Where has the time gone?
I have all these stories I have wanted to blog about but days turn into
weeks and they are still in my mind and not on the computer. SO much has happened in our family since I
last blogged.
The trip to Haiti that Todd and I took in October was
wonderful and full of blessings. It is
amazing how we thought we were going to bless others and we were the ones
blessed in the end (more on that trip to
come).
November brought some high points and low points for our
family. Ever since sin entered the world
it has brought with it poverty, heartache, illnesses and a host of other
problems. Sometimes it is just the
reality that life ends too quickly and unexpectedly. A dear friend has walked this road recently
and it has been hard. Yet, the joy of
the Lord always prevails! He carries us
when we cannot walk ourselves! His loves
never fail! We have experienced this
anew and seen how He can carry us through a hard time. God is So good. November also brought illness to our home and
with two sick children that can mean tired mamas, yucky everything and not so
fun anything! But it also brought a fun
trip to Ohio to visit family and great memories to last a lifetime. God sent snow to Ohio while we were there
(almost 8 inches in one night even) and the children were thrilled!! Who’s kidding…..we were all thrilled! We spent one entire day sledding, making
snowmen, having snowball fights, and sledding, sledding, sledding. We only came
in long enough to warm our fingers and toes and we would go back out
again. Most of you know that Todd and I
grew up in Ohio so snow and sledding are not new to us. BUT, I did experience something new with
sledding this time……it was my first time ever sledding with cows! Yes, we were sledding on the pasture hill at
Todd’s uncle’s farm and the cows were incredibly curious as to what we were
doing. In the morning they stayed at a
good distance and just watched us. But
by the afternoon, we were zooming within a few feet of their legs. They crossed the hillside numerous times and
just watched us like we were crazy. They
came and sniffed our vehicles and walked all around. It was hysterical. Todd’s uncle let us borrow
a tractor so the kids had a ‘taxi’ to bring them back up the hill at the end of
each sled-ride. It was awesome. Sled-ride down (miss the cows), call for a
taxi, get a ride up, and repeat.
Families are amazing….we had grandparents on the hillside with us,
uncles that came and pushed for hours, aunts that came to watch, cousins that
came and played for hours and brought an inner tube (so cool!) and more aunts
and uncles that let us use their farm (and giggled at us for hours from their
front window I believe). J
We are now home and continuing our thankful spirit as we
begin to celebrate Christmas. We have
slowly started decorating and we are enjoying doing a little bit each day and
spending time together.
These past two months have been pretty hard (especially for
me) on the adoption front. Our trip to
Haiti was amazing but I think it just put even more of a yearning in my heart
for our child. When the law passed I had
such high hopes that things would move quickly and now 3 months later when
nothing has happened it begins to wear me down some days. I know that God’s
plan and timing is perfect and we would rather wait for His timing than demand
our way, but it is hard. A close friend
must have been able to see it in my demeanor and had a pick-me-up this week by
throwing us an adoption fundraiser. It
was a nice night to get together with close friends and visit and share. This road often feels isolating but I am
realizing we are not alone. There are many people with us they just may not
know what to do or say. Those of you
reading this are those people, and we are grateful for you! These days when I
am sad and even when I cannot put my feelings into words….thank you for
understanding. When we yearn for someone
we do not yet know and you do not understand yet you listen…..Thank you. For in my heart I know they are out
there. I know someone else is caring for
them, putting them to bed, playing, rocking and celebrating Christmas with
them. I pray someone else is doing those
things.
Thank you for loving us through this! We couldn’t do it without your support! Sometimes we wonder how much our children
‘get’ what is going on with the adoption since it is so hard for them to fully
understand. Well, on Thursday Ashley
went to get the mail and started screaming at the mailbox and came running
through the yard. I went running in my
slippers thinking something tragic happened.
She was jumping and thrust an envelope in my hand yelling “Open
It!” As I glanced at the envelope it all
became clear and I started crying. It
was the quarterly newsletter from the orphanage we are adopting through. She thought they were mailing our referral to
us. She (being 9) never knew it came via
a phone call. She went from a mountain
to a valley in about 2 seconds. Oh….
this journey is not for the faint of heart……for any members of a family. SO thankful we have a loving God to carry us,
love us and who will fulfill this journey with us!
Many blessings to you all!
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| Nothing like sledding with the cows! |
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| They thought we were crazy! |
