It has been a while since I have provided a life update, so I thought I would take a moment and share some of the happenings in my life.

Baby Update
The baby is doing well and in two weeks we should be able to learn if the baby is a boy or a girl. I am really excited about this, and Jaime’s belly is beginning to get a bit bigger and we can occasionally feel the baby moving around. Jaime is also feeling better, has more energy and isn’t sick anymore. Yay!

Adoption Update
The process has become complicated, and I don’t really want to share all of the intricacies of how this is going on the blog, so give me a call if you are interested in hearing the ever exciting status of our future 11 year old and 13 year old (just had a birthday two days ago!) You can also follow me on http://twitter.com/jeffbristow and get frequent (literally almost daily) small updates about what is going on in my life. [with Twitter you can get the updates on your mobile phone as a text message if you want, or you can get them through a IM client, or at the Twitter website. It is a really sweet service.]

Exercise
My son and I are going to begin running this evening. I am starting the Couch-to-5k plan over again, and now I have an exercise partner, so the plan to actually lose weight and run a half marathon may still come to fruition.

Eating
I have been making poor eating choices and need to get back to watching my health. I eat when I am stressed, and life has certainly been very stressful lately, so that is my excuse of the moment for falling back into my bad eating habits.

Turning 30
Monday June 30th I turn 30 years old and have organized my own pre-birthday gathering on June 28th. To get more information about this check me out on Facebook, where this event has been organized.

On June 17th my wife and I went up to Tampa to watch the Chicago Cubs play the Tampa Bay Rays. It was an exciting game, and the place was packed with Cubs fans. I would guess 80% of everyone there was there to see the Cubs. Sadly, Tampa Bay won the game, but the Cubs fought up to the last second and had everyone on their feet in the 9th inning.

Here is a picture I took with my cell phone that shows where we were sitting, we had some good seats to see all of the action.

On June 17th the next release of the Firefox Web Browser will be unleashed to the masses. And Firefox is hoping to set a world record for the most downloads in a 24 hour period.

So next Tuesday don’t forget to grab your copy from http://www.getfirefox.com and help make history!

The price of oil is on everyones mind right now. Gasoline prices have sky rocketed and ‘experts’ are being interviewed on cable news shows around the clock. Some ‘experts’ are blaming sky rocketing prices on investors driving the price of oil up, while others point to more concrete issues as to why the price of oil is on the rise.

Some factors we should look at to understand the current oil markets.
1. About 85 million barrels of oil are produced each day.
2. About 86 million barrels of oil are consumed each day.
3. Global consumption increases by around 2.5 million barrels of oil each day.
4. A barrel of oil is about 19.5 gallons
5. The average oil company makes about 10 cents of profit per gallon of gas.
6. The US federal government places a 18.5 cents per gallon tax on all gasoline.
7. The US consumes about 20 million barrels of oil each day. That is 390 million gallons of oil each day.
8. The US produces just under 6 million barrels of oil each day.

Now I want to make some logical conclusions based on the data above.
1. Globally more oil is being used than is produced, which means stored oil is being utilized to meet current demands. (Not a good scenario, and certainly not sustainable.)
2. Global demand is increasing at a rate of about 912 million barrels more than current output each year at current growth rates. Estimates are that growth in China and India will be greater than current rates. So there is a good possibility that it could easily be a 1 billion barrel shortfall annually very soon. ( literally like 2-5 years from now )
3. Oil companies only have a margin of 10 cents to play with. So even with massive government controls the price of a gallon of gas would only drop one dime if oil companies were forced to make zero profits. Government subsidies could lower prices, but where will that money come from? The Federal government could also bring down the cost of gas by eliminating the gas tax, but only by 18.5 cents. So there is about 29 cents that can be cut off of the top of the price of a gallon of gas if we force oil companies to operate as non-profits, and for the Federal government loses all funding for road projects and maintenance. As sad as this sounds 29 cents isn’t much of a savings. And would it be worth it to have no new roads and current roads to be never be maintained, or for oil companies to have zero incentive to do business well?

So what can be done about gas prices?
Honestly, not a whole lot. When demand is so much greater than production, costs will be driven upwards. As China and India develop this issue will only continue to get worse. The oil companies will continue to be wealthier than anyone could imagine, but at some point the demand will outweigh production by such a large amount that oil will no longer be an affordable option for fuel. When will that be? I have no idea. But I wouldn’t be surprised if we are only 20-30 years away from this.

Now, if large quantities of oil were to be found and pulled out of the ground this issue could be resolved by once again making production equal or greater than demand. But the idea that we could pull enough oil out of the ground fast enough to meet the global growth demand for oil is not very likely, if anything new oil could hold off the scenario above for some period of time, but not for long.

This is the time to be researching real alternative fuel sources. They may be expensive now, but at some point they will be less expensive than oil, and we can’t simply wait until oil is no longer affordable, we need to be developing a plan now. I am a big proponent of solar technologies since when the sun is gone we will all be gone too, so it is a non-renewable resource that is essentially unlimited as far as we need to be concerned. A real solution would be to harness renewable resources rather than re-focusing on another resource that will be limited, like natural gases.

I have no doubt that the oil crisis will also start a third global war at some point. Oil makes our plastics, fuels our transportation, powers our gadgets and our homes. Our entire way of life is dependent on oil. The US, China nor India will accept rolling back to the stone age. Fighting will happen unless alternatives to oil are found and are used on a global scale.

Oil investors may be driving oil up artificially at the moment, but the facts above remain. And those factors are far greater than the investors. Oil is never going to be ‘cheap’ again. There is too much competition for a limited resource, too much demand, and too little production. It is a matter of global security that alternative fuel sources be utilized, but as long as so much money can be made as oil demand goes up, I am doubtful that anyone will take action and have the foresight to do what needs to be done to insure our nations, and the planets future security.

I came across this article last night on the Washington Post website. It describes discussions happening in congress regarding a law enacted in 1994. The law is called MEPA, the Multi-ethinic Placement Act. This law made the adoption process ‘color-blind’ in the United States. The reasoning was due to a large number of non-white children that could not be adopted because social workers were unable to find enough adoptive parents of the same ethnicity as the child. So now, under MEPA, a white couple can adopt a black child or a black couple can adopt a white child. Race is not a factor.

But law makers are now re-looking at this law and some think that MEPA has caused more harm than good. Essentially the argument is that you get a white couple that adopts a black child and is then not-equipped to deal with identity issues that the child has from being raised in a white home. That the child has to then face unique struggles in life from being raised by a family that is a different ethinicty than they are. These challenges are real. But are they large enough to revoke MEPA?

The article describes some who are asking for training and preparation for couples who will be adopting a child that is not of their ethnicity. I think this is a great idea. This would essentially mean that the system would no longer be ‘color blind’ , but at least it would be realistic and provide assistance to families that will face these unique challenges. I don’t want to see the system turn into what it was prior to MEPA, with children that could not be adopted because there were not enough parents of the child’s ethnicity looking to adopt.

But as the article describes it is clear that there are people who would rather have kids not have a family than to have to deal with these unique ‘identity issues’. Have they not realized that simply by being taken away from their parents or by being neglected or let go by their parents that there could be some ‘identity issues’? I think everyone involved in this discussion has the kids best interest in mind. But I think what some are failing to realize is that the past can not be changed. It is not possible to provide the perfect ideal situation for these kids. Their lives have been turned upside down. The only thing we can do is to help make their lives better. And a family is always better than no family. There will be issues in transracial families, but those are certainly better than the alternative of a child bouncing from foster home and ‘aging out of the system’ when the child turns 18.

To the law makers: Don’t forget that there are children that need homes, and parents that want to provide a home. And there is nothing you can do to make the lives of these children ‘perfectly normal’. Simply being in this situation is tramatic and unique and will bring forward many unique challenges that other kids may never face. So, if MEPA needs to be adjusted to provide additional assistance to families then please tweak it, but certainly don’t look at MEPA as a total failure. There are children today that have families because of MEPA, so don’t forget that when you review the pros and cons of MEPA. There are laws that have changed lives for the better, and this is one of them.

This weekend I was thinking about some of the things that Jesus said about children. The things that jump out the most to me are when he tells adults to be like children. We often hear phrases like “Grow up.” or “Act your age.” I may hear them more than most, but I am guessing everyone has heard something along these lines as they were growing up. As parents we often push for our kids to be more responsible or to act more ‘grown up’. So, I want to examine a couple of things that Jesus said that may seem a bit upside down for some adults. Jesus wasn’t telling the kids to ‘grow up’ but for the adults to ‘grow down’

Mark 13:10-16
13 One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.

14 When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to thbout being a child that we all need to have.em, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. 15 I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” 16 Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.

Matthew 18:3-6
I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

5″And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. 6But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

First I want to look at verse 15 from Mark Chapter 13. “I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Jesus is talking about a characteristic that children have that we must have. Faith. A child is able to believe, have real faith much more easily than adults can. It is our life experiences that seem to hammer faith out of us. As adults we need to retain this. To have true faith is essential. So, we can learn from children to have real faith. Matthew 18:3 also reiterates this very same point. “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” - Matthew 18:3

Now, I admit that I am making an educated guess regarding what characteristic Jesus is referring to in children that we need to ‘enter the kingdom of heaven.’ Because, he does not outright say you must have ‘faith like a child’. But there is a great amount of consensus among Bible Scholars that Jesus was talking about faith. However, I do find it very interesting that he does not outright say that we must have ‘faith like a child.’ Often Jesus has statements that can hold deeper meanings than just the initial surface idea that may be obvious. I believe that Jesus references to us (Adults) being like a child means more than simply having faith.

I believe there are other characteristics about a child that Jesus wants us to retain as we ‘grow up.’

Humility - Over time we are somehow taught that we are better than others. God wants us to place others above ourselves and have the humility of a child.

Trust - Children trust. They do not place ill motives on people. This is why parents are so cautious with their children around strangers. But as we ‘grow up’ we tend to trust less, and this easily bleeds over to our relationships with God. We need to re-capture how to trust like a Child and trust God with all things.

Honesty - We have all seen shows that have kids saying the ‘darndest things’. This is because young kids can be humorously honest. But what may be more revealing is that as adults we become so inept at being truthful and honest at all times. We push things into gray areas and easily ‘hide’ the truth. We need to be open with God and others, to be honest about our weaknesses so that we can grow in our relationship with God.

Excitement - We have all seen a child’s eyes light up with excitement over something. Whether that be playing a new game or being able to go somewhere or see something. A child can get truly excited. This is often behavior that is considered to be ‘immature’ by many adults. But I believe God wants us to be excited to learn new things or to experience new things. God created the entire universe for us to experience. There is so much to be excited about. When we quench that inner excitement, we begin to hinder how we can react and respond to God.

Play - Children like to play. And adults… well they like to play too, but our culture often tells them that to do so would be immature. Instead we create ‘appropriate’ ways to play. You can find adult baseball leagues, bowling leagues, and other activities so that adults can play ‘as adults’. Meaning it is organized. But God created this world so that we can enjoy ourselves. Children don’t need an ‘organized activity’ to show them how to enjoy themselves and find things to do for ‘play’. As adults we need to take time to enjoy God and all that he has provided and created for us. We need to learn how to play like a child.

As adults we are the mentors and guides for the next generation. I am not down playing this even in the slightest. This is an extremely important responsibility, but we can also learn from children. Because as adults we have likely lost a portion of what it is truly like to love God and experience God like a child can. And God doesn’t want us to lose those child like qualities simply because we are ‘grown up’. We are God’s children, so we should strive to be young at heart so we can experience God to the fullest.

This past week Jaime and I bought Mario Kart Wii for the kids. The kids don’t know we have it yet, but they soon will when they see the steering wheels on the couch in the living room this weekend. So, as all parents should do we ‘tested’ the game this week. And wow, this is an amazingly addictive game. The controls using the steering wheel pull you into the game more, the tracks are visually impressive, and you can use either Go-karts or Motorcycles. And there is a multiplayer option for those times when you really want to get beat up bad by a 5 year old on the other side of the planet. ( I write from experience. )

So, in short if you are wanting some good wholesome family fun, I highly recommend Mario Kart Wii, especially since it only costs a little bit more than taking the family to see one movie at the theatre.

Update: I found a method for getting the Parental Controls that I needed in Ubuntu.
http://skindley.wordpress.com/2006/12/11/fedora-core-6-controlling-logins-by-time/ - Thank You Scott Kindley for this excellent how to.

I have been using Ubuntu as my main Operating System now for a couple of months and I have been very pleased at the functionality and flexibility of using a non-Microsoft system. That is until I discovered a feature set that the Linux community does not feel is relevant. Parental Controls.

I really want a simple method for designating when a specific user can be logged into the system. OSX can do this. Vista can do this. Why hasn’t anyone in the Linux world come up with this? As I explored this I discovered that the need does not seem to be recognized as legitimate by the majority of developers. Statements like “That is bad parenting.” seem to resonate any time a user asked why these features are not available.

The reality is that you can’t keep track of your kids 100% of the time, and you can’t be looking over their shoulder every second they are online. Being able to have some enforceable restrictions as to how long a user can be on the system to the time of the day are very reasonable approaches, and should be considered valid by the Linux Community.

Due to the lack of these features I am now using Vista on my home PC, so that I can make sure that the kids don’t get up in the middle of the night and use the computer. This is mot my preference, I would much rather them be using Linux. But until I can find reasonable and appropriate parental controls for my Linux system, Windows Vista will have to remain.

As most of my readers know, my family is currently expanding. And I can honestly say that this is the most exciting and fulfilling time of my life to date. I am amazed at how God is working in my life, my wife, and the kids. Adopting children is truly helping me to see God’s heart.

Ephesians 1:5 refers to those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior (believers) as being adopted into His family. Paul mentions the idea of believers being grafted into God’s family as a branch is grafted onto a tree. The idea is essentially that we were once not a part of God’s family, but through His will we become full members of his family. We inherit all of the benefits of being a son or daughter of God by becoming a member of His family.

I am beginning to see how powerful this idea is. God is truly blessing me as I am bringing a 12 year old boy and an 11 year old girl into my family. Bringing them in as full members of the family with all of the benefits that any other son or daughter would have. Making them no different than the baby that will be born in November.

It is easy for us to see this act of Grace by God as being only a gift to us. But I believe that through this God is blessed by us as He brings us into His family. I base this simply on my current experience. I am being blessed by the kids, not by anything they are doing, but simply by them being themselves and their desire to become a part of my family. And that is all God seeks from us as well, our willingness to be a part of His family. He takes care of it from there.

When we are not a part of God’s family we are orphans from God. As orphans we do not have the benefits and privileges of being a part of God’s family. One of the major inheritances is eternal life with God, otherwise known as Heaven. And the only way to become a part of God’s family is through Jesus Christ. And this is done by believing in and accepting Jesus as our Lord.

“The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.” - John 1:9-13

Baby is now at 12 weeks!

And wow, look at the change over the course of just 4 weeks.

4 Weeks Ago

I have told a few people that a dream come true for me would be if the Chicago Cubs and the Tampa Bay Rays played each other in the 2008 World Series. I am a huge Chicago Cubs fan but it is rare for me to ever get to see them play. They play the Rays this June, so I am planning on catching one of those games, but it would be much more amazing to head up to Tampa and watch a World Series game. I know this would be a long shot, but I can hope.

I had mentioned this idea to some a few months ago and it was clear that everyone thought I was completely insane to think that anything like that could ever have even the remotest chance of happening. And I agree. But the tide might be turning, could the dream come true?

As of today the Chicago Cubs are tied for the best record in baseball right now and the Tampa Bay Rays are kicking up some dust as they are only half a game back from the #1 position in the American league East. So, maybe, just maybe my dream scenario could come true. I have hope. Maybe I will get a chance to see the Chicago Cubs in a World Series game this fall in the Sunshine State.

This made me laugh so hard that I just have to share it.

Yesterday was Jaime’s first Mothers Day! We had a very good day and the kids picked out a cake that they gave to Jaime. We have a picture of the kids, the cake, and Jaime on Facebook.

If you are one of my friends on Facebook you will be able to see the picture.

Jeff’s Facebook Profile
( If you are one of my friends but we aren’t connected on Facebook, I recommend setting up a Facebook account and adding me as a friend. ) Note: If I do not know you and you add me as a friend I will not confirm it, I only confirm people I actually know.

Yesterday we were also at McGregor Baptist for Sunday morning worship and I am beginning to like the Church more than I did initially. ( the bigness isn’t as negative for me any longer) The Sermon Sunday morning was really good and we bumped into a lot of helpful people. We also discovered that there are 5 different young couples classes for us to choose from at 9:30am on Sundays. So, next week we will begin checking out some of the different classes and we were encouraged to go to a few of them before deciding which class we should stick with.

Hilary Clinton is now being asked by many political pundits to step down from trying to beat out Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination. It appears that the only way she can win the nomination is for the Super Delegates to hand it to her. This would mean that the Super delegates would have to go against what the majority of democrats voted for. Obama has won the popular vote (and this won’t change after June 3rd) , has won more states (this won’t change after June 3rd), and has won more delegates (this also won’t change after June 3rd). It seems as though Obama has this in the bag. However, there are those super delegates, and they can vote for whomever they choose. And there are enough of them that they could bring Hilary Clinton to the magic number to win the Democratic Nomination.

I don’t anticipate this happening though since it would be political suicide to take an election away from the people and give the nomination to the person who got fewer votes, fewer delegates, and fewer states than the other candidate.

So this brings me to the original question. “Should Hilary throw in the towel?” No, not yet. Don’t get me wrong, I think her campaign is over. But she needs to stay in this race until June 3rd. And I believe that is exactly what she is going to do. This isn’t about dividing the party or unifying the party. It is about choice. I do believe this is still America, where we get to choose our leaders. So, the States that have not voted deserve a choice, and if she drops out they will have no choice.

If you have ever read my blog before, you know that I was and still am a Mike Huckabee supporter. I am truly disappointed that Republicans in the remaining states have no choice. John McCain is their nominee. The primary system simply isn’t as democratic as I think it should be. So I am glad that Florida and Michigan moved up their primary dates. In fact, I think more states should do it to pressure both parties to reform how they get their nominee. No group of States should be able to determine the nominee before everyone else gets a chance to vote. My preference would be a national popular vote system for each party. None of this delegate non-sense.

So for any Hilary Clinton advisor that might be browsing the blogosphere. Ask Hilary to stay in this race. Give your party a choice through June 3rd, and then it will be time to step down and begin supporting Barack Obama for the November election.

This is a play Jaime and I went and saw yesterday evening. I thought I would share it here.

This is a Saturday Night Live skit that all parents with teenagers or teenagers-to-be-someday should watch.

This past Sunday the kids came over to see our house. And the visit was really good. They had questions about changing colors in their rooms and where they would study. (there are no desks in the rooms yet) We had lunch at the house, played with JoJo ‘The World’s Greatest Greyhound’ in the backyard, watched Spider-Man and then went out to Bokeelia and enjoyed the gulf coast. And when 4:00 came they wanted to stay with us a bit longer, which was nice, so we called their house parents and got permission for an extended visit and took them to Burger King for dinner. (yes, a very healthy choice, I know.)

We will be talking with their case worker this week to determine how frequent our visits will be, and how the process will unfold from this point forward.

Life will be changing soon! And we are very excited to be following what God wants us to be doing right now.

PS: I am going to be getting back into the Couch to 5k plan soon and heading back to the gym. I am in a 2 month slump that needs to end soon. I also need to start making better food choices when I eat. I only have 25 more lbs to lose, and I really want those pounds gone by the time I am 30, and that is coming up really fast.

I really wanted to write something clever today but I can’t seem to find the words to say anything clever. Or to even write about something remotely interesting. So, instead I am writing about not actually writing about anything. I wonder if this is how episodes of Seinfeld got written?

It is really strange how writers block works. You have ideas, and things you would like to write about. But, no matter what you do the words just won’t flow out. It is very frustrating. So frustrating, that I think the only thing you can actually do is write about the actual blockage that is occurring. This may even be very therapeutic. Maybe I should write a book about curing writers block by writing about writers block?

I am already beginning to feel more creative and able to communicate what I am thinking clearly. This may actually be working. The only problem now is that what is flowing out of me are these ramblings that you are currently reading. And as you can tell, there is nothing interesting appearing in these words. But I am glad that you are still reading. It means I have done something right, but I honestly am not sure why you are still here reading this. Maybe you are interested in me? Maybe you are simply bored? Maybe you are hoping that I will say something of substance before this blog entry ends?

Well…… I thank you for your time as you read through this nonsensical blog posting, and I encourage you to read many of the far more interesting posts on this blog while you are here.

Last night Jaime and I went over to the home where the kids are staying and had dinner with them. The previous evening they called us to ask what we like to eat, and asked what Jaime’s favorite flowers are. So they had the perfect dinner prepared for us, which we very much enjoyed. They also got Jaime a bouquet of flowers. It was also great to see them interacting with the other kids in the home, and the house parents. They are great kids, and I feel so blessed right now to be getting to know them.

Jaime and I have struggled as we have gone through the process to adopt in Florida. Each step always seemed to take longer than it should. But, now I see that God’s timing is perfect. That right now is the perfect time for the kids and for us, even though we wanted to be at this stage of the process months ago. One of the big blessings is that we are moving forward after discovering that we have a baby on the way. I believe this really helps the kids feel that we care about them and really do want them for who they are, and not simply because we want kids in our home.

So, this is a very exciting time for us, as we get to know the children that we soon hope to be able to call son and daughter.

Today Jaime and I had an absolutely amazing day. Today we met the boy and girl that we are hoping to adopt. And the meeting today was so much better than we had hoped or imagined. We are so happy to have spent the day with them. And can’t wait to see them again! We feel so blessed to be going through this process right now. It is truly amazing to look back and see how God has brought us to where we are today.

I don’t want to share too much about our day for the entire world to see on this blog (since this is still an ongoing process), but it was a very fun day, and the only disappointment for me was that the day had to end so soon.

Jeff Bristow posted a photo:

Jeff Bristow posted a photo:

Jeff Bristow posted a photo:

Jeff Bristow posted a photo:

Jeff Bristow posted a photo: