Lost, But Holding Hands

Grace. It's a word we hear a lot. Most of us use it from time to time. It comes up in every imaginable situation: from credit payments to work deadlines. Speeding tickets to deposit refunds. I bet even most of us mean the same thing when we use it. Giving grace means we're going to cut someone some slack. Show a little understanding. Give someone a little more time. Maybe a re-do. It's true, all of those things. At least superficially. I think most of us even, if pushed, would include the caveat that grace has to be given freely and without resentment. I mean, if you cut someone slack but then hold it over their head can you really call that grace? Is it any degree of mercy worth mentioning? Ok, so we're going to cut someone some slack and try not to hold a grudge about it. No guilt trips after the fact. This is pretty easy to do if the person has shown in some way that they "deserve" grace. They were late, but they called to let you know they had a flat t...

Thirty days. More than four hundred things. Three people. One weird goal. For the month of September, the our family is going to play the 30 Day Minimalism Game. The #MinsGame is one of those things that's simple, but not easy. Each day, for the 30 days in September, we will work to eliminate objects from our lives. On September 1st, we'll pick one item. On September 2, two items. September 3? That's three items. You get the idea. By the end of September--after 30 days of playing--our family hopes to remove 465 objects from our possession.  Why attempt such a thing? Why not. An absence of clutter in the physical sets the stage for an absence of clutter in the heart and mind. Clarity. That's the real goal. Clarity and contentment. What if what we have isn't actually what we want? Guidelines: Everyone plays You are in control of "your stuff" Everyday trash doesn't count Try to stick to physical items (digtial purging is a thing, t...

Some of us put a lot of thought into New Year's Resolutions.  About the time we begin shopping and decorating for Christmas- we also start imagining the most perfect, romantic, fun New Year's Eve and how we will start the new year as a "new me" or a "new us" with our significant other.  Others of us wake up on January 1st and hastily decide to take up running, or to throw about all of the leftover booze from the night before and stop hitting the bottle so hard.  We decide to get thinner, get happier, and to just generally be better. I think my teacher friends would agree that New Year's Resolutions do not just happen on January 1st.  About the time Target begins swapping the outdoorsy gear for school supplies, we start thinking about the kind of year we want to have- the kind of teacher we will be- the awesome things our students will do and achieve.  This is the time we start thinking about how this year can be different...better.  Or maybe you have h...

This past week we were blessed to take our third trip to Disney.  For those of you who are not Disney fanatics, let me fill you in: Disney=Magic It has to be exhausting to be a Disney cast member, because those people are on the top of their game 100 PERCENT OF THE TIME.  In my everyday life, I have my stuff together, on average, 25 percent of the time.  I can rarely keep my house clean, can't ever find my stuff, and I lose my cool more often than I would like to admit.  But in the time we have spent at Disney, those employees have modeled extreme grace, joy, and compassion.  They look for opportunities to serve and go above and beyond to make sure all  people feel special.  What a fantastic example of what would make our communities better place to be.  If only the magic of Disney would flow out into the greater community. We have found the joy at Disney to be contagious.  We have done the same thing every night we have spent at Disney- ...

I am fortunate to work on a team with some of the smartest, kindest, most genuine people I have ever met.  In a profession that is too often thankless, they are a bright spot in my life.  Yesterday, we attended a workshop downtown together and seized the opportunity to catch up over lunch.  Of course, most of our conversation was related to work and our never-ending to-do lists.  But eventually we began sharing about winter break plans and upcoming holidays.  While I was listening, I began to notice the amount of angst holidays can cause.  During a time that should be joyful, we spend a majority of our time trying to prove ourselves worthy, appease our family, and simply survive. I think one of the greatest choices we make each day is who to surround ourselves with.  Our friends and family can should help insulate us from the sadness and difficulties of the outside world.  They should celebrate with us and for us. It's our choice.  The peo...

It's Gotcha Day y'all!  We will do our best to update throughout our adventure today! Last night we stayed up late to decorate!  We wanted Ryan to know that it was a special day as soon as he woke up! We woke up like it was Christmas morning and waited anxiously until an appropriate time to wake him up- there's a change of pace! Update: First stop of the day is breakfast at one of our favorite brunch places-First Watch!  Update: After breakfast we ventured to Build-a-Bear. We wanted Ryan to have something tangible to help him remember the day! Update: After it was all official we decided to venture to Sea Life Aquarium.  We ended the day with a great dinner surrounded by the people who helped make this last year enjoyable and survivable.  We do not overlook how blessed we truly are.   

Have you noticed that after you buy a new car or a new pair of shoes (or pretty much anything)- you start to notice others like it  everywhere ?  After I bought my Mazda, I started to see identical cars all over.  It seemed like my little car was at every red light, in every parking lot, on every highway.  I am sure there were just as many before...I never noticed.  Now I do.  Why is that? For me, it's the same way with foster parenting and adoption.  Before Ryan, it was easy for me to ignore the estimated 153,000,000 orphans worldwide.  That's right- 153 MILLION parent-less children.  That's astounding.  It's frustrating.  It's incredibly sad.  In the last year, I have encountered more families created through adoption than I ever had before.  Is it because I am more aware?  Is it because it's becoming more prevalent?  I'm not sure. Every August, during back-to-school week the school district I am a part of ...

The joy is in the journey. I woke up a few minutes before the boys so that I could update our poor, neglected blog before getting ready for church.  Unfortunately, by the time I made it to the couch to begin writing both the husband and the little one are awake.  From up in the bedroom I hear the sweet shouts of my loves asking for coffee and chocolate milk.  I must oblige because something about their sweet, simple conversations make me swoon. So off I go to make coffee and chocolate milk as I listen to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse begin playing in our bedroom.... We spent yesterday afternoon a "family adventure".  These are day trips that daddy plans much to mom's dismay (I do not do well in the unknown).  In the end, these daddy days are always incredibly fun, little man is tuckered out and I feel hugely blessed to be in love with such an amazing man.  So yesterday we loaded up the car and stopped for adventure day snacks at the gas station.  I like ...

/We/

Hi, y'all! We've gotten lots of questions about this new journey of foster parenting--particularly on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. Unfortunately, there is lots we want to share with you all but very little we can actually say. Here's what we can tell you: We accepted a placement on Sunday (7/14) and picked him up from his emergency foster home. Our placement is a 5 year old boy. We cannot use his name on social media (thus our continual reference to "little bear" and "the new roommate".) He will start Kindergarten this fall. He's pretty stinkin' cute, but we can't share photos online. (Even though we'd sure like to) He has some special needs that require more attention than that of a typical peer We know it is difficult, and we know everyone asks out of excitement and joy for our family, but we (all) have to remember that is NOT our child, that he has a bio family that lives in the area, that he is with us on a p...

Hi, ya'll!  I can't BE-lieve it has been so long since our last blog post!  So many changes and the biggest came today! Drum roll please.......... We welcomed our first foster kiddo into our home today.  We received a request last week to host this little fella but were unsure because we were committed to directing the youth at our church camp for the week.  After working out the details we were able to go to camp, arrive home yesterday, and pick the little dude up today.  Needless to say it was a crazy week.  While we can't share an abundance of information about our new roommate or post pictures online, we don't want to leave our family and friends in the dark.  We look forward to journaling the trials and triumphs as we journey through this process.  We feel incredibly blessed and only seek to share what we have and believe with those around us! We had several moments today where Ty and I just had to look at each other and laugh.  ...

I have to preface this letter by saying that I spent the day today in a writing professional development for my school district. During which, we were asked to complete several writing tasks because, hey, we can't ask our students to do something we wouldn't do ourselves. Anyhoo, while I was writing, I realized that I had written something worth sharing----maybe. I am not promising that this will change your life- but it is about an experience that changed mine... Dear Centerpoint Hospital, 6 months ago you opened your arms to my sweet mother- taking her into your family without question, without judgment. For you, it was like any other night in the emergency room. Your waiting rooms were bursting- not just with people, but with deep emotions. I remember thinking how tired the automatic doors must become after watching them open for the 100th time in a matter of minutes. It seemed that while waiting people found it especially hard to sit and be still. Each time your...