Jet Lag and Erupting Russian Volcanos

This jet lag thing is for real.  Right now it’s 1:45 a.m. in Tokyo and I am ready to go.

So I figured I would blog (and download the iPhone 3.0 update) while Janie sleeps.  Jet lag has no effect on her.  She can fall a sleep any time, any place.

Our trip to the East started normal.  We made our connection to Atlanta and boarded the 747 that was supposed to be a direct flight to Tokyo.  A 14 hour flight.  That plan was derailed when a volcano on a Russian island erupted … 4 days ago!?!   Apparently it was still spewing ashes all over the Pacific sky.  This forced our plane to take a detour around it.  But our new route couldn’t be accomplished without a pit stop for gas in San Francisco.  These two factors added 4-5 hours to our flight and caused us to miss our connecting flight to Taiwan.

Our hats are off to the Northwest staff here in Tokyo for the amazing service they gave to us and many other tired passengers.  They had our new flight arrangements ready to go, a free hotel room, free dinner, free breakfast and ushered us to our hotel very quickly.  Arigato.

The new plan, barring any unforeseen volcanos or typhoons, is that we fly out at 9:20 a.m. (about 7 hours from now) and we should be in Taipei around noon.  Which means I should probably force myself to try to get some sleep, but it may be a futile effort.  Yes, Janie is still sleeping.  Sigh.

Jet Lag and Erupting Russian Volcanos

This jet lag thing is for real.  Right now it’s 1:45 a.m. in Tokyo and I am ready to go.

So I figured I would blog (and download the iPhone 3.0 update) while Janie sleeps.  Jet lag has no effect on her.  She can fall a sleep any time, any place.

Our trip to the East started normal.  We made our connection to Atlanta and boarded the 747 that was supposed to be a direct flight to Tokyo.  A 14 hour flight.  That plan was derailed when a volcano on a Russian island erupted … 4 days ago!?!   Apparently it was still spewing ashes all over the Pacific sky.  This forced our plane to take a detour around it.  But our new route couldn’t be accomplished without a pit stop for gas in San Francisco.  These two factors added 4-5 hours to our flight and caused us to miss our connecting flight to Taiwan.

Our hats are off to the Northwest staff here in Tokyo for the amazing service they gave to us and many other tired passengers.  They had our new flight arrangements ready to go, a free hotel room, free dinner, free breakfast and ushered us to our hotel very quickly.  Arigato.

The new plan, barring any unforeseen volcanos or typhoons, is that we fly out at 9:20 a.m. (about 7 hours from now) and we should be in Taipei around noon.  Which means I should probably force myself to try to get some sleep, but it may be a futile effort.  Yes, Janie is still sleeping.  Sigh.

On Our Way!!

Janie and I are sitting at the Ft. Lauderdale airport ready to begin our journey to Taiwan to bring Chase home!!!

We fly to Atlanta to Tokyo to Taipei.  By Thursday morning (stateside) we should be meeting our little guy for the first time.

Please pray.  The National Visa Center in the US still hasn’t sent our 1-600A approval to the American Institute in Taipei.  We need this to arrive by Friday or our court date in Taiwan will have to be postponed and that could get hairy.

We know all of this is in God’s hands and He has brought us this far but we also know how powerful prayer is and we will take all the help we can get.  =)

Feel free to follow along on Twitter and the blog.  We will be posting our journey and photos as we have internet access.

Our Twitter profiles are: @mattmehaffey & @jmehaffey.  Chase even has one at @chasemehaffey!

And the blog is www.mattmehaffey.com

A High Honor

I love the church that God is shaping The Pursuit to become.  There is such a genuine love for God and for each other.  And today Janie and I were recipients of that love in a big way.

After a great Celebration Service this morning, my friend Jack Montgomery, hijacked the mic and challenged the church to pray for us as we travel later this week to Taiwan to bring our boy home.  A large group came forward and huddled around us and prayed for us.  It was a moment I want to always remember.  I am thrilled that The Pursuit is the church that Chase will grow up with.

To all of you who call The Pursuit your “home church,”  I count it one of my highest honors to be your pastor.  We will see you soon with our little Chase.  Thanks again for your prayers.

Mickey Mural

Today I used a couple of hours to sketch a baseball Mickey Mouse on Chase’s nursery wall.  He’s swinging for the fences and steroid-free.

I am hoping to get it painted on Sunday evening.  Here are a couple pics of the final sketch.

Ready or Not

The whole situation is surreal.

Chase Gehrig Mehaffey

On Wednesday, Janie and I are getting on a plane and flying to the other side of the world to Taiwan.

There we will meet a man who is going to drive us to the town of Loudong and introduce us to this little guy.

And then we get to bring him home.

Our lives are about to change dramatically and we can’t wait.

God in 10

Last week I noticed a conversation going on in the Twittersphere called Godin10.  Basically, thousands of people were trying their best to creatively define God in 10 words or less.  I read probably one hundred “tweets” until I couldn’t read anymore.  It was actually pretty depressing to read how many people choose to believe that God doesn’t exist or believe that he created us and now gets some sort of twisted pleasure out of watching us suffer.

Ironically, last week was also the first week The Pursuit started its study of the book of Genesis.  And I was confronted with this truth from Genesis 1.  God is God, and we are not. We don’t get the right to define God.  That’s hard for many of us in the western world to swallow because we have grown up thinking that we have the right (inalienable rights) to do whatever we want.  But if you stop to think about it, if there is a God who designed us, it is pretty laughable to think that we could figure him out.  That is unless he chose to allow us to get a glimpse of him.

That is exactly what he has done through the Bible and also through Jesus.  Both show us what God is like.  Love.  Just.  Merciful.  Eternal.  All-Powerful.  Forgiving.  All-Knowing.  One.  Generous.  Compassionate.  Holy.

A man named Job once tried desperately to figure out God on his own and God asked him this question, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” In other words, “I am God, and you are not.”

We could use a trillion words and still not scratch the surface of the magnitude of who God is.  But, here is my best attempt at God in 10.  “We the creation do not get to define the Creator.” He defines us.

T-Minus 21 Days

Janie and I have booked our flight to Taiwan!

We will be flying out on Wednesday, June 17 and will arrive Friday night their time (they are exactly 12 hours ahead of us in Miami).  God’s timing is perfect as always since Janie’s birthday is June 20 and Father’s Day is the 21st.  We will get to celebrate both days with our little guy, Chase.

We got the following email from the founder of the orphanage, Ted Skiles,  late last week:

There have been some changes taking place that have made our court procedures appear to be going faster and some changes taking place at AIT that we’re hoping will make it easier to make an appointment for your interview.  Having said all that, could you plan to arrive in Taiwan no later than the night of June 18th?  We have tentatively set your interview appointment for Monday morning, June 22nd, but we have to have one working day (the 19th) to finish up your paperwork to present on Monday morning, plus we need you here to fill our forms and get things ready for the interview.  If you are in a hurry to leave, you can leave as early as June 24th, Lord willing, to return to the U.S.  If you want to stay longer, of course, you are welcomed.

Thank you to all those who are helping us make this important transition in our life.  Alex Diaz will be stepping up and filling in for me at The Pursuit.  He is a gifted teacher and I have full confidence in him.  We have friends and family members who will be house and pet sitting for us while we are gone.  Not to mention the countless people who have been praying us through this process.  Please keep it up.

The Pursuit at Century Village Launched!

Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending one of the coolest things I have ever seen.  That is not an exaggeration.

Century Village is a gigantic “village” with 12,000+ residents who are all 55 years or older.  For thirty years there have been 3 synagogues in the village and zero churches.  That zero is now a ONE!

Campus Pastor, Bob Smith, his wife Linda and a small team of volunteers had everything ready to go as a crowd of residents showed up for the 2:00 p.m. Celebration Service.  The set list was full of classic hymns led by Linda on her keyboard. While Bob connected well to his fellow villagers by talking about the struggles of living in an impersonal world and the joys of loving a personal God.

Here are some quotes overheard as people were drinking coffee and snacking afterwards:

One lady who moved from Texas and has been searching for a church community was so elated that a church was started within the walls of the village declared, “I have found my church home.”

Another woman who had just put her husband on hospice care the day before the service talked of her desperate need for community and was so grateful to have found The Pursuit.

A couple mentioned, “We have been praying for a church to come to Century Village for years!”

Here are a few more pics:

Chase Update (and new pics)

Over the last month, Janie and I have experienced a wide-range of emotions going through the adoption process. We sent in our I-600A form to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service in Miami for processing and received a letter back saying that it could take up to a year for completion.  That sent a million “What if” questions in our minds.  Add in the fact that we couldn’t get any straight answers from anyone didn’t help matters either.

In our minds we were bringing Chase home from Taiwan in early summer when he would be 8 months old.  Now were we looking deep into 2010 when he would be almost 2 years old?!?  I had just put together his crib before receiving that response from the USCIS and I began wondering if Chase would ever use it.

I have to admit over this past month, Janie’s trust in God was greater than mine.

But then a very well-connected friend of ours in Miami connected us with the office of one of Florida’s state senators and they assured us that the letter we received from the USCIS was nothing but a form letter and the processing for international adoptions was much faster.  To be sure they said they would follow up with the USCIS office and make sure everything was in order.

We also just learned that our first court date in Taiwan is set for May 26.  We will not be traveling for this first court date.  Instead Ted Skiles (the director of the orphange) will go before the judge.  Assuming everything goes smoothly, it appears likely about a month after the intial court date another will be set by the judge.  THAT IS THE DATE WE MUST BE THERE!  So God-willing, at the end of June we will be in Taiwan holding our son, Chase and preparing to bring him home!

Our friends, Mike and Kim Cottle are there now for their day in court to bring their precious daughter Kaley home.  They sent us some new pictures of Chase (Kaley is the girl in the blue and red outfit fascinated with Chase’s Mickey Mouse).  Mike said they also got some video footage of Chase which he will send when they get back (I will post that when I get it!).

Keep praying!