Adoption Update

Family and friends,

Thank you so much for your overwhelmingly supportive responses to the email we sent in March. We are grateful for your thoughts and prayers on our behalf. We are also grateful for LDS Family Services and for the work that they do to unite families and help join children to parents who can offer them the blessings of the gospel.

This month we share a special message and extend an invitation. The LDS Family Services caseworker who is currently handling Indiana adoptions has set an agressive but inspired goal for all Indiana couples seeking to adopt through Family Services to have a child place with them before the end of 2011. She and others believe that if we unite our prayers in faith, this goal can be achieved.

Here is a letter that was composed by the staff at Family Services inviting family and friends to join with us in prayer and fasting for the purpose of petitioning the Lord to help us achieve this goal.


Dear Friends and Families,

As Families Supporting Adoption unites with the staff of LDS Family Services we work intimately with those seeking to adopt children and birth mothers considering adoption and other alternatives. Much prayer and fasting has gone into how we might move this work forward. As stewards over all within our state we feel the responsibility to make certain every child born in Indiana has the promises made clear in the Proclamation of the Family, where every child has the right to be afforded the blessing of being in a covenant home with a mother and father to teach them the principles of the gospel. This is our missionary work and stewardship and we invite all who would unify with us to join with us in dedicating this next month’s fast to focus on the birth mothers in our state and the adoptive couples seeking to provide those eternal promises to these children. We believe as we unite with our brothers and sisters we can petition the Lord to soften our hearts to the prompting of how best we can support birth mothers and soften the hearts of these birth mothers so the children can enjoy the blessings and covenants of eternal families. As we invite wards and members to join in our prayers and temple service our hope is that unifying will bring power and strength to these efforts.

Sincerely,

David L. Pitcher
Marcia French

We invite you to join us in dedicating our fasts, not just to seeking a blessing for the Matis family to have a child placed with us, but for many other couples to receive this blessing and for many children to have the blessing of being place in a home where they can receive the blessings of the gospel. May 1st, August 7th and November 6th are the dates that have been designated for this purpose.

Have a beautiful weekend and fast Sunday!

Love,

Jeremy, Tricia, Rebecca and Isak Matis

A Short Story

I have so much to blog about, but not a lot of time right now. So, for now I will leave you with this short conversation that I had with Isak just a few minutes ago that empitomizes Isak conversations that I have everyday.

I walk into the kitchen and see a container of yogurt (Yoplait light) sitting on the table with just one bite out of it.

"Isak, why is there an open container of yogurt on the table that hasn't been eaten?"

"Because I don't want to eat it."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to lose 5 pounds."

Chuckling I say, "Isak, you aren't going to lose 5 pounds just because you eat a container of yogurt."

"That's what the container says."

The container does indeed say that "you could lose 5 pounds in 2 weeks!"

Hmm...how can I explain to him the concept of creative advertising? Regardless, I am now eating the yogurt, secretly hoping that it actually does cause me to lose 5 pounds in 2 weeks!

What is this? Frequent posting?

I've only been a publisher on this blog for about a month, and I think I've already surpassed Tricia's word count. :) As such, I think I need a more imposing presence. I say, enough with the girly backgrounds. I say, let's have come Colts themes, or hand tools... or even like an Indianapolis theme. Whatever... just, enough with the love... and the diamonds... and pink. ugh.

Anyways, as I was avoiding doing anything productive yesterday, I went through my patients and calculated their "points". I know that patients are people and I do NOT look at patients as points. However, we need points to graduate and so it is something that most students monitor. For those unfamiliar with dental school, students need 270 restorative points in order to graduate. These points are earned by filling cavities, placing dentures, basically anything a dentist does, except we don't get points for doing cleanings or extractions. I think everything else counts. I currently have about 65 points (which is about the class average. I added up everything I currently have planned on my patients and I came up with my having 260 points after I complete all of their work. These points include completing all of my requirements for complete dentures, partial dentures, crowns, fillings and bridges. It was very encouraging. I know that some of these patients will fail, and treatment will change as finances change and lifestyles change... but, I currently have planned almost enough points to graduate. WAHOO!!! Now, I just need to plan my 7 remaining root canals for Endo, and the remaining assists and oral surgeries... but I am encouraged. I think there is an end in sight.

My travels

One thing I mentioned in a previous post of mine was that I've had a great opportunity to explore the world based on traveling with my father. Notably, I've lived in Germany for three years and my father has traveled the world lecturing on tooth whitening. So, here is a brief run down on places I've been able to visit.

• London, England - I had the opportunity to see Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables while in London. I got to see the tower for Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Hard Rock Cafe, Madame Tussauds and spent extensive time on the London Underground.


• Paris, France - We "walked on water" at the Louvre, stood at the base of the Eiffel Tower (I don't remember why we didn't go up) and stood on top of the Arc de Triomphe.


• Normandy, France - I walked along Normandy Beach (Utah Beach sector), saw the cemetary, and even had the opportunity to "Retire the Colors" at the cemetary (perform the flag ceremony to take the flag down).


• San Marino, San Marino (Independant country within Italy) - We arrived at San Marino in the middle of the night. It is a mountian top country, and we decided to drive up as high as we could. We parked and slept in the car. We woke that morning and walked around the area. When we returned to the car, we interrupted a police officer writing a ticket for our car. There is no automobile traffic allowed in San Marino. We got out of the ticket, but it was difficult to drive back down the mountian due to the merchants wares that had been placed in the streets. San Marino was cool, though. We saw the fortress of the country, which was monumental.


• Rome, Italy - Saw the Vatican (I know... it is another independant country within Italy), St Peter's Basilica and Square, almost died in the Roman Colosseum, and saw many, many ruins (man, they should clean that place up).


• Venice, Italy and Piza, Italy - Saw the canals of Venice and the leaning Tower of Piza.


• East Berlin, East Germany - My family was touring East Berlin and decided to go to a restaurant. We chose one and went in. We were the most underdressed people there, but we were allowed in because we were Americans. It seemed to be a nice place, but... you probably know my family... we are not quiet people. We were loud-ish (comparetively speaking)... but MAN did we eat a lot. I am sure that is why were were allowed in. I remember the food being awesome. Earlier that day, we were waiting to pass through Checkpoint Charlie and my dad was videoing the Berlin Wall. We have him on tape saying that the Berlin Wall would fall within the next few years. It fell one month later.


• Copenhagen, Denmark - We went to Tivoli Gardens, which was fun.


• Finland (multiple trips) - We went to see family and friends. We went to a great uncle's 100th birthday. He was celebrating, but we were the attraction... again, because we were Americans. That was awkward. We spent a few days in a summer cabin, and my little brother ended up with a rusty dart in his back. We had vehicle troubles and ended up fitting 8 adults in a station wagon made for 5.


• Russia (multiple trips) - During the school trip when I went, we toured much of the country, including Omsk (so cold that my bugars froze when I walked outside and visited a Russian school), Tomsk, St Petersburg, Moscow and places in between. We traveled by bus, train and air plane. The Trans-siberian railroad was cool, Aeroflot was weird (there were no "classes" on the airplane, but there was a definate seperation of the people into classes) and the bus ride was uncomfortable (weird tour guide). For the trip with my dad and brother, we stayed at "bed and breakfasts" - essentially people letting us pay them to stay in their apartments. That was weird. One really funny thing happened though. We stayed with one family, where the wife worked in a pan factory. As a gift, they gave us one of the pans. The pan was defective and they had to drill a hole in the handle in order to attach the handle to the pan. Another story, My dad wanted to buy something nice for my mom that he didn't have enough Ruples for. He went with someone we had hired as a tour guide to get money. The strange man came back to the car with my brother and I in it and threw in a grocery bag of money into the car and ran off. We were concerned.


• Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - We drove for many hours on gravel roads. I almost got a speeding ticket, but got out of it by paying a bribe of 110 ruples (about $1.10). I almost flipped the car by taking a turn too fast in a rural area.


• Poland - We saw a car that the hood flipped to the right, instead of flipping back like a normal car. Aditionally, going from Poland to West Germany, there was a two week wait for cars to cross the border. My dad walked to the front of the line, came back with an escort and we crossed the border after about 3 hours.


• Turkey (two trips) - My brother and I ruined the alignment of a golf cart by driving over embankments on a golf course. My dad lost a camera in a cab because he was too worried about spending too much on the cab ride, as I had paid about $100 on a cab ride the day earlier.


• South Africa - We went to a wildlife preserve, where we were almost attacked by rhinos, saw elephants, giraffes, monkeys, warthogs, kudoo, gnus, and a host of other animals. We went to the sourthen-most tip of Africa. I found out that I DO have a heart.


• Greece - I saw the Parthenon, Thesselonia and Mt Olympus.


• Asia - This trip is explored in detail in an earlier post.

I have seen much of the world. I plan on seeing more areas that I have yet to see. However, I would be very ungrateful if I didn't recognize the efforts and ability that my father has gone through in order to help his children see the world.

Thanks, Dad!

Spring Break

Swimming
Sleeping in
Staying up late
Going out to eat
Time with family & friends
Crazy baboons at the zoo
Miles of walking at IKEA
Spring break