One More Home

"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel" Isiah 7:14 Merry Christmas, friends! Tis the season to rejoice in the Savior's birth. I don't know when you started preparing for Christmas, but I'm a staunch advocate of doing nothing involving Christmas until Thanksgiving is over. And, no, I don't mean after the lunch dishes are cleared away, it's game on for Christmas shopping or for decorating the tree. I mean nothing until the day after Thanksgiving at the earliest. I'm having a hard time with everyone trying to make the Christmas season begin sooner, and just yesterday I got my first email for after-Christmas sales. This year, I tried hard to create (okay more like force) memories to cherish. Decorating the tree, decorating cookies, Christmas concerts, Christmas lights. One by one, I dreamt of Rockwell moments that would be forever etched in the hearts of

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night." Psalm 92:1-2 ESV For the past month my Facebook feed has been full of friends and family participating in thirty days of thankfulness. While I have some friends that have rolled their eyes at the daily posts of this and that, I thought it was rather nice that the majority of status updates weren't about how annoying traffic is or how wretched Mondays are, but instead were saturated in thankfulness for the many blessings in life. Some of you were thankful for family, friends, health, employment, and yes, some of you were thankful that is was Friday and the promise that work was out of sight/out of mind for two days. I myself chose not to participate. Not out of spite or some noble stand against peer pressure to do what everyone else was doing, it just wasn't something I felt like taking part in. But, as

Let's take a minute and update the status of things in my household with regards to the adoption. I'm in education overload, people. Seriously, I think I might deserve some sort of associates degree in adoption/foster care/orphan care. I'm not asking for a doctorate or anything, but maybe something with a #1 or a smiley face sticker in the corner (ooohhh...scratch and sniff stickers, I love those) that I can post on my fridge or on my sweater for all the world to see. Since the beginning of this journey, I've: Read  Adopted for Life  by Russell Moore - a good place to start for those of you considering the call to adopt Read  Orphan Justice  by Johnny Carr - an excellent book if you'd like to get the big picture of orphan care and if adoption might not be in the cards for you and your family Read  The Connected Child  by Karen Purvis - the must have book for those who will ever have anything to do with children from hard places, Karen does a wonderful job

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." James 1:27 ESV While in Haiti, our team visited three different orphanages. I, myself, went to two, and they were two very different experiences. I probably won't share both stories in this one post. Anyhow, if you can recall, before I left for this trip, I wrote that one of my reasons for going to Haiti was that I didn't just want to write and share my heart for orphans when I'd never been face to face with one. I wanted to be hands-on. I wanted to be a woman of my words, not just a writer of my words. So, before we departed, Jerry (a wonderful godly man who helped arrange our trip) asked us what did we want to do while we were in Haiti. And several of us girls, with smiles on our faces while bouncing a little in our seats replied, "We want to go to the orphanages!" Yes, we want

" 1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,  because the Lord has anointed me  to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,  to proclaim freedom for the captives  and release from darkness for the prisoners,  2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor  and the day of vengeance of our God,  to comfort all who mourn, 3  and provide for those who grieve in Zion -  to bestow on them a crown of beauty  instead of ashes,  the oil of joy  instead of mourning,  and a garment of praise  instead of a spirit of despair.  They will be called oaks of righteousness,  a planting of the Lord   for the display of his splendor."  Isaiah 61:1-3 NIV One week ago today, I stood in the place where this picture was taken by my own camera. Haiti. A place that seemed far away from the bluegrass hills of Kentucky. A country that many said they would never go to. Unfamiliar territory to a girl who'd never ventured to hit the international mission field

I've yet to mention the price tag that comes along with this adoption, and I'm not about to start giving spouting a list of facts and figures to you right now. Surprising, I know, as I love that kind of thing. Suffice it to say, adoption is more expensive then a brand new car and less than your average mortgage. For many, that many-digit figure will be the stopping point. It can be overwhelming to look at the bottom line. Hopeful musings turn into impossible dreams, and adoption becomes that thing that other people do. The people that can pay that much money. As for me and my house, we aren't those people on paper. I don't have thousands sitting in an account that I just couldn't figure out how to spend, nor do we live at the top of the tax bracket. In fact, most of the adopting families I spend time with fall into the same category. But, we do recognize that God has blessed us with more than enough, and so we choose to sacrifice, to budget, to save and to work

Friend, let's have a little personal confession moment. I am an emotional eater. Just about any day that falls on the calendar is a good day for food. And, if you'd like any recipe, restaurant, grocery store item recommendations, I'm pretty much your girl. So, as mother of three (including one teenager), as well as trying to be mother to four (insert long wait for fourth child via mountains of paperwork, interviews, and international adoption process), this point of my life has a variety of emotions. They aren't even what I would classify as "negative" emotions. Mixed in with the stressful, "pretty sure all my hair is going fall out before this is said and done" moments, and more often than the "what am I thinking, I'm not even doing a good job parenting the ones I have" moments, are plenty of "life is wonderful" and "God is just blessing my socks off" moments. Cue emotional eating. Graciously, God has been

I teach a class on Wednesday nights that's going through the book "Orphan Justice" by Johnny Carr. You may remember it was one I recommended people read. I'd even go so far as to say, that book was the spark that started this whole adventure of trying to speak up and reach out to the fatherless. Anyhow, this week's chapter was entitled, The Unseen Enemy - Orphans and HIV/AIDS. On my way to class that night, I shared with my middle child that we would be talking about HIV in class. His reply was, "Oh yeah, I know what that is, it's that disease they have over in Africa." I quickly explained that, yes, HIV is prevalent in Africa, but it's found in all parts of the globe to varying degrees. I don't know about you, but I can remember when HIV, or rather AIDS made it's big debut in the headlines. Some said it was a disease for needle-pushing drug users, others labeled it the gay man's disease. Either way, people were terrified. It was

Guess who got her passport in the mail last week? This girl! I feel a certain sense of freedom in knowing that I can travel to far off destinations, and yet, still be allowed back into the U.S. when the day is done. Like my boundaries just expanded ten-fold and I've got a whole new list of places that just became available to me that weren't just two weeks ago. So, what's a newly passported world traveler to do? I'm leaving the country, of course! But, I'm not going to China just yet. I know, I know. We'll get there, friend. And when we do, you know I'll write at least a word or two about the trip for you to read. For now our destination is......HAITI!!! In less than two months, I will be leaving on a jet plane headed south to Haiti to hit the mission field. And, oh my goodness, I'm excited. I haven't been on a mission trip since the days where I was sportin' big bangs courtesy of Aqua Net and Kriss Kross was all about making ya

I believe that forewarned is fair warned, so I'm stating up front, I'm grouchy. I'm in one of those moods where I could just sit and stew on the things running in my mind, just indulging my bad mood and feeding it so it grows even bigger, consuming my entire day. It's my hope that maybe if I share my thoughts, I'll drag myself out of this sticky pit and be able to proceed forward with a fresh outlook on the rest of my day. Let's start with how I got here... I'm a social media type of girl. I may not let you know what I had for breakfast/lunch/dinner or check in every moment of my day so you know that I have "left the building" and am on my way home/to soccer practice/ dance practice/ church, but I do check my Facebook, have a Twitter account, and I even post an Instagram photo or two. So, it's not surprising that I follow some of my favorite preachers, teachers, writers, musicians on these media venues. This morning I was scrolling thr

" I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." John 16:33 ESV Can I tell something you may or may not know about me? When I was a little girl, I learned an adorable little song at church. It even came with hand motions. Who doesn't love hand motions? Since Jesus Christ came in, and took away my sin, I'm inside, outside, upside, downside, happy all the time! This is the moment when you clap! Hooray! I have come to hate that song. Maybe it is a sweet sentiment for children to sing, and maybe I'm just an adult who is being starkly realistic, but I find that song to be misleading. Yes, Jesus has paid the cost for my sins, but I am not happy all the time. For me to present you with the message that having received salvation is an automatic ticket to happiness would only do you and I a disservice. As the verse says, "you will have tribulation." Sometimes

Today, I'm asking that we take a break from the Holleran's whirlwind ride to welcoming a daughter home. I'm suggesting that we all take a step back. In fact, let's keep walking until we get to the coastline. Maybe you're standing on the shore of North Carolina looking out at the Atlantic, or maybe our imaginary journey has brought you to a California beach looking out at the Pacific. Could be you're even reading from some foreign land and there's a different body of blue that fills your eyesight. Either way, when we look across that water, there's a resource for orphan care I think we skip right over. I love America. I think it's a huge blessing that when God decided where to plant my little life, He placed me in a land with so many things to be thankful for. Each and every day I realize I have so much more than I need. It's wonderful. However, this doesn't label me as the perfect solution to every child in crisis. That's hard to

In a word, no. They really don't. If you are like me and have this new desire and passion, you want everyone to share your enthusiasm. Come on, people, let's all go fill our homes with as many children as we can! So let me be honest when I say, that's not the way it goes. In fact, a response you'll more likely get is a slight tilt of their head as they stare at you and mull over the news you've just shared. Then come the questions. Oh, the questions. Whether you've decided to adopt, foster, go on a long term mission trip to Africa, move to the other side of the U.S., or quit your job to pursuit your love of cooking, there are going to be questions. And after being questioned by not one, or two, but many, many people, you may start to get a little snippy. It starts to feel personal. All I wanted is for you to be happy for me, but instead, I feel like I have to defend my position. I have been there, my friend. And after thinking about the motives behind