One More Home

When I packed my bags to head out to Kenya, I had more than a few expectations for the trip. I expected the flights to be long and for jet lag to be a thing to overcome. Praise that God was gracious to give us energy that week, even though we came rolling into Nairobi having gotten little to no sleep and traveling for over 24 hours. I expected to enjoy warmer weather than what I left behind, and it was glorious! Oh, how I miss those sweet days in the sun. I expected to fall in love with some precious faces, and I so very much did. At last count, I think we were ready to bring 5 kids home, but it just wasn't something we could work out in a week's time. What I didn't expect to find was courage, boldness, and awesome lives of inspiration in faces I had never met before I got on the plane to other half of the globe. I love a good story. Case in point, while traveling those many hours in the plane, and thanks to a few sleepless hours during the night, I finished 3 books dur...

I began this morning by making this a Facebook message, but after the list of recipients continued to grow and grow, I threw in the towel and just decided to make this a blog post. If someone in another part of the world happens upon this post, that's just fine. My only hope is that they would join in praying for this trip as well. I figure no one ever puts a limit on the number of prayers said on their behalf. That'd be just silly. We are just three days from leaving for our trip to Kenya. I have not completely lost my sanity yet, but I have been busy trying to remember all the things, great and small. Will I forget something? Most likely, but it won't be because I didn't make a to-do list which I have added to, checked off, and looked at more than once a day. My bedroom floor is littered with luggage, back packs, and carry-ons in various states of packing. This time around I have to pack for everyone. While my husband and I are going across the globe, our kiddos are...

In my last post I shared that there were things going on in my little corner of the world. Plans in motion. Exciting times. So much so, I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to explain what's on my heart. Can I go back in the past a little? Mind taking a glance to days gone by before we shoot forward? Two things stand out to me: First, our family's first attempt at beginning the adoption process. I know I've shared it before, but when we filled out our paperwork the first time, we felt we were answering God's call. But......let me have a little exposed honesty moment with you. I really, really, really wanted to adopt for little old me as well. I wanted the fun and the adventure. I wanted something new and exciting that other people would get excited about as well. Shame on me for feeling this way, but it was like signing up for a special club. Not that this was my complete motivation, but these selfish, pride-producing feelings were there. So, lookin...

So, many of you may be wondering, where exactly are we in the process of bringing our little girl home? I've spent my last few posts addressing the cause of the fatherless, but the whole topic of our adoption has been pretty much been MIA. Yeah, about that.... Last year, before Christmas, I found myself in the ER with my husband. Not for myself, but for him. He suffers from fibromyalgia, and we are accustomed to the ups and downs of the disease. Some days are fine and dandy, other days are a full scale battle with pain and fatigue. But, this time, things were a little different, and so after two chest X-rays, blood work, and various other tests we were sent home in the early hours of the morning.  In the days to come, more tests were run, and terms like MS and autoimmune were thrown about. In the end, nothing new showed up on the scene. It appears it was just a really bad fibro flair.  But for me, I froze.  In the fear of the moment, I completely shut ...

Happy 2014! With the onset of the New Year, so came the cold weather. Not enjoyable, let's build a snowman and make hot cocoa while our mittens dry by the fire cold weather. No, this kind of cold came with warnings not to be outside longer than necessary, and school closings due to temperature drops instead of snow-covered roadways. And, people, I needed my children to go back to school. Christmas has come and gone, the novelty of sleeping in and lounging in PJs had lost it's glamour, and the natives were restless. It didn't help that these last two days, while the sky may be clear, they couldn't go outdoors to play because it was just too cold. I feared we were getting ready to be an updated version of The Shining. When I give the instructions to read quietly to yourself, and instead I have one complaining of injury with an ice pack on his face and another hiding out in her room, we have a problem. Since when is quiet reading time a contact sport? We needed space fr...

"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 ...