For Fathers On the Fence

Every now and again, I feel compelled to talk to the Dads out there. The new Dads, the old Dads, the soon to be Dads, and even the ‘WhoooMyGoshHowDidThisHappenToMe’ Dad. And, since it’s Father’s Day, I’ve got an invitation to do that.

We sometimes, bless our little souls, feel inadequate to be a father. Kind of lost in the parental landscape dominated by Moms.

Yes sir, right from the 1st time we got pregnant, my wife had books like What to Expect When You Are Expecting… and it was a thick book! It talked about about the baby stages of development, the zygote stage, the embryonic stage, the platypus stage. It talked about changes in the mothers body, mood swings, things to look forward too, and stories of joy and happiness.

I got a similar book, except it was really just a handwritten note by a fellow father which simply read “Crazy. Expect Crazy.”

With adoption, all the books are about attachment and disorders and getting in touch with one’s feelings and emotional connections to your child and bonding…stuff. These types of things fall distinctly in the realm of the womanly way of dealing with things. If these books were written by men, for men, they would be the same as that handwritten note from my fellow father all those years ago…“Crazy. Expect Crazy.”

Then, when the kids get a little older, there are mom and tots play groups, coffee breaks for moms, moms group at church, and so on and so on. All these wonderful ways to build a healthy relationship between mom and child. A very woman dominated society in raising the children.

Men do have something similar…except that we leave the children at home with the moms, and we go play golf.

Yes, society has done a wonderful job of isolating us men AWAY from the process of “children.” There is little encouragement (except for our wives BEGGING us to actually be active participants in the process) for us to get involved with the pregnancy, early years or emotional side of adoption. And when we DO try to get engaged, we feel that we are invading the mother’s turf.

I remember one time that I went to the Neo-Nazi-BreastFeeding-Womans-Group… er, La Leche League, and I think EVERY woman there wanted to kill me for being a man (including my own wife). It’s a wonderful group though, seriously, which helps new moms learn how to breastfeed. Look ladies, if I could lactate, I would have! It’s not my fault I don’t have mammary glands! Us Dads are reduced to spectators in the childrearing process more than we would like!

Well enough of it! So I figured it was about time someone stood up for us DADs, and found us some good role models!!! So what better place to turn than the Bible… Lets look at some Dad role models in the Bible to encourage us DADs in our quest to be better Fathers and Husbands!

Adam
Key to Fame: 1st Dad in the Bible…well, except for God.
Outstanding Parental Achievement: … um, fathered most of mankind.
Results of Parenting: One of his children killed 25% of the worlds population (Cain + Able, Gen. 4)
Okay, maybe NOT the best example…let me find another one…

Abraham (Genesis 22)
Key to Fame: Considered the father of Israel. Still had game into his 90s!
Outstanding Parental Achievement: Had 2 sons. Many descendants, countless as the stars in the sky.
Results of Parenting: Almost sacrificed one of his sons on an alter. Kicked his other son (and his mother) out of the house at the tender age of 4(ish). The descendants of both sons are still at war to this day.
Ummmm… moving on!

Noah (Genesis)
Key to Fame: Built a big boat.
Outstanding Parental Achievement: With his sons and daughter in laws, they repopulated the earth.
Results of Parenting: After getting off the boat, and being stuck for 40 days and 40 nights with his kids, he immediately got drunk and passed out (Genesis 9:20~24).

David (Samuel, wrote many books in the bible as well)
Key to Fame: Killed the giant Goliath. King of Isreal. Was noted as having a “heart after God’s own heart” (bad husband and friend though… seriously, had one of his best friends hand deliver his death sentence to his commanding officer).
Outstanding Parental Achievement: Had some kids.
Results of Parenting: One of his kids tried to kill him. David wound up having his kid killed in a battle over the throne. There might have been something about some woman and adultery and such…

Okay, you know what. Forget it. I’m just gonna skip on over this all and wrap this up before I get into more trouble.

So, WHY point all this out?

Only to remind us DADs, that no matter HOW hard parenting looks…
No matter how SCARED we are about having kids…
… about adoption.
… about pregnancy.
… about making mistakes.
… about being a bad father.
… about feeling inadequate.
… about all those things and SO many more we are unable to articulate except though far off stares, the odd guttural grunting and cooking some meat on the bar-b-q as “protein based therapy”…

… is the simple truth that if THOSE guys up there, Adam, Abraham, Noah, David, YOUR Dad, MY DAD, or any other Man who has stood in the place of a father figure which may have been missing in your life…

IF they can do it. Then by the good graces of God, YOU and I can do it.

So lets stop being sidelined, stand up, and have the courage, strength and “lacking of common sense” that is required to thinking being a Dad is a good idea, and rush headlong into this fatherhood thing with all that is within us!

Even if all you can muster up today, is “You know, maybe we could consider adoption”, I’m sure it would mean the world to your wife… and you just never know where that fatherhood journey might lead you…

… hopefully not to an alter trying to sacrifice one of your children though. That would be bad. Although, when they hit about 2 years old… totally understandable.

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Adrian Berzenji

Adrian and Roberta have been married for over 13 years. They

Ramblings From a Selfish Jerk

It is funny what people say when we are talking, and it is amazing what funnies we can miss if we don’t actually stop and pay attention to what is being said. I’ve documented a few conversations I’ve had at work over the past little while, and have reprinted them here in exacting detail.*

Little Bing in the middle – our newest just turned 3
after being in Canada for only 6 weeks!

… flashback a few months ago…
Coworker: So, are you going to tell Ping that she is adopted?
Me: *blink* *blink*
Coworker: What?
Me: You know I’m not REALLY Chinese right? I only pretend to me.
Coworker: Huh?
*awkward silence*
Coworker: AAAaaah! Wait! You are white!
Me: Yea.
Coworker: And she is Chinese!
Me: Yea.
Coworker: So I guess you’re gonna tell her then?
Me: Well, I’m gonna try to hide it for as long as I can, but I think eventually she will figure it out.

… flashback a couple months ago…
Coworker: You’re wife doesn’t work, right?
Me: Well, I don’t know. Depends on how you define work. If you mean, dose she work from 8am to 5pm, get a benefits package, a decent wage, time off, the respect of coworkers, and satisfaction from a job well done… then no. But, if you are asking is she busy from dawn till dusk, 24 hours a day, with no pay, no thanks, and a never ending to do list…then yes.
Coworker: Wow. Uh, what does she do?
Me: Stays home with the 5 children.
Coworker: Oh, so she DOESN’T work.
Me: *blink* *blink* Yea, she does nothing all day.

… flashback a few weeks ago…
Coworker: Hey, you speak Chinese!
Me: Yea.
Coworker: So, is your wife Chinese?
Me: Uhhhh, no.
Coworker: Why then?
Me: Um, because her parents were English? (Now, in her defense, the question in Chinese made perfect sense, as in “why [do you speak Chinese] then”, I was just being a smart … )

… flashback a few days ago…
Coworker: So, 5 kids now right?
Me: *snoork* Whaaaaaza, some … one talking… *zzZZZzzz*
Coworker: Right, 5 kids I get it. So you gonna have any more?
Me: WHAT?! 6?! Are you crazy!
Coworker: No, but apparently you are! 5 kids!
Me: Oh right, well, yea… maybe.

… flashback to a couple days ago…
Coworker: So, why did you adopt?
Me: Oh, it was an accident. My wife and I were up a little late, had a little too much wine, and before you knew it, we had filled out 27 copies of paperwork for international adoption.
Coworker: I mean, you can have your own kids, why adopt? Is it your faith?
Me: Well, yes… and no. I mean, it is. There is something in the Bible about caring for the widows and orphans. However, that is not why we adopted. It would be easy to say that and sound all noble and righteous, but in all honesty, I choose to adopt because I’m a selfish jerk.
Coworker: Wha?! Oh no, you are not selfish!
Me: Oh, but I am. If I really wanted to help care for the orphans, than I should have taken the thousands of dollars this international adoption cost and built a new orphanage in Africa! I could have drilled two wells in an Kenyan village, installed a grain feed system for cattle, purchased 4 acres of land for sustainable farming, and supplied a means of food for over 30 children and all their generations to come. But instead, I was selfish. We wanted another child, and we adopted. I only managed to help 2 children so far. What a waste of resources, I know. We could have taken care of TWO Kenyan villages and all their orphans. If we built the wells, the grain feeders, and the farms, then maybe those children would not have had to have been orphans! Who knows. So was it my faith that made me adopt? I would rather say my faith made me capable to love all people, and in that, I had a desire to love a child into our family. Was that the perfect or correct expression of my faith? Well, that is a different matter.
Coworker: … so, it was your faith then?

See yea, there you go. I’m a selfish jerk. I mean, when God said to help the widows and the orphans, I though I was answering the call through adoption. But in the end, I was really only helping a couple of kids. If I really wanted to help orphans, I should/could have taken the thousands of dollars it costs to adopt internationally and built schools, farms, and orphanages in parts of the world where they are very needed. For example, check this place out; see what wonderful work they are doing! The UN even had a World Farm Day at their farm 2 years ago, setting youfeedthem as the example for all sustainable farms to follow.

Yet, Silas and Kimberly (the couple who head up youfeedthem) are NOT being stopped on the streets by strangers going “oh look at you, you are doing such a wonderful thing.” Yet, they are helping hundreds of orphans everyday. I only helped 2. I suck at this helping orphans thing!!!

So, what, as a Christian, in response to our “faith,” are we to do for the orphans and widows?

If you are called to adopt, great. Adopt! But if you are NOT called to adopt, there are still so many many things you can do to help the 147 MILLION children who are in need!

Do not sit idly by and say “Well, we’re not called to adopt, so we can’t help the orphans.” And, at the same time, don’t say “I’m helping the orphans by adopting!”

I’m a selfish jerk. I hope to fix this in the future as I am in the process of setting up a monthly donation to Youfeedthem so I can actually get around to “helping some orphans” like people think I do.

* What I find so awesome about blogging is that in all the 360+ posts, not once have any of the stories I’ve told resulted in the comments section being filled with people in the stories clarifying the happenings. For example, when I blogged about the wife and her “mafia accidents,” not one of her friends commented with “I can not see your Wife doing that crazy thing you have described!” Nope, normally the comments are filled with “I can totally see your Wife doing that!” which means, as unbelievable as some of these stores are, they are really quite factual and accurate. Keep that in mind next time you are laughing through them thinking “Oh the Yeti MUST be exaggerating!” And I’m picking on my wife there for example only…the stories with my coworkers are just as accurate as any one of them who reads the blog would correct me if I were speaking out of turn.

________________________________________

Adrian Berzenji

Adrian and Roberta have been married for over 13 years. They

With Thankfulness: Happy to Be A Crazy

I like to think that I’m a pretty “Happy-Go-Lucky” kind of guy.
I mean, I like to think of myself as a “cup-1/2-full” kind of guy (unless you are drinking from it, then it is 1/2 empty).
See the good in everyone.
Look on the bright side of things.
Find the silver lining in the cloud.
You know, all that kind of good stuff.

Don’t get me wrong, I have my bad days like everyone. . . . Okay, well, maybe not EVERYONE. I have one friend Rhonda who I don’t think EVER has a bad day. Drives me NUTS! I just wanna scream. . . . It’s like, “C’mon! Can’t you just have 1 bad day?” *siiigh* Oh, and my good friend Bobby – always happy! Always. Crazy. And, everything works out for him too! He is one of those guys that if his car broke down on him on the way to church, a new Lexus would fall from the heavens with the keys in the ignition and Megan Fox in the passenger seat! Goodness, that guy bugs me too! You know what? They ALL drive me nuts! Happy people! BAH!!!

Where was I? Oh right . . . I’m happy and thankful.

Sometimes, it can be really hard to be thankfu.l . . . Honestly, I think sometimes we have to be CRAZY to be thankful.

Me: *looking at the bank account* Oh snap.
*poof!*
Bad Me: You know, this whole “adoption” thing is kinda expensive. Like . . . really freakishly expensive.
Me: Yeah, I know.
Bad Me: Dosn’t that tick you OFF?
Me: Yeah, kinda.
Bad Me: Kinda?! There are 147 MILLION orphans in the world – all you want to do is help 1, and someone wants to charge you thousands of dollars!
Me: Hey, you know what? That is crazy!
Bad Me: That’s right! It’s CRAZY!
Me: They shouldn’t do that! Thats CRAZY! Stupid regulations!
*poof!*
Good Me: Maybe you should be thankful instead of getting all upset.
Me: What? Be thankful for what?! That this is going to cost us a LOT of money, so I have to work TONNES(1) of overtime to pay for it all?!
Good Me: You could be thankful that you HAVE a job where you can work the over time to help pay for the adoption. Or, you could just be thankful that you have a job at all.
Me: Okay, fine. I’m thankful that I have a job. But, I’m still upset that this is SO HARD to adopt when these children need homes.
Good Me: Why don’t you be thankful that you are adopting a beautiful child into your family and not focus on the paper work.
Me: Okay . . . fine. So, I’m thankful that I’ve got a job. I’m thankful that I am able to adopt a child. But, but . . . do you remember what the last adoption was like! I mean, you weren’t the one getting yelled at in Mandarin everyday!
Good Me: Why don’t you just be thankful that your beautiful daughter will even talk to you.
Me: Grrrrr . . . fine. I’ll be thankful for the job, for being able to pay for the adoption, for adding to the family, even for my daughter yelling at me.
Good Me: See! Don’t you feel better now.
Me: You know what . . . no. This is still hard! And, I haven’t even gotten into the all the other krump(2) we’ve gotta work though for our “Special Needs” now.
Good Me: I know. Hey, you should ask God how hard adoption was for Him. But, there are some other things you can be thankful for.
Me: Oh yeah, like what?
Good Me: Well, women with poor taste in men. Without that, you would still be a bachelor!
Me: You know, for a “good conscience,” sometimes you can be really mean.
Good Me: And, you should be . . .
Me: Thankful for that too?
Good Me: My work here is done.
*poof!*

There are always two choices when life throws something unpleasant at you.
You can get mad, rage against the injustice* in life and hold onto bitterness, anger, resentment, etc.
Or, you can be one of the crazies. And, goodness knows, there is enough krump in the adoption process to make anyone jaded (even the crazies like Bobby and Rhonda).

As for me, I’m happy to be a crazy. I want to focus on what God has given me and simply walk steadfastly though the trials of life, holding onto love, joy, peace, goodness, faith . . . and, yes, . . . even holding onto crazy, er, thankfullness.

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(1) Totally not a made-up word, simply the proper spelling of TON – welcome to Canada, eh!

(2) Totally a made-up word, based loosely off CRUMP (which means “to explode heavily”), except rooted in a metaphorical term for issues which seem to “explode heavily” into your life, if you want them or not.

* There is definitely a time to rage against the injustices of this world. But, it probably is going to be a time that you won’t like and for something which you don’t want to do.

________________________________________

Adrian Berzenji

Adrian and Roberta have been married for over 13 years. They

I Don’t Love You Today, Maybe Tomorrow…

Adrian and Ping

Me: What did Daddy say?
Ping: Ping no throw books.
Me: Right, and what did Ping do?
Ping: Yes throw book.
Me: Did Ping listen to Daddy?
Ping: No.
Me: Is Daddy happy or sad that you did not listen.
Ping: Daddy no happy.
Me: So will Ping listen to Daddy?
Ping: Yes.
Me: Thank you. Daddy loves you, Ping.
Ping: I no love Daddy.
Me: That is okay. But, I still love you.
Ping: I no love Daddy.
Me: That is okay. But, Daddy still loves Ping.
Ping: I no say I love Daddy today.
Me: Maybe tomorrow?
Ping: Yes. Ping love Daddy tomorrow.
Me: That’s great. I still love you today though and tomorrow.
Ping: No today. Tomorrow, I love Daddy.
Me: Okay, good night, baby. I love you.

I would have to say that once the initial punched-in-the-gut feeling wore off, this made me so very happy! I was thrilled that my daughter said she “no love” me (more on that at the end of the post).

Ah, the joys of parenthood! It is not for the faint or the weak or those who get queasy at the sight of blood. That’s for sure. Having your child tell you they don’t love you is one thing, thinking they believe it is something else.

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