you’re ugly and you can’t see.”  Kid replies “yeah I can see and I see that your ugly.”  With that the kid hops in the car and you see George boil with anger and coming within inches of strangling the kid.  I can relate George, I can relate!

So innocence is all a matter of relativity with our children.  But I, being the father, must learn to show grace to our children because I know that “all have sinned” and that “all are sinners” (Rom. 3:23, and 6:23).  Having children in our homes and lives only reminds us, what God does for us with each breathe and heartbeat.  I wouldn’t change a thing and am very grateful to grow in my understanding of God through fatherhood.

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I don’t wanna grow up

// December 22nd, 2007 // No Comments » // Children, Fathering, Parenting

    Most of my readers will remember the jingle, “I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a a toys-r-us kid.  There’s a million toys at toys-r-us that I can play with.  From bikes to trains to video games, the biggest toy store there is…I don’t wanna grow cause if I did, I wouldn’t be a toys-r-us kid.”

The jingle has taken on a new rock star flavor a long way removed from the soft vocalized tune I grew up with.  But none the less.

As I was watching our youngest, Manny, play this morning, I came to an understanding of what happens to the youngest sibling in the family.  The parents don’t want them to grow up, cause they remind them of a time long gone in the older children, a time of exploration, silly expressions, and just plain cuteness.  I don’t know how we will do it.  I think I would change the jingle to be

I don’t wann’em to grow up, their my liiii-ttle kid. There’s a million or more things that I wish we did. From hike to train for that soccer game, the best days in life are ahead.  I don’t wann’em to grow cause if they did, they wouldn’t be my liii-ttle kid.

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GO Back to Blog

// October 30th, 2007 // Comments Off // Adoption, Children, Colombia

Answers to the Questions.

Q: Why International Adoption?

A: We chose international adoption because of the ability to adopt siblings and the fact that we love other places in the world.

Q: How will you afford adoption?
A:
With the grace of God! If he ultimately owns everything, we believe
that we can trust him to provide for us. We have saved, taken out a
loan, and asked for your help.

Q: How Long will it take and what is involved in the process?
A:
About 6-12 months for us. However, there are many factors that
contribute to bringing children home through adoption. I’ll break it
down into 6 parts for you.

1st-gather lots of money/resources

2nd-you need to fill out lots of paperwork, more paperwork than
buying a house, or applying for the US President (it sure feels like
it).

3rd-you need to have a home study completed, where you pay an agency to evaluate you, your home and finances to approve you for an adoption.

4th-You and/or your agency compiles the mountains of paperwork and homestudy into what is called a dossier and it is then sent to Colombia.

5th-Wait for the country to send a referral

6th-We go and get our children.

Once we get 1-4 done (takes 2-6 months) we will wait around 3-12 months for #5

Q: What is a dossier?
A: Compilation of papers about us
that gets translated for the country we want to adopt from and it says
that our government, the US, approves us to adopt internationally.

Q: What is a home study?
A:
Merely a means of assuring all concerned that the adoptive family is
able to provide all the necessary means to give the child a good home.

Q: Why do you have to wait so long for a referral?
A:
Every country has different limits, regulations, and procedures.
“Sometimes” governments don’t move that quickly or don’t have enough
children cleared and available for adoption.  Because we want to adopt
a sibling group of 2 and possibly 3 our wait is reduced because there
aren’t as many families wanting to adopt multiple children at a time.
In Colombia the wait to adopt a single infant after a referral is given
is 9-18 months and for a sibling group of 3 the wait time is
significantly reduced to 4-9 months.

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It’s a dead animal

// September 24th, 2007 // No Comments » // Children, Funny, Life, Parenting

 
Originally uploaded by Abba’s Girl.

Ok…so you have kids…now what do you do for entertainment. Well we just take them outside and let nature run it’s course.  Tonight Meg brought the kids to Club and they like playing outside before club so, they went outside to play and were met with a deadly awe-ful dead animal smell.  Something like a baking rotten deer carcus, so you get the picture of the smell we endured.  When they got outside our daughter, the monkey, noted and stated. “Oh, mommy, I know I know, it’s a frog.”  laughing, Meg said “No, honey it is probably a bigger animal than that.”  Not seeing any evidence of the smell emminating from the woods the kids continued to try and play enjoyably outside.

Out of the blue, Monkey shouted “Ohh momma I know, es una ‘jirafe’ (giraffe)” This time Meg busted with laughter and said “Honey, we don’t have giraffe’s running wild in Kentucky.”

On the drive home from Club and the park, sitting in her little car seat Monkey’s wheels were turning trying to figure out what the smell must have been, when she blurted out “Momma, I know!” Mommy says, “What do you know?”  “I know what smell it is momma. It is a hippopotamus.”  “Well, honey we don’t have hippopotamus’ running wild in Kentucky.”

Now that she has tried 3 times to figure it out, Meg begins to open  dialogue with Monkey about what it could be that smelled so bad. “I know mommy, it is a ‘dog’!” “That is sad Monkey, it could be a dog but that is sad.” “NO, NO, NO mommy, not a dog, a Duck!” (her new word for today was duck)  “I guess it could be a duck.” Mommy says.

“I know, it’s a cat.”

“Oh Monkey that’s so sad.”

“Oh so sad we have cats and dogs walking around Kentucky, so sorry mommy, “

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