Author: Pastor Claude Thomas

Some years ago Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen hit something that has helped millions of people when they compiled stories and the stories were published under the title of Chicken Soup for the Soul. In the 1993 edition published by Health Communications there is a story that rivets our attention. It is from the life-experience of a teaching nun named Helen P. Mrosla. Here’s her story:
One Friday [in the classroom] things just didn’t feel right. We had worked hard on a new concept all week, and I sensed that the students were growing frustrated with themselves—and edgy with one another. I had to stop this crankiness before it got out of hand. So I asked them to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then I told them to thin of the nicest think they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.
It took the remainder of the class period to finish the assignment, but as the students left the room, each one handed me their paper…
That Saturday, I wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and I listed what everone else had said about that individual. On Monday I gave each student his or her list. Some of them ran two pages. Before long, the entire class was smiling. “Really?” I heard whispered. “I never knew that meant anything to anyone!” “I didn’t know others liked me so much!”
No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. I never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, bit it didn’t matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another again.
That group moved on. Several years later, after I had returned from vacation, my parents met me at the airport. As we were driving home, Mother asked the usual questions about the trip: How the weather was, my experiences in general. There was a slight lull in the conversation. Mother gave Dad a sideways glance and simply said, “Dad?” My father cleared his throat. “The Eklunds called last night,” he began.
“Really?” I said, “I haven’t heard from them for several years. I wonder how Mark is.”
Dad responded quietly. “Mark was killed in Vietnam,” he said. “The funeral is tomorrow, and his parents would like it if you could attend.” To this day I can still point to the exact spot on I-494 where Dad told me about Mark.
I had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before… The church was packed with Mark’s friends. [His old classmate] Chuck’s sister sang “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Why did it have to rain on the day of the funeral? It was difficult enough at the grave side. The pastor said the usual prayers and the bugler played taps. One by one those who loved Mark took a last walk by the coffin and sprinkled it with holy water.
I was the last one to bless the coffin. As I stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as a pallbearer came up to me. “Were you Mark’s math teacher?” he asked. I nodded as I continued to stare at the coffin. “Mark talked a lot about you,” he said.
After the funeral most of Mark’s former classmates headed to Chuck’s farmhouse for lunch. Mark’s mother and father were there, obviously waiting for me. “We want to show you something,” his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. “They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it.”
Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. I knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which I had listed all the good things each of Mark’s classmates had said about him. “Thank you so much for doing that,” Mark’s mother said. “As you can see, Mark treasured it.”
Mark’s classmates started to gather around us. Chuck smiled rather sheepishly and said, “I still have my list. It’s in the top drawer of my desk at home.” John’s wife said, “John asked me to put his in our wedding album.” “I have mine too,” Marilyn said. “It’s in my dairy.” Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. “I carry this with me at all times, Vicky said without batting an eyelash. “I think we all saved our lists.”
That’s when I finally sat down and cried.
When she led her class to affirm others in the class, it was more than a warm fuzzy for a day. Why? Everyone is incredibly hungry for encouragement… and praising the positive is encouraging!
This is something you and I can do. Write a note. Make a call. Speak a word. Accentuate a positive in others and encourage them!

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Author: Pastor Claude Thomas
Barriers to reaching our potential as a person are real. Look at the life of David, the great king of Israel. At the time that he was named king he did not look or sound like a king. And others did not think he was kingly material (1 Samuel 16:7-12). And David’s family didn’t think that he had all that much potential to be anything other than a shepherd.
David was too young when he went to fight Goliath. He was discouraged by his king. Saul looked at him and said, “You’re too young to go against this Philistine.” (1 Samuel 17:33). And later, when Saul was insanely jealous of him, the future didn’t look too bright for David. David’s future and potential were impeded. He had been promised to be king but Saul was already king.
There were barriers that could have kept David from realizing his potential.
You see…there are always barriers that can limit our growth. The Texas Motor Speedway is not too far from where I live. It attracts huge crowds for races and offers unusual opportunities for race fans. Race fans can actually pay to drive a race car around the track for ten laps.
Now there are restrictions. The car they drive will only go 150 miles per hour. No matter how hard they might push the pedal to the metal, the car has a governor that prevents the car from exceeding 150 mph. That device is called “A Rev Limiter.”
We have “Rev Limiters” that are barriers to personal growth. What are they? Well, here are some of the more common ones.
Fear- it keeps us from starting.
Impatience- it encourages us to quit too soon.
Denial- it says we don’t need to grow.
Impulsiveness- it causes wrong decisions that lead down the wrong road.
Jealousy…it causes us to look around and not give attention to growth.
Anger… it always has the potential to cause us to blow it!
These are some of the more common barriers can impede our growth. But here is the good news. They don’t have to!
Look again at the life of David. He was a shepherd that became king. Perhaps, he was Israel’s greatest leader. He kept growing, despite the words of his family, his youthful appearance, his inexperience. David kept growing in the “grace and knowledge” of the Lord, as it were.
What barriers exist in your life? Identify them. Commit them to God. And proceed with confidence they can be overcome by God’s grace or removed by Him.

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Author: James Hunt
Today in the United States and Canada people who wish to adopt children will have to wait years and years. Sometimes people decide that it is not worth the hassle and they give up trying to adopt a child. This is a shame as there are children in the world today that deserve to have a loving family and they never get it. They are left in foster homes and orphanages until they are eighteen when they can go out on their own. In some cases the foster homes are good but there are some that are bad.

As a result of the long list of people waiting for an adoption to go through they start looking for other options. Today more and more people are opting for international adoption. International adoption is different from adoption in the United States or Canada. This form of adoption is an essentially a private matter between an individual or couple and a foreign courts which operates under that country’s law and regulations. If you wish to take this route to adopt a child the United States authorities cannot intervene on the behalf of the adoptive parents.

For those people who are interesting in international adoptions they can obtain information from the Department of State. This could be information on the adoption process in various countries as each country may have different rules and regulations when dealing with international adoptions. You can also get information that deals specifically with the United States legal requirements to bring a child in the United States from a foreign country. There are also websites that can visit to obtain such information. These sites can explain the adoption process to you and you can even submit questions about anything that you want to know. The information is available twenty-four hours a day.

While there are certain things that the State Department can do for you to help in any way there are things that it cannot do. The State Department cannot become directly involved in the adoption process in another country. Nor can they act as legal counsel or representation of the prospective adoptive parents. They are also unable to order that an adoption take place or that a visa be issued. While the State Department cannot help they can put you in contact with someone that can.

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Author: C. Dunn
Everyone agrees that children need honest answers about their adoption situation. A difficult thing to explain to a child is why their parents gave them up, but you may be asked that question. Try hard to preserve your child’s self-worth by explaining that their parents could not,”raise you the way they knew you deserved, so they decided to give you to people who would be able to give you everything you need.”

When your child points out that you don’t look alike admit that he/she is right and then say, “how do you feel about that?” Kids need different information at different times in their development. By checking in before answering, you’ll know more about why your child has raised the issue and what’s on her mind.

Handling Bias and Prejudice-

Any child who is perceived as somehow different, due to their family situation, the tone of their skin or the shape of their eyes, can be bullied by other children. Your child’s primary protector is you. Deal with bullying the minute it happens by talking to the teacher and the family of the bully. Children shouldn’t have to tolerate being bullied. Help prevent bullying by actively letting your child’s schoolmates understand how valuable the differences in your child.

Think about asking your child’s teacher if you can present information about all of the different ways that families are formed as a special presentation in November, during National Adoption Month. The kids will learn that adoption is simply one more way that a family comes together, just like how two previously married people blend their families or when a child goes to live with Grandma.

If your child is African, Chinese, or any other ethnicity you can teach his/her classmates all about their culture.

Rebellion and anger-

At some point, your child may experience anger about being given up by his/her biological parents, anger at you for adopting him or her, anger at everyone else because he must deal with challenges that others don’t face. Although every circumstance is different, you should try very hard to understand and respect that anger and, most of all, to not take it personally.

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Author: Pauline Goo
There are multiple choices for parents who are opting for adoption. They can either go for a domestic adoption or select an international adoption. Parents can select between adopting a child belonging to a different race or from the same race. There is choice to be made regarding the sex of the child.
A similar kind of selection that parents make is regarding the age of the child. Most adoptive parents either prefer a newborn or an infant during adoption. According to them, infants can easily adjust to the surroundings and vice versa. Older child adoptions are those when parents decide to adopt a child who is two years of age or older. However, there are certain advantages of adopting an older child.

It is easier to understand the needs of older children as they tend to be more cooperative and less demanding than an infant. One need not pay full time attention to older children unless the child is suffering with any emotional disturbances. Older children tend to help in day to day home activities including cleaning, gardening and cooking. Most of the older children are capable of doing their work on their own including dressing, bathing, eating and playing.

It is easier to communicate with older children. Developing an interaction and establishing a bond with older children is easier as they are more receptive. Adoptive parents can easily gain insights into current and past medical issues of older children and any medical problems can be rectified early, something which is not possible with infants. Issues such as depression, alcoholism and serious emotional disorder can be effectively prevented in older children.

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