CDC Reports Drop in Teen Pregnancy

A few days ago, I saw an interesting article. The CDC apparently has reported that the teen birth rate has dropped to the lowest point in the last few years. That is good news. I hope it means that teenagers are making better decisions when it comes to sex and being smarter if they're making . . . well, how shall I put this? Less sanctified choices? Is that a clear enough euphemism?

But at the same time, a part of this report made me a little sad. Apparently Minnesota and Wisconsin have two of the lowest rates in the country. Good for us.

Unless you're a family waiting to adopt.

Can you help us? My wife and I have been waiting for over a year. If God wants us to wait longer, we will, but I also hope that right now, someone is reading this post and knows of a young lady who is considering adoption. If that's you, please pass along our contact information. We are home study approved and have a four year old son who is eager to have a little brother or sister (although he recently told us that he's sure we'll find him a little sister; we're fine either way).

If they want to contact us directly, they can send an e-mail to johnorjill (at) live (dot) com (replacing the words in parentheses with the proper symbols; we don't want to be inundated with spam). Or they can contact our agency, Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota.

Come on, how can you say "No" to this face:



His, not mine, obviously.

A Little Bit Wicked

A few years ago, my wife started watching this new show on TV and said that she thought that I might like it. At the time, I had a full viewing schedule and was hesitant to add another hour to it. But here's the thing I've learned over the past eight years of married life: when my wife thinks I'll like a TV show, she's probably right. Sad to say, the opposite isn't exactly true.

So I sat down to watch this quirky, funny TV show about a pie maker who has the unusual power of being able to bring a person back to life with a touch, a power that he naturally uses first to save the love of his life, and then to help a private investigator solve murders. Naturally. I wasn't too sure about this show. Yes, it was funny and witty and yes, I found myself smiling a lot at its quirks and oddities. But I wasn't hooked.

At least, I wasn't until Olive Snook started singing.

What a voice! Who was this powerhouse singer? I went to the internet and started poking around, trying to see if I could learn more about Kristin Chenoweth. YouTube was extremely helpful, providing gems like this one:



While Pushing Daisies has sadly been sent off to pasture, I was delighted when I spotted an autobiography by Chenoweth, entitled A Little Bit Wicked (Life, Love, and Faith in Stages). I knew my wife would want to read this one too. So in some ways, when I bought this for her for mother's day, it was a sort of a "bowling ball named Homer" type of gift. Yesterday I started reading said book. Late last night I finished said book. And now I can honestly say I appreciate Chenoweth a whole lot more!

The prose positively sparkles with her personality. There's a distinctive voice to the whole thing, filled with tidbits about her life and her views. And the things I learned! That Chenoweth was adopted and doesn't consider it a big deal. That she is a staunch Christian. That her college vocal coach encouraged her to sing from a certain part of her anatomy that I'm not comfortable identifying here which, thanks to an on-stage accident, also has the uncanny ability of predicting the weather (seriously). That she starred in an NBC sitcom that floundered upon arrival, one that I wish I could have watched, either then or now.

I'm glad that I got the opportunity to spend a while learning more about her. And I know I'll be looking forward to seeing what else she's up to. She's got a fan here, that's for sure.

A Glee-full Adoption

So last night was the season finale of Glee, an episode appropriately entitled "Journey." And for many, it was a tear-jerker, what with Regionals and a new life coming into the world.

But for me, this episode was another in a long stream of episodes that show me that the Glee writers don't have the first clue about adoption. And since Godzilla has made his appearance, I'm assuming that anyone reading this post okay with me pulling out some spoilers and discussing why I'm so frustrated with this show's bizarre views of human reproduction and, more specifically, the adoption process.

During last night's episode, Quinn wound up giving birth during the middle of the Regionals competition. That scene, in and of itself, intercut with Vocal Adrenaline performing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, was both clever and cringe-inducing. The overlay of the song with Quinn in labor made me chuckle, especially when Quinn started shouting song lyrics in the midst of her pain. But the idea that her labor would last the length of the song (given the fact that the entire ensemble of New Direction were in the waiting room but were then able to make it back in time for the award ceremony) was a bit ridiculous.

But in many ways, Quinn's labor was great because it means that one of the most ridiculous TV-show pregnancies ever is done with. Quinn's pregnancy on this show has been bizarre to say the least. Her "baby bump" kept disappearing for musical numbers and, I must say, Quinn was pretty spry in the dance numbers for someone supposedly eight months pregnant. Yes, I know, I need to suspend my disbelief, but there are times when my disbelief was rattling its chains pretty hard over the past season when Quinn and her retractable womb made an appearance.

What's been most frustrating for me, though, is the completely clueless nature of the Glee writers when it comes to the adoption process. Now, granted, I'm more familiar with Minnesota adoption laws but I find it hard to believe that Ohio is so radically different.

Let's start with how the adoption process got started: Terri, Will Schuster's shrieking harridan of a wife, has a "hysterical pregnancy" and needs a baby to hold her crumbling marriage together. The whole fake pregnancy storyline was cringe-worthy at the beginning of the season, but made more so from the fact that nobody seemed to consider the legal ramifications of what Terri was planning. What about a home study? What about a court appearance to make the adoption, you know, legal? Finn would have to sign off on the placement as well as the supposed birthfather, something nobody seemed to consider. I was so relieved when Will found out that Terri was faking because I thought that meant that the ridiculous adoption storyline was over.

But no! Last night's episode came up with something just as silly. Rachel tries to reconnect with her birthmother, Vocal Adrenaline's coach Shelby Corcoran (played by Idina Menzel). She suggests that they need each other. Shelby rejects that idea, saying that she's been thinking lately about starting a family of her own. When she hears that Quinn has given birth, she just saunters over to the hospital and, next thing you know, she's a happy mother with a newborn baby named Beth.

Now parts of this aren't completely out of the realm of possibility. Quinn could have picked Shelby and decided that baby Beth could be placed with her. An adoption agency would have stepped in at that point. But what set me off was the fact that, at the end of the episode, a hospital nurse commented that all the adoption paperwork is finished.

Um, no. It takes hours to get through the paperwork. It takes hours for the home study to be done. This is not something that you can complete that quickly.

Ken Tucker over at Entertainment Weekly expressed his discomfort with this plotline as well, but for different reasons. He didn't like the fact that Shelby Corcoran rejected Rachel only to swoon over a little baby. I don't have a problem with that part. What bothers me is a bit more complicated and has to do with the overall negative portrayal of adoptive parents.

Speaking as an adoptive father (and one who is currently going through the process a second time), I am grateful that Glee chose to show adoption in a somewhat favorable light. I am. They could have easily gone the "teenage mother" route with Quinn and Beth. That they decided to highlight the fact that adoption is a viable alternative is wonderful. But let's consider the quality of parents Quinn had to choose from.

On the one hand, you have Terri, a crazy person who is best forgotten. On the other, you have Shelby, who I don't think really thought through what adopting a newborn entails, who seems to have been given the baby on a whim, and who apparently has access to a time acceleration machine.

Don't get me wrong. I'm complaining about this so much because I actually like this show. I love the musical numbers ("Safety Dance" is still one of my faves). I absolutely adore Sue Sylvester as a character. I just wish the writers had done a better job with this storyline simply because, for me, it hits so close to home.

Adopted for Life

I've mentioned this before, but adoption is a subject that's near and dear to my heart. So I was naturally interested to see what Russell D. Moore had to say in his book, Adopted for Life.

It's an interesting book. Moore argues that for the Christian, adoption should be a priority, either in opening our homes to children in need or by supporting those couples who do, either financially or spiritually. He bases his case on the numerous passages that call on God's people to care for the "fatherless" and the fact that, spiritually speaking, we are all adopted children in God's family. It's our common experience, and every adoption in the temporal world is a reflection of the greater reality of the Gospel.

I really appreciated what Moore had to say about adoption. He opens his home and his family, explaining the emotional process he went through when he and his wife adopted two boys from Russia. His is a story that anyone can appreciate and he gears his book not just for those who have adopted or hope to soon. He also wants his story to be read by those who know families built by adoption.

His book isn't all happiness and sunshine, though. He gets rather sharp in his words on certain subjects, such as people's attitudes toward transracial adoption or the ignorant and hurtful words that people sometimes have toward adoptees, such as the woman who asked him if his two boys were "really" brothers or not. There were times when Moore got a little repetitive and, I'll admit, I skimmed some of the last pages. But all in all, it was a good book.

Like I said, adoption is a subject that is near and dear to my heart because my wife and I are engaged in trying to build our family through adoption. As I've said before, we are home study approved and hoping to meet the right birthmother soon. If you know a woman who is considering adoption, please pass along our e-mail to her. We can be reached at johnorjill [at] live [dot] com (substituting the appropriate symbols for the words, of course).

A Request for Help

They say when you find out you're going to be a father, your entire life changes. And from my experience, that's certainly true. But my experience was a little different than most. I was actually holding my son when I found out I'd be his father.

One of the greatest experiences I've had is becoming an adoptive father. A little over three years ago, Jill and I worked with Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota and, after a surprisingly short but wild ride, we met Isaiah's birthmother. Isaiah was four months old at the time.

This past summer, Jill and I started working with LSS again to start the process for our second adoption. We are home study approved and we're looking for your help. We're hoping to adopt a second child, ideally infant up through six months. We are more than willing to have an open relationship with the birthparents as we've stayed in contact with Isaiah's birthmother and have really enjoyed that.

If you know of a woman who is thinking about placing their baby for adoption, please let us know. You can contact us via e-mail at johnorjill (at) live (dot) com (replacing the items in parentheses with the appropriate symbols) and we can pass along more information.

Thank you in advance for your help!

So Where Have I Been?

I feel kind of guilty right now. I haven't added a post here in more than a month. I even missed the January Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog tour. I haven't posted my rambling thoughts on books I've read or movies I've seen. I've often thought of coming back here and at least tossing a few thoughts on the blog. But I haven't.

Why? It's his fault:

This is my new son, Isaiah. Jill (my wife) and I are currently in the process of adopting him. We've been working with Lutheran Social Services for the past six months or so and just found out in the end of December that we were getting Isaiah, a healthy four month old baby boy.

Well, he's five months now and you can imagine that a childless couple going to parents in less than two weeks can be something of an adjustment. The whole story of how we adopted Isaiah could take a few posts. It's an odd tale of bizarre timing and proof, I think, that God has an odd sense of humor.

At any rate, now that we're beginning to get into the swing of this whole parenting business, maybe I'll be able to come here a little more often. What's coming up? Well, I plan on sharing my thoughts on Gilmore Girls, Controversy Creates Cash, and yes, I'll be back for the February CSFF blog tour.

But I suppose you should also brace yourself for the inevitable posts about my son. He is, in my humble opinion, the cutest kid on the planet.