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Hello, I Love You: Adventures in Adoptive Fatherhood |  | Author: Ted Kluck
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Category: Book
List Price: $13.99
Buy New: $7.90
as of 9/5/2010 17:40 CDT details
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Seller: treasureschristianbooks
Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 278863
Media: Paperback
Pages: 208
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 0802458351
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.734
EAN: 9780802458353
ASIN: 0802458351
Publication Date: June 1, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
There is perhaps no feeling lonelier than that of being a stranger in a strange land -- an experience many adoptive parents know well. Touching down in a crowded airport, with tens of thousands of dollars in cash strapped around your waist, to pay people you’ve never met for a baby you’ve never seen . . . . You might have prayed for months, even years, about that moment, but it still often feels like the foreign country is a region God has forgotten, and that He has sent you there in vain. For the young Christian couple, perhaps the only feeling more paralyzing and lonely than the one I’ve described is that of infertility. There are pregnancy announcements nearly every week in the church bulletin, and not wanting to “rain on your friends’ parade,” you suffer and grieve together in silence. This is the story of two international adoptions, complete with piles of cash, passport checks, airport con-men, electrocution, and Ukrainian cops on our doorstep with guns. It’s all part of the wild ride that is international adoption. But so is God’s faithfulness taking new forms each day through the love of friends, the support of family, the comfort of Scripture, and the fellowship of a new church family in a foreign land. And so is the joy of meeting two boys who will soon become part of your family -- the sensation of walking down narrow hallways through dark orphanages to say “hello” to your children for the first time.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
 10 reasons not to buy this book (and one reason to buy that trumps them all) August 19, 2010
Frank Turk (Central Time Zone, USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Disclaimer: I wrote the intro to Ted's self-published "Kinda Christianity", so factually he's a brother and a fellow malcontent.
Here are 10 reasons not to buy this book:
10. This book does not give all the legal and financial counsel necessary to successfully complete an Asian adoption. From a legal and financial standpoint, it is malpractical.
9. Ted Kluck is not a liberal seeking to make you feel guilty for being and American who needs legal and financial counsel to successfully complete an Asian adoption.
8. It's not actually about Asian adoptions at all. Or African adoptions. How can you be fashionable unless you adopt an Asian or an African child? (HT: Brüno) (HT: internet) (HT: AT&T)
7. It's not a very serious and sober book, even though we are talking about the lives of children and childless young couples.
6. It's not a very feminine book. It's not going to make Oprah's BotM because girls won't get it.
5. Blue and Brown cover? blech.
4. It does say "adventures in adoptive fatherhood" on the cover, so as one astute reviewer has already laid out, it's not about Ted's wife. If you can't read the cover, you will not enjoy this book.
3. There is no use of Carlin's forbidden 7 words, so it is not as transparent as you might require.
2. Spoiler: they all make it out alive.
1. Published by Moody Press. They're Christians. You might wind up liking real Christians better if you read this book.
Right? So now you have a veritable avalanche of reasons not to buy this bound tome of recycled paper -- but you are overlooking the obvious. And I forgive you because you are an internet reader, someone who skims the reviews on Amazon. The obvious reason to buy this book is because there are so few books written by normal men for the sake of normal men who love God and their wives and want to love children in the right and godly way. It's about a man who isn't an emotional sot but who is working out his faith with fear and trembling. He's not an ex-priest who likes to smoke and curse who stinks up the prose with a low-brow version of ruggedness and literacy.
There are not really many books written for men who have a sense of being a man and a husband and a father who also enjoys playing Arena football and boxing in his basement. But this is one of them. When I write the other one, I'll let you know.
Now buy this book and stop pretending you are too manly to read. This is the new thing for dudes: adult life. Live it. (and buy this book)
[Note: I gave Ted a 4-star review for this book because it's not Hemingway for pete's sake. But it's lightyears better than Donald Miller and that "Wild at Heart" joker who's only about 4' 11"]
[postscript: I upgraded to 5 stars because Donald Miller and that "Wild at Heart" joker who's only about 4' 11" have like 50,000 5-star reviews. If we're grading on that curve, Ted's book deserves 7 stars]
Powerfully Transparent Look at Adoption July 19, 2010
Daniel J. Lohrmann (Michigan, USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
My wife and I have adopted two children from oversees, and I've read many adoption books. But Hello, I Love You is simply the best. Starting with the inspired name, this book will not disappoint you. If you are thinking of adopting or know someone else who is - read this book. If you are in the adoption process, stuck on a long international waiting list, or getting ready to travel - read this book. Or, if you've already completed the adoption process and want to relive the domestic or international journey - read this book. Here's why:
Ted Kluck approaches adoption with an authentic openness that truly astounds me. Rather than dwell on the home study, paperwork process or other details, he focuses on the things that will matter twenty years from now. As a Christian man who has struggled with having children, he tells us exactly what happened and what was going through his head. Even though I think differently than Ted (with the exception of his great sports analogies), I can relate to his struggles and victories.
Ted is a great story teller who makes you laugh - a lot. If you've travelled internationally and can relate to his descriptions of third world countries, you will probably cry as well. He describes the good, the bad and the ugly parts of adoption in remarkable ways. If you've never travelled outside the US, it's worth reading the book just for his descriptions of the food, people, airports, hotels, government buildings, and more.
Most important, Ted shows us what it means to experience both wonderful joy and to struggle through difficult circumstances as a Christian. His insights throughout the journey are clearly demonstrated in creative ways - like his letters to his son Tristan before, during and after the adoption is completed. Get ready for an emotional roller coaster ride.
Bottom line, I highly recommend reading Hello, I Love You. Whether you ever adopt or not, you'll know what it really means.
A Memoir on International Adoption June 3, 2010
Pete Scribner (Flint, MI)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Full disclosure here: I know Ted and I like Ted. We're friends. Maybe not the closest of pals, but certainly more than facebook friends. I admit, my opinion may not quite reach the standard of complete objectivity. But I not only know and like Ted, I also know and like his writing style, his sense of humor and his heart. Having enjoyed his work as an author before ever having had the opportunity to meet him, this is not merely the effect of bias. As such, I'm convinced that even if I didn't know and like Ted, I would definitely like this book. This sense was buoyed when my wife read Hello, I Love You. She's never met Ted, but she enjoyed the book very much as well.
This is a funny book as Ted's ironic sense of humor is on full display. It's a painful book as Ted openly and honestly talks about his own sinful attitudes (specifically lack of trust in God) as he and his wife dealt with the struggles of infertility and international adoption. It's a convicting book, causing me to recognize my own lack of gratefulness for all of the blessings that God has poured out upon me. But most of all, it is a good book, a memoir in which he manages to somehow seamlessly weave together deep theological truths with the occasional reference to the classic film, "¡Three Amigos!"
Those who have gone through infertility or adoption will no doubt find this book compelling. I would recommend it though, whether or not you've ever dealt with either of these, as Ted's treatment of them stands to teach us all a number of lessons. Among these are the beauty of our adoption as children of God, how very much God has blessed us as such, and the glory of the gospel.
Hello, I Love This Book June 9, 2010
J.M.C. (Grand Rapids, Michigan United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Ted Kluck's writing quickly draws you into the costly, unpredictable, and exhausting world of adoption. His combination of heartfelt journal entries and conversational narrative (splashed with sardonic commentary and clever pop culture references) makes for a unique and unforgettable read. Most notable were Kluck's consistent expression of love and admiration for his wife, and his candid admission of his frustrations, struggles, and shortcomings. At the end of the book, the reader knows adoption, and Ted Kluck, a whole lot better.
I highly recommend this memoir. (Who doesn't appreciate a good Elvis Costello jab?)
Great book for everyone June 12, 2010
Damer (Phoenix, AZ)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is really a great book for everyone who might want to understand just a bit of what adoptive parents go through. The book is in two parts telling the story of the adoption of his two sons from a Ukrainian orphanage. It is both funny and heartbreaking.
As an adoptive parent I can say that he hits nail right on the head with emotional roller coaster that couples suffering with infertility go through.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
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