Gratitude Edition:July 2013

Conversations about adoption. Knitting and wine with Kelli. Remembering. Tesfaye. Comfort in hugs. Crying together. Micah finished with school. Retreating to the mountains. Offer from Todd. A family hike. Time to process. Time to grieve. Fireworks. Ice cream. A visit from Connie and Todd. Tesfaye's memorial. Hugs. Mula. Amanuel. Another offer. Best case scenario. Moving forward. Thinking about possibilities. Coffee. Vaction Bible school. Some sense of consistency. Creating and dreaming. Dinner with Beth and Zach. A haircut! Encouragement from Cheri. Conversation with Lisa. Seeing M sing at vbs. Hollyhocks blooming. A double rainbow. Getting to Rapid. Being back at Placerville. Ben. The opportunity to breathe. Worshiping. Reminder of hope. Molly. Meredith. Stephanie. Seeing M again. Hugs from my baby. B. loving on M. Iced Coffee. Barb. Ben. Sharing my story. Broken but no forgotten. Conversation with Sharla. Baby monitors. Lake visits. M. sitting along the shore. Conversation with Stephanie. Snake stories. Jon's note. M's eagerness to jump right in. Creating opportunities for others to meet with God. LaVon and Bruce. Their help. Golf carts. Prayer chapel time. Evening vesper's. Jon's prayer. Falling to pieces from an overwhelming amount of gratitude and love. Cinnamon rolls. Naps. Seeing M again. Time to relax. Taking a walk. Processing. Chat with Kim. Second chances on house. Trusting Micah. M and Van's friendship. Walking with a super hero. Jessie's shower. Car rides with Micah. Cat videos and backseat laughter. Sharon and coffee. StoryCorps. Forgiveness. Health checkups. Housing working out. Thai coffee. Walking home - I am going to miss this. Soccer with Mula.

Dinner Out

Our family has been needing some peace and solitude in our lives so we decided to have dinner in the mountains and spend some time hiking. We could use a thousand more moments like this. 

StoryCorp

I had the privilege of completing two interviews with StoryCorps today - one with Micah and one with my dear friend Colleen. StoryCorps is a program on NPR that airs each week. It never fails that every Friday while I am getting ready for work, I hear a story and it brings me to tears. I absolutely love what they represent and I love the power of narratives. Both of these interviews are two experiences that I will forever treasure and remember. I am so thankful that I was given the opportunity to do this. 

Cat Videos

The uncles introduced the little man to cat videos......

A Cheap Date

The little man took me out on a date for 50 cent ice cream cones - best cheap date I've ever had. 

Muscle Men

11 years celebrated - finally!

We are a month behind schedule, but we finally snuck away (thanks to the help of brother Jon) to celebrate 11 years of marriage. Better late than never right? So thankful for this man!

Oh Yeah, This Happened

While we were at camp Micah and another counselor set out for an evening of bushwacking and breaking up teenage hormones. They were down by the creek when they heard a rattle. The returned to get the camp director and traded in bushwacking for snake hunting. If you know Micah well, you know how much he loves  hates snakes. Needless to say, he never fails us with providing a good laugh and story.

Of course the next day the little man had the opposite reaction to the snake. He hated loved it! He helped with the cleaning and skinning and even walked around camp with the skin scaring a few campers.

Sometimes You Just Have to Run

Tuckered Out

Placerville

We're spending the week with this fabulous group of high school students at Placerville and looking forward to how we will encounter God. 

Inspiration From Nature

How You Survive the Separation of an Ocean

First Ferris Ride

Desperate For His Own Swimming Pool

Pondering

“You will lose someone you can’t live without,and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved. But this is also the good news. They live forever in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back up. And you come through. It’s like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly—that still hurts when the weather gets cold, but you learn to dance with the limp.” 
― Anne Lamott

Dear Tesfaye

Dear Tesfaye,

     I wasn't expecting to receive the news that you were suddenly taken away. None of us were expecting this.....

Five years ago our friendship began and it was just as we were being the process of adopting M. We felt as if your introduction into our family was a confirmation that we were making the right choice and moving in the direction that God was leading us. Long before we visited Ethiopia, you filled our hearts with a love that connected us to this country, giving us a glimpse of all the joy and pain it would bring into our hearts.

Shortly after receiving the phone call that matched us with M. we called you to share the news. After we began pouring out the details of this sweet boys life, we were amazed and excited to learn that you were from the same region and a neighboring village. What an unexpected blessing to our family and we knew without a doubt that it had been orchestrated by God. You were an answer to our prayers that yearned for a way to help our child remain connected to his birth country.

Adjusting to life as parents, work and school kept us all busy and our moments of sharing life together felt few and far between, but each moment that was shared brought so much joy to our family. In those first months that M. was with us, you were there to offer him the love that is found from an uncle. You were there to tell us what exactly he was saying (Please ko nea) and how our little man was speaking sentences using all three languages. You were there to offer encouragement and reminders of his birth country. You were there. So when graduate school called you away we were so sad to see you go. You paid us one last visit and placed a bracelet on M's wrist that was from your recent trip to Ethiopia.

Despite your departure from Laramie, you were faithful in keeping in touch with our family and always checking up on M.

And now here we are with news we weren't expecting and we have yet to feel okay with letting you go.