Adoption Update – Level One A

I was telling Tabitha last night that if adoption were a video game, we have finally reached the first level. The tutorial and character creation process were the initial first steps:

PRIDE Training (40 hours of state-mandated classes)
FBI Database Fingerprinting
Fire Inspection
Health Inspection
Home Study

With our home study approved, we are now certified by the State of Texas to adopt. We can now put in interest requests through the Texas Adoption Resource Exchange (TARE); we can also now go to meet up events (where you can interact with kids available for adoption) as well as have our caseworker alert us to children available for adoption who are not listed online.

The adoption process is weird. A mixture of buying a home and speed dating. Level One A, of the adoption game, looks like:

Looking through pictures of children in an online database
Going to a meet up event
Our caseworker notifying us of a potential match

After initial inquiries are made, which includes our caseworker “selling” another caseworker on our family via telephone conference (home buying), we then enter the speed dating phase. Level One B includes:

Our family driving to whichever region the potential child is located in and then going on a day outing with the child.
The following weekend, a follow up over night visit (probably in a hotel room, especially if the child lives out of town) with the child.
The following weekend after that, a day trip/overnight visit again?
Eventually these visits shift from being on neutral ground to the child coming to our house.

The biggest hurdle of Level One A is going to be finding a match. We have to agree on the match; our caseworker has to agree on the match. Already, we are learning that:

It’s good to have a caseworker who says no and is looking out for our family (versus just trying to place a child and move on).
That descriptions of children, on TARE, do not include all the details. Sometimes even surprising our caseworker…
That there are not a lot of younger kids (ages 7 and younger) up for adoption online.

Bottom Line: We know that God has a child in mind for us. We just have to wait, trust, and talk, as a family, through the adoption process.

I’ll keep y’all updated. Maybe not so much in this Level One A stage… but more IF we make it to Level One B. Prayers are appreciated.

Bryan

On My Radar – Control – Launch Trailer

I can’t wait to see what the reviews say (August 27th). Control looks crazy!

On My Radar – Some Distant Memory – Announcement Trailer

This looks like a perfect bedtime game.

Hundreds of years after the collapse of civilization, you are the Professor, an archaeologist searching for the sunken city of Houston. Helping you are the Commander, an explorer from another colony, and ARORA, an artificial intelligence built to help the survivors of the Collapse.

Detroit: Become Human

My wife and I recently finished playing through Detroit: Become Human together. By the time the credits rolled:

Markus died.
North died.
Alice died.
Luthor died.
Hank lived.
Connor might as well be dead.
Kara made it across the finish line, alone.
Alice’s abusive father was given closure.

Decisions, slight choice variations, gave us a super sad ending. Our ending was so bad, that as the credits rolled, Tabitha and I were on Youtube watching other endings. I’m not sure I have ever done that for any other game.

Director David Cage likes to swing for the fences with his games. In Detroit: Become Human, I think he finally pieced together a coherent world with an unrelenting storyline. A story that grabbed my wife and I from the beginning… and didn’t let go. Detroit was the perfect summer game.

— Welcome to Spoiler Country —

I loved:

The feeling of real consequence.
The branching choice paths/story variations.
Playing through the game with my wife. Our late night conversations about the story.
Alice being given closure when her abusive dad shows up at the bus terminal (no, I didn’t kill him in the beginning).
Kara making it to freedom.

Hillary Clinton is President in Detroit: Become Human

I disliked:

The language. I felt like the f-word was used as emotional shorthand.
How much I was made to dislike humanity. Humans are gross pigs! Only towards the end of the game were one or two humans given a chance to shine.
Markus dying. I should have retreated from the police versus sacrificing Markus. Markus held Jericho together; he was the glue. Without Markus, the option for peace was removed and violence became the end game with new leader North.
Connor dying.
Alice dying. The foreshadowing that the river crossing into Canada being treacherous was true. Bullets kill androids too.

Freedom. Equality. The end of slavery for androids everywhere. In the closing moments of Detroit: Become Human, I was presented with two choices:

Suicide – In Detroit’s case, this equaled one last defiant act of freedom.
Slavery – Become a puppet leader, to an evil corporation, used to control the newly freed androids.

After spending hours with Connor, I struggled with these two choices. There was no way I was going to choose suicide… so I forever imprisoned Connor to his corporate masters. Tabitha looked at me, “Bryan!” I immediately wished I could go back and change that choice. Death was a better decision than eternal slavery. Instead, I let my human emotions enslave a person and a people. So much for all their blue blood spilled.

A Fresh Perspective

A few weeks ago, Tabitha, Wyatt, and I had the chance to go and visit another local church. One of my brother-in-laws was speaking and there was no way we were going to miss that!

Stepping out of our own church context was refreshing! I loved how the church we visited gave time, during the service, to missionaries they support. We watched a video in which the missionaries gave an update on what has been going on with them. Their video reminded me that missionaries no longer have to feel so alone due to technology. That we can hear from them, stepping out of our local context, and get a picture of what is going on with the global church. I love this! Too often, I think, churches become too inner focused:

“What programs can we provide to bring people here.”

“If we build this THING, people will come to us.”

“If we have this meal, we can invite _________.”

Too often, we pull back into our comfort zones instead of pushing out and embracing others where they are; embracing those in our communities (outside our churches) and even those around the world through missionaries. I am thankful for the glimpse God gave me, in that “missions moment”, of the church abroad. Thankful for those Christians who act as the hands and feet of Christ where I cannot… but can through them.

I also loved the time of worship. I realize this is a personal preference, but I loved hearing hymns sung. I loved being able to sing without paying attention to octave changes and just pay attention to the lyrics. Reminded me that my background, growing up, was void of hymns. How I discovered the richness of them once I was in college. I want my son to love the hymns too (something I’m going to work on).

Tabitha and I have been talking for awhile now about taking a Sunday morning, when we are not serving, and visiting family at their respective churches. Stepping out of our familiar gave me a fresh perspective on the church as a whole, and my church as well. I can’t wait to do it again!

And yeah, my brother-in-law did a great job speaking too.

If you know of any resources on teaching hymns/hymn history to kids OR have any thoughts you’d like to share, drop them in the comments below.