Life Unexpected

  I can't believe that Christmas is already over.  Last night, after putting about 1500 miles on our vehicle, traveling to Bel Air, New Jersey, and Maine, we finally crawled into our own beds.  And I am already missing my family!  From baking traditional Czech cookies and breads with my sister Kristen, to playing Monopoly five billion times with my nephews, to dancing with my nieces to Christmas music, to going to the Lancaster City Market with my entire family, to cramming into "Duck Fat" Restaurant in Portland with my mother-in-law (which is a yuppie restaurant according to her!), to hanging out with my extended family in Jersey for a Czech Christmas Eve bash, to watching the Golden Pig come, to putting up the Nativity with my nieces, to building a Rice Krispy Train with my nephews, to sharing around our table Christmas morning all that we are thankful for...we truly did it all and I am more than blessed.  At the end of this vacation, I real...

Last night, I woke up to the sound of my 3 year old niece, Sadie, crying in her bedroom.  She and my sister Kristen, just flew in yesterday for Christmas and are spending the first few days at my house.  Sadie came with very little sleep due to a cold and a fever over the past few days.  Kristen came with less sleep.  So, you can imagine that at 3am, when Sadie was a crying mess who didn't understand why it wasn't time to get up for like the 3rd night in a row, my sister Kristen was at the end of her rope.  I myself was having difficulty sleeping too.  I came out to the living room to attempt to "help," as my exasperated sister attempted to talk my crying niece into going back to bed.  You can imagine it was a fun time! There are a lot of times where I find myself totally inexperienced when it comes to kids.  I guess it is because growing up, I never really baby-sat too much, and now I haven't had a chance yet to parent my own.  Last night,...

It's hard to believe that it is December 6, 2012.  I have tried to approach this Christmas Season differently, not focusing on hoping to get a referral before Christmas (like last Christmas 2011), but really trying to just trust God and see God every day I get up.  This past weekend I had the opportunity to speak at a youth retreat in Pennsylvania.  Ironically, it was held at the very same place that my own youth group holds our retreat.  It was really strange to be there in the cold month of December.  We are used to being there in May, where the warmth of the sunshine is everywhere. Saturday morning we had the opportunity to go on a personal prayer walk.  At first, I was a little hesitant.  It was cold outside!  But nevertheless, I took advantage of the opportunity to have some time to just be still before God.  The Youth Pastor of the group encouraged us to work through a series of reflection questions, moving to a new location for ea...

Friday morning I woke up to one of the greatest kid in the world peering into my bedroom.  It was my soon to be 6 year old niece, Emma.  She had spent the night at "Grammy and Pop Pops" house while Nate and I were visiting for Thanksgiving.  The deal was if she spent the night, I would be responsible for her in the morning!  I loved every minute of it.  The morning consisted of us wrapping up in the electric blanket wathing cartoons, taking a drive over to Starbucks for a special hot chocolate, singing at the top of our lungs in the car with Uncle Nate, and finishing off the morning with cinnamon rolls from Burger King!  It was a good morning. I have learned to savor the moments I am given with family.  In fact, this Thanksgiving I found myself craving every minute I could get to have conversations with my sister, hang out with my Mom and Dad, and just be around my nieces (the only thing missing was my little sis and family all the way in Boston). ...

The other day I was talking about our adoption and someone said, "What...are you like in a waiting game or something?"  Obviously, they were a little behind the times, because we have been waiting for over 20 months to get a referral.  This past week my sister, Kristen, and my niece, Sadie, came to visit from Boston. The week before, my sister Heather was here with my other nieces, Emma and Quinn.  Over the past couple of years we have collected a bunch of random toys (including a pop up playhouse) and have somewhat turned the basement into a play area.  I have loved every minute of having my nieces playing in my house.  I said to Nate yesterday, "I love having kids in our house...we have got to get this adoption thing on the road!" I am not sure what the "heavenly hold up" is...ok, even as I am writing that phrase, I am laughing...I have no idea why that strikes me funny.  I guess I am picturing someone holding up heaven!  We have prayed hard, our f...

This morning in Sunday School, Nate played what I thought was an extremely powerful video (a clip from "Facing Your Giants").  He was sharing with our students the importance of encouraging people through our words, our actions and our presence.  He kicked off the morning by showing this 8 minute video clip and then asking the question, "What reaction did you have to this video and who do you identify with the most."  As I sat in my seat, tears started to form in my eyes.  There are so many days that I find myself fighting with God saying, "I am not sure that I can take much more on this whole adoption journey."  As I watched the clip and imagined God as my coach (fully understanding that one of the main priorities a coach should have is to encourage their team), I felt overwhelmed.  He knows exactly what we are capable of...even if that means that we don't think we have the strength of energy to stick it out.  He isn't some distant God off on the ...

It's hard to believe that we are already into the month of November.  I remember thinking at the start of the school year, right after finding out that our wait time had been extended, the next several months of our life while we wait are going to drag on.  Thanks to it being volleyball season, a season where my life is officially overtaken by the world's greatest sport, I can say, "The past few months have flown!" It's been a weird couple of months for me.  I keep wanting to sit down and blog, but have felt somewhat stuck.  Not much has happened in our process other than the fact that we can throw in a couple of extra months that we have officially been waiting.  On November 11, it will be 20 months to be exact.  I really haven't felt overwhelmed in the waiting process these past few months.  I am not sure if that's because I have kept busy with volleyball, or I have just given up all control of the process (which I don't ever think I had anyway!)...