This morning we attended a session on adoption and Haiti. Several families spoke about their experiences with adopiton. It was a very moving part of the conference for me personally. I had to wipe a few tears as David Birdy and Doug Phillips shared about Rescue Haiti's Children. Afterwards I went up to speak with David Birdy. My desire was to see if he had any ideas on how to get our girls home, as he has just brought three girls home from Haiti. Sadly his circumstances were/are very different than ours. He was not able to offer any help but did get a group of people together to pray over me that the Lord would be with Hannah and Hosanna and bring them home safely and quickly.
After the morning session we spent quite a while talking with other families about adoption. I had the priviledge of encouraging other families who are just thinking about caring for orphans in a new way. We then decided to walk into town and grab an early lunch. While at lunch we met another family and visited with them for some time. Then it was back to the convention center for a 1:30 session.
We chose to hear Geoff Botkin and family at 1:30. Geoff spoke on "How to Practice Biblical Discipline in the Home". This session was a highlight for Andrew and I. Not only did Geof do a great job at laying out the Biblical reasons for discipline, his children spoke of how discipline looked in their home. All seven children rose up and blessed Mrs. Botkin for the job she has done in raising and disciplining them! Very convicting. Also a great look at why so many of the so called Christian methods of discipline are not Biblical.
At 4:00 Doug Phillips and many of the speakers from the week offered a few closing comments. There was also a time of testimony given for fathers. Many testified to God's grace in their lives. Several had vasectomy reversals, many had learned the Biblical view on the family. We were all sad that the conference had to come to an end.
Our family stayed around for hours visiting with many old and new friends. We have been invited to many homes...Texas, SOuth Carolina, North Carolina, Louisiana...We will be attending another conference in San Antonio in October, at which time we will reconnect with many of these families.
Dinner was wonderful. We went to the Mexican Restaurant we visited yesterday. The waiter we had tonight came to our table to tell us in ten years he has never waited on a nicer family with more respectful children. As we were leaving at 9:30 group of Vision Forum employees came in to eat.
Well it is now midnight again...good news is we don't have to be at the convention center early. We are attending a church service for all the are still in town at 10:30 tomorrow morning. After church we will do a little sightseeing and relax. By the way San Antonio has good Mexican food but the city is not a great place to be. We were walking to our vehicle tonight after dinner and the children watched a drug deal happen, as well as the dress or lack there of is much worse than in Georgia. Well off to bed!
