Life Unexpected

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go away with a few of my youth workers to do some "dreaming", visioning, and planning for our youth ministry.  The location was Stone Harbor, NJ, probably tied for my most favorite place to be right alongside of the country of Honduras.  We started the weekend sharing personally where God had been working in our lives over the past year, as well as sharing the places where we really needed God to be working.  We did the same for our youth ministry that night, as we sat around the fireplace just "remembering" places where God had shown up in the lives of our students. The weekend was a reminder that we are up against some challenges when it comes to not just youth ministry, but our personal lives as well.  Sunday morning, we visited a church that my family and I attend when we are on vacation in the summer.  It could not have been a more fitting morning.  The minute we walked in, we could feel God's presence.  As we wo

It's definitely winter.  Let me clarify that.  There is no snow on the ground (which makes Nate and I very sad, since we once again got ski passes and this Maryland weather has decided to kill our hopes and dreams for skiing this season!), there is no real snow in the forecast, and it's semi-mild weather.  But it feels like winter.  In my heart...it feels like winter. I have found myself feeling "blah" during this part of our wait.  I am not necessarily angry, sad, or disappointed that we haven't gotten our call yet, I am just "blah."  That "blah" feeling is like when you have been stuck in winter (those of us who grew up in Upstate New York have an entirely different definition of being "stuck in winter"), and you just want to experience that first warm day of Spring.  So you anticipate, you expect it to come, you start to get out your Spring clothes out, and you wait.  And you wait.  And you wait some more.  You know it's co

I was journaling this morning and made the realization that we are in 2013.  Ok, so the world knows that we are in 2013, but it seemed to hit me like a ton of bricks.  This will be the third New Year in a row that we enter it, hoping and praying, for our referral.  Three is a charm, right?  I was reflecting on the fact that we have finished 3 Christmas seasons in a row without getting a referral, and we have not only survived, but thrived.  I feel like Nate and I have grown leaps and bounds as individuals, in our marriage, and in our relationship with God.  It has NOT been a waste of three years, and I am more than grateful.  In fact, I journaled this morning, I would NOT trade this journey in for the entire world.  That being said, "It's 2013...I think we are ready (just in case God might be reading this right now!). Not only are we ready, but the entire Long/Sawtelle/Ciardi/Ingram/Penney (all of our immediate family) clan is!  In fact, Emma, my 6 year old niece may be le