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All I Really Want For Christmas

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My mom recently asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I paused for a moment to think and the only thing I could say was families for our kids. Sure I could think of things that I cannot buy here and would appreciate, but none of them compare to knowing that our children have a family anticipating the day they can come spend the rest of their lives with their forever family. Most of us can think back to our childhood and remember distinct memories of family. How happy it made us when dad came home from work How going out to dinner with the family was a special occasion Fighting with our siblings Playing games Going shopping with mom Building things with dad Tickle fests Spending nights at grandma’s house Getting spoiled by grandparents Big family get togethers Parents attending sporting events, musical productions, or awards ceremonies And so much more… As an adult I have parents I can call for advice or lean on if I’m in a h

He's Got the Little Bitty Babies in His Hands

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I woven together in the depths of earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand…”                                                                                                                                                                                                             -Psalm 139:12-18a (NIV) How do I even begin to describe the life of Elena? I first met her when she was 15 days old. Earlier that day when I first heard about her, I also heard people saying there was a good chance she would come here just for care

Learning to be Thankful even when I Don't Want to Be

Sometimes you do things all the time and one time you do something just enough different that it changes the course of the next few weeks (or sometimes longer). For me, two weeks ago, this was ascending the stairs of my house. It was a Thursday after preschool and I had lunch on my mind, but two steps inside the door my foot started to hurt. When it still hurt hours later and I could check everything off on the on-line test I began to suspect it was a stress fracture. I wasn’t convinced and had hoped it would go away on its own because I could not pinpoint anything that would have caused it. As a precaution I cancelled running the next morning hoping that one day of rest would help. But, staying off of your feet is hard to do. Friday I walked around with some people who where here doing post checks on the wheelchairs we received last March and was encouraged that it didn’t hurt that bad…until I stopped and the pain was back. In preschool I had planned a freeze dance party and

Frustrated but Praying

I’m frustrated. There are so many things that are frustrating. I see them first hand each day, my Facebook newsfeed is full of them, and there are so many more I have no idea about. A baby dies because the family doesn’t have money to feed it, a shooting happens in a public place, children do not have parents, people are diagnosed with cancer and so much more. I read an article the other day ( http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/06/prweb11951808.htm ) where a ten year old boy that has cerebral palsy (non mobile and non verbal) wrote a $250,000 business proposal. He wrote it using his eyes. He is not able to do the things many of us take for granted each day but he is smart. There is technology that allows him to tell the world the thoughts that are going on inside his head. I want this for our kids. We have 10 children that are similar to him; a few may walk one day and a few may talk one day, but we don’t know. I want them to be able to communicate with us—to tell us what they