As we mentioned in the previous posting, Cassie and I were able to attend an adoption conference a couple weekends ago.  It is impossible to put all the information from the speakers and workshops into a nutshell so for the most part I would recommend listening to the speakers themselves.  All the audio from the main sessions can now be listened to online so we linked them in this post (if you are interested in listening, each one is about 45min-1hour, but it’s so worth it!).

“Adoption and orphan care aren’t new ideas; they’re biblical ideas.”

~ Tony Merida, Orphanology

The evening started with Stephen Davey masterfully walking us through James 1:26-27, the “Pure Religion” passage. Next, we sat down for an eye opening (and sometimes confusing) explanation of the Trinity and “The Story Behind The Story of Adoption“.  You may need to listen to this one a couple times  :).  Dan Cruver was one of our professors at school and is the author of one of my favorite books, Reclaiming Adoption.

On Saturday morning we listened to Shawn Cordell speak on the hard truth of “The Tragic Beauty of Adoption“.  The final speaker, Tony Merida, taught us about how “The Gospel is Adoption“.  Wow.  What a refreshing and challenging conference.  We are still trying to process all that we heard, but if you want to truly know where the hearts of Cassie and Drew are in regards to orphan care, these guys nailed it.

Life has been busy for the Jacksons but last week we were able to hand in the final bits of information to complete our home-study!  Even though the home-study process took some doing, the majority of paperwork still lies ahead as we prepare a dossier to send to Ethiopia.  Fortunately, this stage is not all paperwork.

In the next couple weeks we are going through some online courses that our agency asks prospective parents to complete.  We are excited to learn more about being a multi-ethnic family and just some basics of parenthood.  But… before that, we have the privilege to attend an adoption conference this weekend right here in Cary, NC.  A few of our friends and family are joining us there so if you are interested, here is a link to register — Pure Religion Conference

We will update you again soon!