Life Unexpected

The past few hours I have been looking at pictures in my office. They aren't just any pictures, they are pictures that tell the stories of so many events, memories, and adventures we have had with our youth group over the past 7 years. In less than a week, I will have the opportunity to conduct my 7th graduation service, honoring the students that we have had the privilege of serving. It's crazy how fast time flies, how much people change, and how many memories we have gotten to share with our students. Every picture tells a story. I picked up pictures that told the story of students who had discovered God for the first time. I looked at pictures with the faces of students who had walked away from God and felt a deep sense of sadness. I picked up pictures of teens who had come face to face with injustice on our mission trips, having their hearts broken with the things that break the heart of God. I looked at pictures that just made me laugh...like when I let the boys ta

The past week has been somewhat energy sucking. I came home at lunch last week to this disgusting smell in my house. I thought it might be the trash, so I took that out. When I came back several hours later, it still smelled. So, I emptied the turtle's water (yes we still have our turtle from college). Then Nate came home and asked me if I had "used the bathroom!" I told him no, and that I was trying to figure out where the smell was coming from. Long story short, about an hour later, after we had blew some time getting iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts, we noticed a small wet spot outside of our basement door. We opened the basement door and found that our whole bottom level of our house was flooded with city sewage...about 3 inches worth...so much, the carpet was floating. We called a couple of our friends over, who graciously waded through the sewage to help salvage what we could. We lost a lot...our furniture, our book cases, scrapbooks, pictures, tables, and ab

This morning I woke up to my most amazing husband, who sat on the edge of the bed with an everything bagel and a Dunkin Donuts coconut coffee with cream and sugar...all to celebrate my "non-mother's" day! My husband gets me and understands both the excitement that today is our official one year to date anniversary for starting our adoption process, and the real and raw emotions that I am still a woman who has not been able to conceive. The truth is, while today marks a day of excitement that I am forever grateful for, today also reminds me of the reality of my infertility. I debated whether or not to even blog this morning, because I don't want people to think I am ungrateful for the journey we are on. I would not exchange this journey for another, because I know it is the exact journey God has tailored for Nate and I, and nothing could be better than that. I also want those who are struggling with infertility this Mother's Day, those who have lost pregnancies

I just returned from an amazing 5 day trip to Honduras. This was the fourth time I have been in the country, and I count it a blessing to be a part of God's work there every time. We were on a vision trip, so we packed a lot of places in while there. We were looking for potential places for our church to partner with. We spent an entire afternoon visiting several orphanages I had the chance to visit in January, including one for girls 12-18, as well as a teenage boys detention center. I have to say from the start, God continues to break my heart for orphans and for the lost...and just when I think it can't be broken anymore...he just breaks it again. We started at the orphanage we had been to in January with 160 kids ages 0-12. Words can't explain that situation until you experience it for yourself. As kids came running up to us, hugging on us, trying to talk to us in Spanish, and desperately seeking someone to "notice" them and embrace them, I couldn't