A Day at the Zoo

While traveling this week, we visited the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens and had a magical--albeit hot--day amid the menagerie of wild beasts.

The zoo trip renewed our awe for God’s creativity in both flora and fauna. We not only enjoyed seeing the animals but also the variety of beautiful flowers that is the setting for the zoo’s exhibits.

For our family, travel is far more than a break from routine.

We have found family trips to be one of God’s tools for healing developmental delays in our former orphans.


As we have purposed to see new sights and explore new environments, we have watched a delight in learning blossom. Their curiosity has been kindled. Their intellects have been stimulated.

And what a grateful heart our six Russian adoptees have for the opportunity to travel! Despite the years that have passed since they were adopted, the six of them have retained their wonder at being able to do that which orphanage life would never have allowed. They express their gratitude over and over.

Almost nothing is sweeter to us as adoptive parents than the privilege of seeing the world through the eyes of children who had so few opportunities in their early lives. Their wonder makes our world new. Their joy is such an effective defense against growing jaded as we age that it’s one of our motivations for adopting yet again.

We thank God for the gift of travel.

~Mrs. Beaver

We Love Cincinnati!

Our family is visiting Cincinnati this week to meet the family of the young man who is courting Tessa and to allow the two, who are conducting their courtship mostly through phone calls and email, to spend some "in person" time together.

As we arrived in town on Sunday, our very first stop was at Skyline Chili. We learned to love this Cincinnati-specific cuisine when we lived in the city more than a decade age.

Skyline chili is specially spiced with a touch of cinnamon and even a hint of chocolate. It is served in a shallow bowl over spaghetti and topped with cheddar cheese. Eating this stuff is so messy that each order comes with a bib!

We've even taught our Russian adoptees to love Skyline Chili!

~ Mrs. Beaver

Dear Daddy...

(The letter below was written by 12-year-old Tatiana to present to her daddy on Father's Day.

With Tatiana's permission and without Mr. Beaver's knowledge, I share her letter.

We adopted Tatiana and her biological sisters, Gigglebox and Princess Bink, from Russia five years ago. The photos on the left were taken in the older girls' orphanage on the day we met them in December 2004.

I will thank God for all eternity for the incredible man He has given me as a life partner. ~ Mrs. Beaver)
Dear Daddy,

I am the most blessed girl to have such a daddy like you! I love you very much! Down below I am going to write fifty reasons why I love you!

1. I love you because you love God

2. I love you because whatever you do, you do to the glory of God.

3. I love you because you take the time to read God’s word and to meditate on it like God commands.

4. I love you because you are gentle and patient when you correct me.

5. I love you because you are quick to forgive me.

6. I love you because you love Mommy and are keeping your promise to stay with her and love her all her life.

7. I love you because you write God’s word on your heart.

8. I love you because you think spending time with your family is important and you do spend family time with us!

9. I love you because you love orphans.

10. I love you because you do what God tells you to without complaining.

11. I love you because you are following God’s will to adopt three more kids even though you already have nine kids.

12. I love you because you parent us the way God’s word tells you to.

13. I love you because you give me advice that is for my good.

14. I love you because you set a standard and keep us to that standard.

15. I love you because you have a very funny sense of humor.

16. I love you because you take time to read to us.

17. I love you because you keep yourself pure and you keep your mind pure.

18. I love you because you walk in integrity.

19. I love you because you make sure your children are safe.

20. I love you because you look out for other people’s needs first before your own.

21. I love you because you don’t have any gods but the one true God.

22. I love you because you believe the truth that God made the earth and not a “big bang”.

23. I love you because you respect your mother.

24. I love you because you are merciful and yet just.

25. I love you because you do not cheat but do things fairly.

26. I love you because you always speak the truth.

27. I love you because you are mature and you are teaching my brothers how to be mature.

28. I love you because you help your children persevere through hard times.

29. I love you because you are kind enough to help your children with math when they need help.

30. I love you because you help those in need.

31. I love you because you are kind enough to take us on vacation.

32. I love you because you are a good steward of what God has given you.

33. I love you because you are compassionate when your children get hurt.

34. I love you because you never boast or praise yourself.

35. I love you because when you start a job you finish the job.

36. I love you because you are wise and not foolish in the way you drive.

37. I love you because you love your church family.

38. I love you because you are willing to help when help is needed.

39. I love you because you are slow to anger.

40. I love you because you keep no record of wrongs.

41. I love you because you don’t go around complaining about what you don’t have, but you are thankful for what the Lord has given you.

42. I love you because you set a good example for your children of what it looks like to truly follow Christ.

43. I love you because you never give glory to yourself but you always give glory to God.

44. I love you because you are slow to speak and never say anything rash before you think about it.

45. I love you because you show kindness to animals (like Grace [our dog]). Even if you don’t like some animals (like cats), you would never hurt them because God has said to be kind to all creatures.

46. I love you because you love your neighbors.

47. I love you because you don’t gossip.

48. I love you because you don’t have fear of man but you fear God.

49. I love you because you take responsibility when you sin.

50. I love you because when you sin you repent and are humble.

51. I love you because you adopted me!




Thank you, Dad, for being such a good dad to me! I love you very much and I am honored to be your daughter.

Love, Tatiana

The Day We Long For....

Our dear friends the Nordstroms, who are also adopting, posted a video on their blog about a family from the same adoption agency that they are adopting through. They are waiting for a little girl from Ethiopia and they are hoping every day to hear they can go to meet her. You can visit their blog here: http://nordstromsadopt.blogspot.com/

Mom and I watched this video and cried through it, thinking first of all about the day we long for, when we can bring our three precious orphans home. We also thought of the Nordstroms and the day when they will be able to go to their orphanage to meet their precious little girl and then finally bring her home. The verse that kept coming to my mind while I watched the faces of the happy parents and the beautiful baby girl was John 14:18: "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." Oh, I just want our precious Russians to know that, in their orphanages, waiting, always waiting. I pray that they will cling to the hope that we will come for them, that they are loved and a place is being prepared for them.

Here is the video. Consider yourself forewarned: grab the tissue box.



~Tessa

Battle Cry

This is a video our family watches over and over. We hope it blesses you too!

(Make sure you go down and pause the music!)

~ Tessa and Mrs. Beaver

Multiple Milestones for a Dynamic Duo!

Twins, Joe and Lissie, our "dynamic duo" started their education journey as a team, drawing strength from each other to face their first day of preschool.

They reached a culminating milestone on the third Saturday in May, 2010, as they graduated from high school in a ceremony in Des Moines, Iowa, along with 124 other home schoolers.

On the Saturday following commencement, Joe and Lissie reached another great milestone... their senior recital!

This recital was the culmination of more than 12 years of lessons and one solid year of dedicated rehearsal for the major event.

The many hours of rehearsal included both solo practice time and group practice time with Tessa and Jaynie who play with Joe and Lissie in the family's string quartet (which also played in the recital).

Finally, when the big day arrived, it started with a very serious dress rehearsal...

... well, serious for Joe, anyway!

Just minutes before the recital... once again, the dynamic duo faces a challenge together!

We are grateful to Joe and Lissie's talented, dedicated music teachers who coached, encouraged, helped, and instructed them to this important milestone.

Joe Shufro, pictured here with his wife, Hanh, is the conductor of the Sioux City Youth Symphony and Principal Cellist of the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra.

Lissie has been a member of Mr. Shufro's youth symphony for 2-1/2 years along with Tessa (the concert master). Mr. Shufro also teaches Jaynie cello.

Mr. Shufro is also a patient encourager, with a keen sense of humor that all his students enjoy. He inspires Sioux City's youth to make great music.

Michele Grossman (below) is a remarkably accomplished pianist. She has raised Joe's piano skills to a whole new level in the short time she has been teaching him.

She has also blessed our family by accompanying both Lissie, Tessa and Jaynie in a number of their strings recitals.

Michele has even shared her dear mother, Marlene, with us. Marlene has been a real champion of the musical efforts of Joe, Lissie and all of our children. She's like family to us!

For the last 3 years, Dr. Eunho Kim has patiently trained up both Lissie and Tessa in their study of the violin. Dr. Kim is an accomplished musician herself, playing the role of Concert Master in the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra. Under her skilled teaching and gentle encourgement, both Lissie and Tessa have learned more than they ever dreamed possible. They love Dr. Kim!

The events of these two consecutive Saturdays brought a great sense of completion to Joe and Lissie's education here at home. They began as a team and they've finished as a team. We thank God for the blessing that they've been to each other and for the blessing that they've been to the rest of us.

~Mr. and Mrs. Beaver

More Than Just "Relative"-ly Important

(All of the following photographs are from the celebration of Joe and Lissie's high school graduation... more about that in a post to come...)

God "places the lonely in families." (Ps. 68:9)

For orphaned children who are adopted this means you not only get the dream-come-true of immediate family, but you also get God's gift of extended family.

You get...

...aunts, uncles and cousins and...

...more cousins.

You get...

...aunts from Kansas and aunts from Texas...

...aunts willing to carve out time for you.

You get...

...a grandpa who teaches you important things--

like how to tie a tie
and how to oil squeaky doors,

who notices how much taller you are

and how much deeper your voice is

since you were last together.

You get...



...a nana who models what it looks like to love others by serving them (and we love that she always brings pumpkin bread when she visits).

You get...

...a grandma whose marriage to Grandpa Charley set the tone for what it means to be family.

You get...



...Aunt Jean, who is always FOR you.

You get...



...Uncle John, who brags about you to his friends.

You get...

...a place to belong and people to belong to.

Extended family:

Never underestimate what a blessing you are to our former orphans.

Never underestimate your role in the healing taking place in their lives following the neglect and abandonment they've experienced. Your love is powerful! Thank you for so readily opening your hearts to our adoptees.

You are more than just 'relative'-ly important! You are a gift from God!

We love you!

~Mr. and Mrs. Beaver

God's Heart for Orphans (part 2)

This continues a series of posts highlighting what God’s word has to say about caring for orphans (see part 1 - May 28, 2010).

In part 1, we saw that we must look to the truth of God’s word and not to the world’s “wisdom” if we are to understand and obey His will regarding orphans. If we are to appear as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, we must hold fast the word of life. And frequently this word of life points us in the opposite direction versus the “wisdom” of the world. Such is definitely the case when it comes to orphans.

So far, we have seen that God views orphans as very important. He has deep feelings of compassion and concern for them, and He promises to be their father, care taker and protector. (Ps 68:5-6a, Ps 146:9)

As we continue seeking God’s heart about orphans we find that God knows these precious orphans are vulnerable, and He commands us not to oppress them or take advantage of them.

"Our" vulnerable ones (Cassandra-7, Speedy-5, and Jaynie-8) on the day we first met them at their orphanage (July 2001). Tessa, Joe and Lissie had carefully shopped for the stuffed animals and asked us to present them to their new siblings when we traveled to meet them. By the time we returned 2 months later to bring them home, bullies had already stolen their precious gifts.

• “You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry; and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.” (Ex 22:22-24)
  
  Is there any doubt here about the seriousness with which God regards the plight of the vulnerable?
  
  
• “For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing.” (Deut 10:17-18)
  
  If even the God of gods and the Lord of lords makes a point of caring for these most vulnerable people, what excuse do we have for ignoring, or worse, oppressing them?
  
  
• “Cursed is he who distorts the justice due an alien, orphan, and widow…” (Deut 27:19)
  
  It’s interesting to note here the context of this verse. Take a look in your Bible at verses 15-26. What you’ll find is that God puts this oppression of the alien, orphan and widow in amongst sins like: idol worship, dishonoring fathers and mothers, stealing from neighbors, misleading the blind for sport or injury, committing incest, striking a neighbor in secret and taking bribes.
  
  Notice that most of these things are considered serious enough that even wicked men would call them crimes! And this isn’t an isolated list – we see the oppression of widows and orphans show up in many other lists of abominations elsewhere in Scripture (e.g. Ezek 22, Mal 3:5-6, etc.).
  
  
• “… and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor…” Zech 7:10a.
  
  If you read beyond this in your Bible you’ll see what happens when HIs people harden their hearts against this and other warnings in the passage:
  o God sends His wrath against them
  o He refuses to listen to them when they pray, and
  o He desolates their land and their material blessings and scatters them to the wind.
  

God’s heart for the orphan seems unmistakable. He sees them as very important, and worthy of His special care and attention. He sees them as naturally vulnerable, and warns us not to take advantage of them or oppress them. And He warns us that He will be their care taker and father, defending them against us if we fail to heed His warnings.

In part 3, we’ll turn from looking at God's warnings about the vulnerable to His instructions about how we are to care for them.

~ Mr. Beaver

Ready...Set...Memorize!

All day long the kids watched eagerly for the UPS truck...

... looking for their 2010 Bible Bee study materials. Today was Day 1 of the 2010 competition, with local competitions taking place all over the country on August 28.

What an amazing box those materials arrived in! Speedy informed us one box weighed 28 lbs and the other 7 lbs - heavy material in many ways!

Princess Bink exemplified the excitement felt by all the kids as they discovered the treasures in those boxes!

Eight of the kids from the twins down to Princess Bink will participate this year! Tessa is too old but wishes she could. She will help Mr. and Mrs. Beaver coach and encourage the others.

Joe and Lissie immediately began investigating this year's materials...

as they had participated last year and qualified for the national finals in Washington, D.C. Joe went on to qualify as a semi-finalist at that competition.

Joe and Lissie's enthusiasm throughout the 2009 competition infected the other kids. They are enthused even though they know by having watched Joe and Lissie last year that they have hard work ahead. The youngest will memorize 21 verses per week; the middle kids 42 verses per week; the oldest 68 verses per week!

T-shirts and Bibles were an unexpected bonus in this year's materials!

The t-shirts were donned even before the boxes were completely unpacked.

They even had a t-shirt small enough for 38-pound Princess Bink!

Our children's enthusiasm for this summer's Bible memory program thrills us and is closely tied to our identity as an adoptive family. We believe scripture memorization has contributed to the intellectual development and emotional healing of our adopted children. Both times we've adopted the trios of siblings, we have started them memorizing scripture even before we left Russia.

~ Mr. and Mrs. Beaver