Life Unexpected

This past Friday, Nate and I went for what will hopefully be our last time for fingerprinting in this adoption process.  We had to get up early, travel all the way down to the city of Baltimore, and stand in big long line.  We were almost to the front of the line, when the lady in front of us was "ordered" to take off her band aid.  She had a cut on her finger and apparently cuts are off limits when it comes to fingerprinting.  The woman behind the counter looked at the cut and said, "Well...you are just going to have to come back when it heals.  Next..."  The woman looked dumbfounded and I quickly turned to Nate exclaiming, "Check your fingers, check your fingers...if we have to go home because either of us have a paper cut, I swear..."  Thankfully, neither of us did and we checked finger printing off of our list of adoption "things to do" AGAIN. We are getting antsy.  September 11 will be 18 months on the wait list and let me say, we ar...

It's been a melancholy couple of weeks.  I am not sure what it is, but the waiting has seemed increasingly difficult.  We have been working on re-doing our entire Dossier, which doesn't win for the most exciting task.  The first time around it seemed exciting, the second time around it has just seemed to frustrate us.  I guess we are tired of waiting.  August 11 was 17 months on the wait list.  When we started this process, the waiting game was only supposed to last 6-8 months.  I guess that is why we feel somewhat melancholy these days.  We are just ready for the referral to come... I have found myself craving time with God these past two weeks, hoping and praying that he would bring light to this waiting process.  As I have thought about the past several years of our life, waiting for the desires of our hearts to come to fruition, I have seen God weaving this amazing tapestry, shaping our hearts and shaping our lives.  "Waiting" ha...

This summer has gone crazy fast.  As soon as we returned from Honduras, we immediately jumped in the car and headed to New Jersey and New Hampshire to do vacation with each of our families.  Both weeks seemed to fly by.  We returned late last Saturday night and jumped quickly back into youth ministry with a youth group beach trip to Ocean City for a couple of days.  It has been a whirlwind of a summer. For those of you who read my recent post about our trip to Honduras, I wanted to update you with some amazing information about the little boy we met, Luis.  As I shared before, Nate and I were so taken by this little boy with a huge heart.  We wanted to know more about his story and his situation and were curious if there was anyway that we could help him.  The youth group from my Dad's church headed to Honduras a week or two after us, to finish our the project we had started.  It was really cool, because they actually got to work with many of ...

Several days ago, I returned from a mission trip with my youth group to Honduras.  It was my sixth time being in the country, a country where the people and places have become a second home to me.  Honduras is a place where God has allowed my heart to be captured, broken, and reshaped.  It is a place where I have met people who have changed my perspective on life.  It is a place where I have created friendships that will last a lifetime.  One of my teens posted on their Facebook this week, "If home is where the heart is, than I am out of place."  Honduras is where my heart is...a lot these days. Before we left for the trip, I shared one of my all time favorite quotes with our team.  "Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God."  I have shared that quote many times, probably several times on this blog.  It's in many ways become a daily prayer of my heart.  I think when we make that the prayer of our hearts, we ha...

I realized today that it has been almost a month since I last blogged.  While I wish I had awesome news or even some kind of glimmer of hope on our adoption, we find ourselves where we have been the past 15 months..still waiting.  In fact, several weeks ago we began the daunting task of re-doing our home study, our Dossier, and all the fun paperwork that goes along with that, because unfortunately, it has expired in our lengthy wait.  I am not going to lie, it has been a frustrating part of this journey.  In many ways, it feels as though we are walking in place, not getting anywhere.  On the flip side, we keep reminding ourselves that God has the ultimate plan, and we are believing in our hearts that this journey will have an end/new beginning in the months to come, when we finally get the call that we have been matched. This past month has somewhat been a whirlwind.  We started it with graduation celebrations and a big out of school bash with th...

Eleven years ago today, I married my very best friend.  I still remember meeting Nate for the first time when we  found ourselves on the campus of Eastern Nazarene College for preseason (soccer and volleyball) the fall of 1997.  We could have never dreamed that day all that we would experience in the years to come.  Our life story has been unexpected in every way, a story that only could be written by God himself. The past three days I have captured pictures in my memory of why I love my husband, Nate so much.  It started Thursday night as I walked in from worship team practice to Nate, sandwiched between the two little Ugandan girls we were hosting from the African Children's Choir, Faith and Dorcus, on the couch, reading bedtime stories.  That moment was priceless as I was reminded just how gifted Nate is with children. I captured another picture as Nate gathered us together in the living room, circling up to pray (a family tradition that was s...

This past Sunday, as we were celebrating as a church all that God had done over the past year, my heart felt overwhelmingly blessed.  I am not sure how to describe it, other than to say, I stood in my seat feeling incredibly grateful for the past year of my life.  We were singing the song, "You Have Been So Good," during worship, and again, my heart was overwhelmed with gratitude at all that God has done in our lives over this past year.  Several years ago, when I was in an extremely broken place, I remember writing in my journal how angry those words made me feel.  I didn't feel like God was good, because he hadn't given me the one thing I kept asking for, a family.  This past Sunday, as I found myself not only singing, but belting out those words, "I came here broken...you made me whole.  You have been so good...you have been so good...you have been so good to me."  I couldn't help but think about the total transformation God has done in my heart d...