Life Unexpected

At the start of the Christmas season I heard Third Day's song, "Merry Christmas."  The lyrics are powerful and read as follows: There's a little girl trembling on a cold December morn Crying for momma's arms At an orphanage just outside a little China town There the forgotten are But half a world away I hang the stockings by the fire And dream about the day when I can finally call you mine It's Christmas time again but you're not home Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas As I hang the tinsel on the tree and watch the twinkling lights I'm warmed by the fire's glow Outside the children tumble in a wonderland of white, Make angels in the snow But half a world away you try your best to fight the tears And hope that heaven's angels come to carry you here It'

I've been avoiding blogging these past several weeks, because I honestly don't feel like words can do the thoughts that are in my heart justice.  For the past several Christmas seasons, I have only been able to imagine and dream about what having a child would feel like.  Last night, as I my family and I headed up to Hershey Park for a night of Chocolate World, Christmas lights and visiting Santa's reindeer, I felt as though I had to pinch myself...what I have been dreaming about for so long is now my reality, and in so many ways, it feels like of what I imagine heaven to be like. I watched as Biruk slept in his car seat, his little lips pursed in the cutest of ways, and felt teary-eyed again. This is our son!  Hope has come to us this Christmas season.  I watched as my Dad held Biruk in his arms during the Chocolate World Ride, making sure that he saw every little animation that was present, and listened to my Mom calling out in excitement making sure Biruk experienced i

One of the greatest things about finally having Biruk home is experiencing all of the "firsts."  This weekend was definitely a weekend filled with first time experiences.  For starters, Biruk and I experienced our very first "Mommy/Son Morning Out," this past Saturday.  As crazy as it seems, Biruk and I haven't really been anywhere by ourselves since we have been home, other than the grocery store.  We tend to do A LOT as a family...me, Nate and Biruk (which I LOVE)...especially now that Nate is a stay at home Dad.  Saturday, Nate had decided to go out with a friend for the morning, so it was just Biruk and I, and I decided that it would be a good idea to take him Christmas shopping with me.  Let me just say, shopping with a one year old is no easy task!  The first couple of shops were great.  And then he had his first meltdown.  Sometimes when I push him in the cart, he just wants to hug me...which I love...the meltdown included a few brief moments of that and

Throughout our journey, some of the most challenging days have come around the Holidays.  I come from a family where traditions are huge and family time is priceless.  While Thanksgiving and Christmas are two holidays that we can't wait to be with our family for, over the past several years of our waiting process, they became holidays that we longed to have our own child to share in the celebrations with.  Last Wednesday, as we loaded up our car to travel to Bel Air for Thanksgiving, it was almost surreal that we weren't just taking our dog Al with us this year!  We had an actual child in our car...a son that we had not only dreamed about but prayed for as a family over countless holidays.  That reality in itself set off the flood works of gratitude in our hearts. Our Thanksgiving was amazing.  From driving in the car with Biruk (ok...that had it's amazing parts and not so amazing parts, let's be honest!), to watching the Macy's Day Parade, to eating Thanksgivin

It's hard to believe that a year ago today, in Adama, Ethiopia, God brought a little boy into the world that would change our lives forever.  He was given the name Biruk, which means "blessing."  No one could have imagined just how much of a blessing he would turn out to be.  This morning, as I held our little guy in my arms, I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with gratitude.  I attempted to post a Facebook status that spoke of the joy and gratitude I felt on Biruk's birthday, but instead found myself weeping at my computer.  Nate had just run over to church for a few minutes and walked in on me in the middle of my meltdown.  He said, "What is wrong?"  I replied (in between sobbing and sniffling), "Do you know how lucky we are?  Do you know how blessed we are to have Biruk in our life.  And it's his birthday.  And we get to celebrate.  I am just beyond thankful."  My heart was beyond full, and words, once again, couldn't do justice

As we neared the end of our adoption journey, Nate and I made the decision that one of us should be home to take care of Biruk for at least the first several months.  After a lot of prayer, we decided that Nate would be that person.  After 12 years of teaching, he gave up his job and chose to embrace a new job, that of a full time stay at home Dad.  It has been amazing watching Nate take on his new role.  He has always had a gift in working with kids, but watching him care for our son each day has given that a whole new meaning.  I am so proud of him and beyond grateful for him.  The night of Biruk's dedication, Nate shared a blessing he had wrote for Biruk and gave me permission to share it here.  I am beyond blessed to call Nate my husband and I know without a doubt, Biruk is blessed to call him Dad. A Blessing for Biruk Wow, words can hardly capture the joy your we felt when we first met you, and realized that you were our son.   A deeper sense of love has entered our l

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words and this past Sunday I would have to agree.  Several months ago, Nate and I began talking about hosting an Orphan Sunday Event at our church.  While we were in the beginning stages of brainstorming ideas, my Dad said, "Hey...it would be awesome if you did Biruk's dedication in conjunction with Orphan Sunday."  As soon as those words were out of his mouth, we began dreaming about what the event would look like.  We had no idea the kind of response we would get, but our hope was that people would catch a vision for how God is calling us to look after orphans all over the world, that a passion would begin to stir in the hearts of God's people, and that through our story of adopting Biruk, people would understand the faithfulness of God. When we walked up to the platform at six o'clock that night, we were blown away by what we saw.  The church was jammed packed, with standing room only.  I looked out over the crowd

Throughout our adoption process, we learned the true art of waiting.  While I wouldn't say that we became "masters" at waiting, by the end, I think we understood the importance of it.  We have officially been home with Biruk for 3 months and while it has been everything we hoped and dreamed for and more, it has been a transition.  Now, when I look back over those three years of waiting, some of which included days that I felt like completely giving up, I can see that God was shaping us and working behind the scenes so that his perfect story could be lived out. Waiting is never easy.  When we want something to happen so badly, we dwell on, we beg for it, and we expend every ounce of our energy thinking about it.  If given the choice to not wait and just get what we wanted, most of us would seize that opportunity.  At the beginning of our journey, if we could have chosen to have our prayers answered right then and there, getting what we wanted so badly, we probably would

This past weekend, Nate and I went home to my parents' house to hang out for the weekend.  We were able to spend a lot of time with our family, taking Biruk on all sorts of adventures.  We visited a pumpkin patch with our nieces, checked out some sweet yard sales Saturday morning with Grammy, took a long walk to Starbucks with Pop-Pop, and even ended the weekend with an awesome party for young families that my sister and brother in law threw.  It was an awesome weekend. We had invited a couple of our friends that we had gone to college with to come out for the party.  They had been huge prayer warriors and sources of encouragement during our adoption journey, and had yet to meet Biruk.  It was awesome watching them interact with Biruk for the first time, a child they had been praying for with us, for years.  About an hour later, I found myself sitting across from my friend for dinner, and she asked me, "How you are you doing?  I mean really...how are YOU doing?" The

So I have to put a couple of disclaimers on this blog post.  One, it's been awhile since I have posted (thank you mommy-hood for making me tired at 9pm every night!) and two, while I try to be inspirational when I write, this post is NOT inspirational.  This is pure entertainment for everyone.  If you have had a bad day, week, or even year, this HAS to make you laugh! They say kids grow up fast and now I officially know what they are talking about.  We have officially been home for over 2 months and Biruk is growing and changing faster than we could have ever imagined.  Tonight I watched him steal the show, yet again, at our volleyball game, crawling at lightening speeds and dancing with some moves that he could have only picked up in Ethiopia!  He has become animated in so many ways, babbles like crazy, gets into everything and eats like a champ.  He has already changed so much. I still remember those first few hours in Ethiopia as "new parents," staring at this t

Tonight I had one of those "tear up because you are overflowing with gratitude" moments, right at the start of the Varsity Volleyball game.  We had just finished the JV game and I was doing was has become routine this season.  I was hanging out with my little man, snatching what few seconds I could get with him before the Varsity game.  Nate was talking with a family who had been following our story for quite some time, while Biruk was crawling at lightening speed across the gym floor as our girls got ready to warm up.  Then the music started.  I looked over and there was Biruk, in one of his newly made volleyball onesies, sitting on the gym floor with this huge smile on his face, "dancing" to the beat of the music.  This mama was overwhelmed with God's goodness. The past several years of our journey, there have been a lot of difficult moments, and for some reason, many of them came during volleyball season.  Whether it was seeing what seemed to be every

When I was about 15, I tried out for my very first volleyball team.  I knew nothing about volleyball.  The only knowledge I had was "gym class volleyball" (which no offense, is the WORST kind of volleyball).  My sophomore year of high school, a friend had encouraged me to try out for the JV team.  I figured it wouldn't hurt to try, but also reminded myself that the chances of me making the team were slim to none.  To my surprise, after 3 days of tryouts, the list was posted and I had made it.  That year I would spend most of my time warming the bench. The following year, after living in Upstate New York for 12 years, God called our family to Bel Air, Maryland, where my Dad would serve as Pastor.  I would start my Junior year in a totally new school, one that was double the size I came from, one where I knew no one, one that would shape me in ways I couldn't have imagined.  As a junior, I knew the chances of me making the volleyball team were once again slim, and

I t has been 6 weeks since we have been home, which is incredibly hard to believe.  It feels like just yesterday that we were in Ethiopia, staring at a small crib that held a tiny boy we would soon call our son.  It’s even harder to believe that we now get to tuck that little guy in and call him our own…EVERY NIGHT.  I have had the privilege of being on maternity leave for the past 6 weeks.  My church was extremely gracious to go above and beyond in not only giving me 8 weeks maternity leave, but paying me during that time as well.  Those weeks have been an incredible blessing that Nate and I have tried to take advantage of as much as possible.  Prior to getting the call that we had been matched with the cutest baby boy in Ethiopia (which I am pretty sure no one can argue with us now that the world has met Biruk), we had spent a lot of time talking about what we wanted our life to look like as a family.  Nate and I knew that we wanted to do everything possible to bond with our n

One of my favorite pictures...a Dad that has prayed A LOT and a hubby who has waited A LONG time to be a Dad! There is a song by one of my favorite bands, Audio Adrenaline, that has been out on the radio for awhile that has taken on a whole new meaning in the past several months.  It's called "Kings and Queens."  The song was inspired by the band's opportunity to work with orphans in Haiti.  The lyrics are as follows: Little hands, shoeless feet, lonely eyes looking back at me Will we leave behind the innocent to grieve On their own, on the run when their lives have only begun These could be our daughters and our sons And just like a drum I can hear their hearts beating I know my God won’t let them be defeated Every child has a dream to belong and be loved Boys become kings, girls will be queens Wrapped in Your majesty  When we love, when we love the least of these Then they will be brave and free Shout yo