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Summer is finally here, and the Gundersen family is delighted. The joyful exclamation “Summertime!” has echoed around the house for the past ten days ever since the evening I arrived home after completing my final course of 2011-2012. Summer will still be full of important priorities and projects, but it’s quite unlikely to compare with the whirlwind that’s been […]
February 20, 2012
Teaching big truths to little minds simplifies our thinking. Some day I’d like to reach the place where my thinking and teaching could fit Jonathan Pennington’s description of renowned New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham: “He’s on the other side of complexity.” Like any other parent, I’d tried and tried to get our kids (4, 4, 5, 6) to look people […]
August 1, 2011
This past Thursday, July 28, Hope and Homes for Children (HHC) along with the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF) in Rwanda met to advance the Deinstitutionalization Project. The project aims to establish “a network to prevent new entries of children in orphanages and support the move of children in the birth families, extended […]
June 24, 2011
After we met our three new children on Father’s Day and spent the allotted two hours with them (3:00–5:00pm), we watched them scurry back down the long steps along the side wall of the orphanage compound, back to familiar surroundings and small friends. We turned left out of the compound and up the steep “Dancing […]
June 15, 2011
Near the end of a full day of work, I was shuffling some tasks around on my to-do list and remembered that I still needed to fill out the double-sided sheet from HR allowing us to add dependents to our health insurance plan. I clicked out a black PaperMate gel pen and started filling out the […]
June 14, 2011
Monday marked our last day together as a three-person family with our precious and only son, Judah. Early Tuesday morning I will say my goodbyes and Cindi will fly Judah to Oklahoma to be cared for by grandparents as we depart for our three weeks in East Africa. One of the surprising emotions arising during these latter […]
June 13, 2011
The clock strikes 12:03am on Monday morning, June 13, as I begin writing. We have been waiting, working, praying, and preparing for this week for several years. In five short days we will bow our heads and unite our hearts together for the last time in our Kentucky home as we ask for the good hand of God […]
April 25, 2011
Through this Saturday, April 30th, my parents’ Christian book company Grace and Truth Books is donating 10% of all sales to our adoption. You will also receive free standard shipping on all orders over $35! Started in the ’90s as a Gundersen family business, Grace and Truth has maintained its theologically-sound, family-strengthening focus while expanding into all […]
April 20, 2011
In February of 2009, twenty-six long months ago, we launched out on our second adoption journey. After watching God weave together an incredible tapesty of grace during our nineteen-month adoption of Judah from Uganda, we were ready to take the plunge once again. The question was never whether we would adopt again, but when, where, and how […]
July 2, 2009
They call it a “paper pregnancy.” It’s the period of time between the conception and finalization of your adoption. There’s no positive pregnancy test, no hormonal upheaval, no morning sickness, no amazing ultrasounds, no growing belly, no random food cravings, no little feet-kicks coming from the womb, and no agonizing labor pains and delivery. Yet […]
June 29, 2009
Our family recently started our second adoption. We have told many of our close friends and family, and wanted to publicize it here so that you can know and pray. We are attempting to adopt at least two children from Rwanda, which sits on the southwest border of Uganda. So far we have completed some […]
June 21, 2009
I suppose Father’s Day, like Mother’s Day, is meant to be a unilateral holiday. It’s typically a one-way expression of appreciation from children to their fathers. Yet on my second Father’s Day, I find that it’s also a personal celebration of the high privilege and unique joy of fatherhood. It’s a day to reflect on […]
July 13, 2008
One year ago today, Judah arrived at Los Angeles International Airport with Cindi after a 19-month adoption process. From the first hours to the first week to the court appearance that made everything official to his second birthday, we have enjoyed a year of God’s obvious and relentless blessing. I just spent some time reading over some […]
December 20, 2007
Today was Judah’s second birthday and our fifth anniversary. We found out several months into the adoption process that Judah was born on our third anniversary. He obviously doesn’t understand the significance of his birthday, but we certainly do. He was born on December 20, 2005 at Mulago National Hospital near the capital city of […]
November 16, 2007
At 11:36 A.M. Pacific Standard Time on Friday, November 16 at the Children’s Court in Monterrey Park, California, Judge John L. Henning declared that Judah David Mukisa Gundersen is the legal son of David and Cynthia Gundersen, with all the rights and privileges of a natural born child, including inheritance. We swore under oath that we […]
October 15, 2007
Judah came home on July 13, three months ago this weekend. Here are some pictures taken by my brother Mike at my intramural flag football game on Saturday, October 13. Judah is happy, healthy, and precious. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
May 25, 2012
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