Life Unexpected

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...

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...

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 ever...

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 y...

Today marks four weeks since we became a forever family with Biruk and three weeks since we have been back on US soil.  It feels like we have had him forever!  He is smiling, crawling (almost at a flying speed), pulling himself up to stand up, laughing like crazy, babbling, and growing with every minute.  We are taking in every moment we get and just soaking it up.  That being said...this mommy is exhausted (which is a whole new blog post for another time)!  I feel like I am behind on just about everything, including blogging about our trip to Ethiopia which took place almost a month ago.  Despite the lack of blogging, not a day goes by where I don't think about Ethiopia.  It's always on my heart and on my mind, and I still continue to occasionally pinch myself when I look at that sweet little Ethiopian baby that we now call our son, grateful for all that took place in Ethiopia. While I wish that I could sit down with every person in the world and sh...

Three hours is an awful long time to think.  Especially when you are going to pick up the child you have been dreaming about for what seems like your entire life.  Not only were we instantly going to become a forever family, but this would be the day that we would have the chance to meet Biruk's birth mom.  While I had never met her before and I knew very little about her, I had found myself praying for her all the time.  I had prayed for peace.  I had prayed for healing.  I had prayed that God would just embrace her with all of his love.  And as we drove through the windy roads of Ethiopia that morning, I prayed that I would find the right words to say to the woman who had given us the greatest gift we had ever received...a son that we would love for the rest of our life. We arrived at the orphanage and assumed that we would meet Biruk's birth mom in a neutral setting, not at the orphanage.  We entered the gate and rather than start with a me...

How do you put into words a description of the day that you have been dreaming about for 8 years?  I have held off writing this blog post, partly because I am now a mom (limited time...and when you have the time, you are tired!), and partly because I think I am still processing.  July 22, 2013 will forever be in my heart as a day that changed my life in one of the best ways possible...the day we brought home our son.  You can dream forever about wanting something to take place, but when the reality hits that it is actually taking place...it almost feels surreal.  Becoming a forever family has been just that.  I have to pinch myself at night to remind myself, "This is real!  There is a baby in your house.  And he is yours...FOREVER!"  I have to remind myself, this isn't just a story I heard from someone else.  This is our story.  It's the story we have been dreaming about.  It's the ending we have been praying for, for what seems...