Lost, But Holding Hands

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...

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 ...

Football, scarves, hot chocolate, pumpkins, cooler temps, and the best holidays of the year.   Ladies and gentlemen, we have officially ushered in fall!  It is my favorite time of the year and the perfect time for a family update- the dogs are finally quiet, the husband is watching football, and the little roommate is napping. We visited with Little Bear's (LB) caseworker on Wednesday night.  We really, really enjoy her.  Not only does she want the best for LB and understand that he has special circumstances that need a higher level of support, she is a totally approachable and  and incredibly helpful person.  As we journeyed through our licensing coursework, we heard varying opinions on "the division" and "the workers", but we have had all positive interactions with the professionals that we have worked with.   During our visit we were able to brag on the amount of progress that we have seen in LB.  Tomorrow marks three months since we b...

so we've had our new roommate since sunday afternoon and it's now wesdnesday morning. a lot has happened since then. it's kind of amazing how much change can happen to a family so quickly. to say his impact on us has been big would be an understatement. he has changed the core of how we do business in our house. as kelly and i were talking last night and reflecting on the day, we realized that our anticipation and fears haven't really subsided all that much. first we were worried about juggling our lives to get our certification classes done. then it was the fear of getting all of our paperwork turned in--and the stress of missing documents or information lost in translation. as we waited through the spring our fears increased as weeks and weeks went by with no contact from the division. fear and doubt wormed its way further into our heads. of course, it was all for no good reason. we knew in our hearts that our God was faithful. we knew how the story would end. we kn...