Eleven Month Mark - Citizenship

August for many of you, including us, has becoming a very active month. You are back from vacations, school starts, fall classes begin and any ministry you are in has it's kick-off. Well as we 'kicked off' our neighborhood Bible study, the Lord impressed this theme upon Jason:

Living on Earth at Citizens of Heaven

The Bible says through Christ we can be adopted into the family of God, and until we are called home to heaven, we live out our citizenship here on earth as sojourners passing through on mission for God. (Galations 4:4-5, Romans 8:15-16, Ephesians 1:4-6)

Now, you didn't miss too much - in the past month, Dominick has not been legally adopted to become a citizen. However, the hope we have in the completion of his adoption is what causes him to live as a 'Stephens', an 'American', our 'son'. Even his name is not legal yet, but you can be certain his identity has become 'Dominick Stephens.' Just ask him! Because we have hope, we are trusting God to bring this to fulfillment.

Unlike our spiritual lives, he can live as our son, in the actions and love with the expectation of the legal status change to come. Whereas spiritually we cannot do anything for God's kingdom until the taint of sin has been washed away by the blood of Christ, until the legal status has changed us, a new heart.

So how has Dominick embraced his new identity as we await the completion of his adoption?

• As a Stephens, he loves sports, camping, Mac & Cheese, playing games and exploring.
• As an American, he speaks english, loves being on grandpa's farm, loves the fair and has been to an NFL game.

How does his Thai identity still define him?

• As a Thai boy, he loves to pretend cook like the street vendors, can handle spicy food, beautiful brown skin and has to have his shoes off as much as possible.

We love that all of these characteristics define our boy - Asian, American, Thailand, USA - it's what makes him 'Dominick'!

Now with that hope shared, will you join us in praising God with us:

In our eleventh month home, we received out Consent to Adoption. This is what we need to finalize his adoption. Our lawyer is pulling our paperwork together as we look to dates ahead where we'll go before a judge and be declared Dominick's parents. His legal identity is about to change, but we are so grateful that he's embraced that identity sooner than what any government would say!