The talk

On the tuesday night before thanksgiving I got a chance to hang out with a group of my friends from highschool. It was so much fun. We ate dinner and then played like a million games of UNO and some rounds of mad gab, but a little before midnight we all crashed in Devons living room. We then all started talking about out lives and stuff. Patrick Tieken who has been my friend for a while now was adopted from South Korea. I had to ask some questions. I have spent a lot of reasearching the things that adopted children go through as they grow up. I ask him so many questions and lucking he was patient with me and actually loved to me all about it. Patrick was only about 15 or 16 months old when he was brought home by his parents so he has no memory of his life before he was brought home. When he started elementary school no one seemed to notice he was any different or that his parents looked different from him. Actually he said it was till third grade that any of the other children even asked. That was when he started to realize he didn't know very much about where he was from. So in 4th or 5th grade one I can't remember he got to do a media fair on South Korea. He found out about the city he was from and all kinds of interesting facts about the country he even found the national anthem and made it play in the background.

One thing that I made sure I ask him was whether or not he had ever looked for his parents and whether he thought he would ever go to South Korea and find them. He told me that he did sometimes wonder what his parents were like. He knows that if he wanted he could find his mother but there wasn't even a father listed of his birth certificate. He said that for now he was content with the parents he has. He said that his adoptive parents are his parents and that they have given him so much more than he could ask for. They love him and have always taken care of him. Patrick has a younger sister too that was adopted from the same city in South Korea that he was from. Patrick said that it doesn't really even feel like he was adopted, he its more like well, we have different hair colors and eye colors from our parents. He said it just as simple as that except for instead of differnt color eyes he has different color skin.

I ask him also if he ever got made fun of. He said yes that people did say things to him. He said as long as you tell the children at a young age as young as second grade that its ok if other kids make fun of them because they are loved. He said that knowing that helped him to get through time like that.

I just thought this conversation was a good one. I enjoy asking patrick questions about this kind of stuff because he has a view that I can't ever have.

I just glanced in at my clock and I have realized that in one hour and 37 minutes it will be one week until I leave to go Haiti!!!! I am no longer nervous about it either just excited to get to go and meet all the kids!!

Mumble and the Heart Song

Good morning,

I haven't got a lot of time because I have to leave for play practice in less than an hour and I still have to do my hair and when my hair is wet and tangly like it is now it take a few minutes.haha. Anywho, O took my sister Alyssa, my little brother Kaleb and our cousin Hannah to the movies yesterday. And what did we see, none other than HAPPY FEET!!!! Yes I am a big Kid and I love all animated movies. I am a disney dork and I will admit. After all Disney is one of my favorite places on Earth. While I was watching Happy Feet it made me think of a quote that I had found and written in my journal of my favorite quotes and verses.

To love a person is to learn the song that's in thier heart and send it to them when they have forgotten.

I have no idea who wrote this quote but I do know that it holds great importance. See in the movie a little penguin is born his name is Mumble, and Mumble is different. The penguins in the movie find thier mate by singing to each other, you sing your heart song and then when you find the person who likes your heart song that is your mate. Well you find out early on in the film that Mumble can't sing. All the kids except for Gloria laugh at him and they tell him he isn't a penguin if he can't sing. It's very sad and I hope that I can never be like that to the people that are around me. In the end though Mumbles "happy feet" as they are refered too helped to save all the penguins.

This also put some thoughts about my sister into my head. I think each of us have a heart song, A song that is sung would tell our inner most fears and secrets. Though personally I think mine would be something funny and not very serious. But anyway. I love Manthania just as much as I love Alyssa and Kaleb and I have yet to meet her. I know that if Kaleb and Alyssa get hurt or lose themselves for a moment I want to help them gain back thier heart song. I know that when Manthania get here there will be struggles for her, but I hope that song that is in her right now in the "O" I hope that it can stay because that is who she is, and if she ever loses it I hope that I can help her find it and make it even better. Of course she isn't the only one coming to Indiana and I hope that each day I see Jonas, Noah, Steven, Angela, and Glory that I can help them keep thier heart song because it is theirs and it will change with them but there will always be a piece of it tied into there lives at the "O".

I can't wait I leave two weeks from yesterday to go to the "O" and meet all the children there. My heart song has truly changed because of these children.

The Start

A blog.... The one place I can tell everyone what is going on in my life. So I'll start telling you all who I am.

My name is Bethany Burnett and I am 18 almost 19 years old. I go to Ivy Tech and am studing to be a preschool teacher. I go to Point Township Church of the Nazarene. I have always been very involved in my youth group and through that I have meet many teens through out southwest Indiana. All my life I have known that God had a plan for me and my life I just never knew exactly what it would be. As a kid I always wanted to do something with music but last year when it was time to decide what college to go to and what to declare as my major I had no idea what God wanted me to do. I prayed long and hard about it but still no answer came. I was so upset I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong not to get an answer. Now I know that it wasn't that I was doing something wrong it was that I wasn't supposed to find out until this school year started. Actually the journey began when my mom and sister commited to going to Haiti with Michelle Cundiff. So in June they packed thier bags and they went to Haiti to spend a week in an Orphanage. While they were there I was with the southwest Indiana district Nazarene Impact Chior. I was still praying for God's Guidance. It wasn't until three weeks after that when I first got to see my mom and my sister for the first time since they got back from the states. When talking to my sister that night she told me that she had read moms journal while they were in Arizona and that in almost every entry Mom mentioned a little girl named Manthania, she was at the "O" they had visited. Needless to say the next day Alyssa (thats my sister) and I had already decided that Manthania was no doubt going to be our little sister. A week later Mom and Dad finally told us that yes our guesses were right. And this is truly where I start.

Manthania was found walking all alone and was brought to the "O" somtime after that. She is so adorable. I love her so so much!!! I looked at pictures of her and all the other kids at the "O" and without every meeting them they became a part of me. I learned all the kids names and whether or not the had a forever family. I knew then that the love for these children was something that was given to me by God. But for the next few months I put it off and didn't think about what God wanted me to do in my future all I did was concentrate on what God wanted me to do right then. Finally though I had to admit it. God loves irony. see as a child the one thing I ask God was to please not ask me to be a missionary. If you know me I am a homebody. God put a string in my heart to help the children in other countries. He wants me to be a part time missionary and he wants me to work with the children. Of course Haiti is on the top of the list of places that I want to go for my missions and Three angels is a wonderful place for me to start. I hope that someday I can go and volunteer there. To be totally honest I am scared out of my mind about this but I know that God will be with me.

Ok now you know all about me and probably more than you really wanted to. This blog is going to be all about my spiritual journeys and will have a lot to do with Manthania and teh adoption. Actually my next blog will be all about that.

You all have probably read Angela, Michelle, and Kristina blogs and there you find a mothers perspective.

Here you will find the views of a sister, its a different view but I hope that my future posts will enlighten you and show you a better look into my everyday life.

Love in Christ,

Bethany