Up For Air

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks - all in a good way. I was in NC March 12-16 to help my parents move into their new home. They found a nice one story home about 30 minutes away from the old house. They moved because the old house was a split level with the only bathroom upstairs. This was becoming a problem for my dad as his muscular dystrophy continues to worsen. Lots of people came to help, which made the job much easier.

The other thing I did while in NC was to interview for a position with Lake Forest Church in Huntersville. One of my good friends from college is the worship leader there. He called me about a month ago to tell me about the position (technical director) and that he thought I would be perfect for it. Kim and I aren't sure yet whether or not we want to return to NC, but I went ahead with the interview to see if God would lead on or shut the door. Still no word on who the church has chosen.

I've also been very busy with work. Baseball spring training is winding up here in Florida. This was the "harvest" season for me so I'm just now getting back to being a normal dad again.

I created my own MySpace page. It's pretty lame so far, but check it out and add me as a friend if MySpace is something you do.

One

Anybody recognize this guy?

Star Wars according to a 3 year old.

Makes me want to watch it again.

Daytona 500

Salley heads to Daytona

Here's what I worked on at the Daytona 500 this year. Sorry, the link takes you to the BDSSP site, but it was the only way I could show the video. Also, you have to wait for the advertisement to finish playing before you see the vid. John Salley was a lot of fun to work with.

And he's TALL.

REAL TALL!

A Nice Visit

Last week I was working in Daytona, on the set for this season's FoxSports NASCAR coverage. We built eight sets inside an airplane hangar in 2 days, then shot the drivers over the course of another 2 days. I've worked on this shoot for the last 5 years, and in this business now for about 10 years, however, it's rare that Kim ever gets to visit me on the job. But last week, Kim and the girls were able to come by the set and see me at work. In fact, we had a little down time while they were there and so we were able to visit most all of the sets. It was an enjoyable time. They got to see me work with driver Martin Truex, Jr. They came on the last of the 4 day shoot and stayed with me at the hotel (Hilton on Daytona Beach). We really had a good time.

I'll be headed back to Daytona this weekend for the 500. I'll be working in and around the pit areas and infield. Kim's really jealous that she can't come visit me on that set!!

More Brian Regan

This guy really cracks me up. Very mild, but possibly offensive language.

Did I Miss Something?

A couple of years ago, I took a trip with Samaritan's Purse to Ukraine. We were documenting some OCC distributions there at the time. It was a fun time - extremely cold, but fun. At any rate, I had a very interesting, and confusing, experience.

The girl you see pictured with me was a young girl in the town of Simferopol. She lived at a school for kids with speech problems. Approximately 50% of the students there are orphans. Some nationals in Simferopol had organized an OCC distribution to these children. It was during this distribution that I saw her. The moment our eyes met, I melted. There was something in the way she looked at me that made me think "I have to get her out of here". We continued to do our filming there and I had little time to spend with her or find out about her situation. I did manage to grab a still photographer and have him snap this picture. I also spoke to the director of the school before we left and got some contact information so I could follow up when I got back to the states. When we left the school/orphanage, I cried because I couldn't take this girl with me. Now remember, I had been traveling the world for about 8 years by that point, and had seen thousands of orphans but had never had this happen - ever!

So when I got back to the hotel that night, I called Kim and told her what happened. I had not gone on that trip or any other before or since to look for a child to adopt. In fact, I had never given adoption any real thought before, but there I was on the phone telling Kim, from half a world away, that I wanted to adopt this girl right then. Kim's response - "Let's do it!" There was no hesitation on her part. A few days later we left Simferopol and traveled back to Kiev where we stayed with some nationals. I told them my story, and they assured me that they would help us when the time came to make the necessary arrangements. Things were moving very quickly for me at this point and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed.

On my flight back to the States, I had a middle seat. As I sat there waiting for the window seat passenger to board, I thought of all that had happened and was looking forward to a nice relaxing flight home. Then the passenger arrived - a woman carrying a young child. "Great" I thought, "this kid is going to scream the entire flight". Well the lady sat down in the seat next to me and eventually we began to make some small talk. Turns out, she had just adopted the child she was holding and was returning home. "OK God, you have my attention" I thought to myself as she and I talked about the adoption process.

After returning to Sarasota, I realized that there was a Ukrainian church meeting in our church building on Sunday nights. I eventually was in a Bible study class with many of the members of this church. It sure seemed that we were quickly on our way to having a third child in the house.

Using the contacts that I had gathered in Ukraine, I began the process of trying to determine the status of this girl. I emailed several people, including the school director. A week went by - nothing. A month later - no answer. We had been researching on the internet as well about the adoption process for Ukraine. After a few months, the country halted all adoptions to Americans. Completely. Talk about disappointing. It seemed so obvious that God wanted us to adopt this girl, but all doors were closed to us. And eventually, our dream of adopting her died.

What happened? Did we miss God by allowing the dream to die? Was there some lesson we were supposed to learn that we just weren't getting? Was there even a "why" that needed an answer? That chapter of our lives seems to have been completed, but it ends with a big question mark. And that's a hard thing to live with.