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Showing posts from August, 2011

Not Enough Fingers....

Today's the day my baby girls no longer have enough fingers to show their age.  And it's unlikely that such refined, grown-up ladies will whip off their shoes to throw a toe into the mix! Izzie & Chloe's birth story is so much more than the incredible story of their birth.....it's the story of a really sweet Heavenly Father who heard the secret longings of my heart and gave me the cake with the fancy icing and the cherry on top. I recently found a letter that I had written to a friend a few years ago who was worried about a pregnancy she thought was in trouble.  I told her my story.  Listen in.... I have to tell you that I really know how crazy and awful your heart felt this weekend... I've got some stories to tell you about my life!  One of the points our pastor made in the sermon this Sunday was that when we are going through troubles, God comforts us, not just to make us comfortable, but so that we can comfort others.  I thought right away of the co

A Good Man

I've found myself breaking out into tears over a lot of simple things today.  The more everyday and normal a thing, the more golden it seems and teary it's making me. Our church family lost a good man today....a good man who was a good husband, a good father.  I'm married to a good man.  I'm feeling how every simple action I'm taking would have been totally different if my good man had been the one to take his last breath today.  The tears that came without warning as I pulled toast out the toaster today were because everything, ev-er-y-THING, would be wrong, off-kilter, horrifying if I were doing it with the ugly knowledge that I was making one piece of toast less than I made yesterday. I find myself imagining the pain his wife and girls are feeling tonight as they're faced with the sun going down on the day their good man died...and it stops me in my tracks taking my breath away.  How do you sleep in a bed alone with the worst pain you've ever encou

Jello Love

Can I just say that I love potlucks??  I really love them.  I love the anticipation and day-dreaming about lovelys I'll get to put on my Styrofoam plate.  The old friends are routinely there, like warm flannel pj pants..... cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, baked beans...  But it's the new loves cuddled up in their Tupperware that draw me like a hummingbird.  I love trying new foods.  I love trying at least one bite of things, just for the bragging rights....toad stir-fry, chicken hearts.  I think this side of me was born when my Dad dared his 10 year old Lori to eat a frog leg and 14 year old Lori to order Wild Boar off the menu.  It's especially fun if I'm not quite sure what it is!  (The only time this didn't work out so well was in Thailand....found out into the second bite that the sweet little dumplings in my soup weren't dumplings, but blood clots. My apologies, if you're snacking while reading...)  The jello salads slowly brought in and depo

3 Cheers!! Our Home has Officially Been Studied!!

Got the email this past week....not THE email, the one with a picture of the cutest baby in Ethiopia attached....but the email with another attachment called 'The Completed HomeStudy.'  This is a big deal!  The giant first step. It was a strange feeling to read a boiled down 10 page version of my life.  I felt like I was on a ladder peeking into my own windows.  If there ever was a "long story short," this is it.   Our social worker did a really good job pulling the marrow out of our interviews and leaving the rest alone.  At one point, social worker Kim asked Scott what originally attracted him to me.  The HomeStudy reads , "   Scott was attracted to Loretta’s love for God, her family, and her willingness to pursue fulltime ministry. "   I like that, sounds good for Pastor Scott to be attracted to his future wife by such things.  The whole story's just un-necessary....I mean really, who in Ethiopia needs to know that the first comment out of his mo

Magnetic People

 There's a curious phenomenon I'm noticing...something like a magnetic force between the hearts of people who share a common cause.  Like iron shavings that come to life and are irresistibly drawn to a magnet, I'm discovering a band of people with a bewitching charm I can't resist.  I find myself wondering if I'm suddenly sensitized in a new way to people who care about adoption in my world who were surrounding me all along.  Probably....but there has also been a steady troupe of people showing up in my life that only God could have sent. Early on, soon after we made ourselves officially "paper pregnant" and chose Bethany as the place to make it happen, I was unconsciously yearning for a specific new friend.  I don't know anyone closely who has walked the path we're on.  I've read a lot of encouraging blogs chronicling Ethiopian adoption processes of great people from hither and yon.  And I rub shoulders with a bunch of amazing people who&#

It's still FLOODING at the Florida house!!

The mailbox contained another check today!  It was a computer-generated bill-pay printed check, so I couldn't figure it out at first.  "Why's somebody sending me $200?"  I asked Scott when I got the perforated strips off and could read the inside...  Then I noticed the memo line - "ADOPTION."  Once again, I'm surprised by my friends and in awe of God.  Another day to praise Jesus as the giver of all good gifts and the One who works to accomplish His great purpose beyond our means or imagination!

Floodgates Update

Well, it's been a busy summer around the Florida house....actually we haven't been around the Florida house much at all this summer...hence the busy-ness.  The blog's been sitting silent, the dust is thick and the weeds are high...I'm feeling like my list of things to do around here is growing faster than my 15 year old son's feet! My projects may be languishing, but God's got His all under control and has been making some noteworthy progress.  Apparently the Holy Spirit has been busy speaking and you all have been busy listening...because things are happening and we're hearing a steady clink, clink, clink as the coins drop from God's Floodgates.  It's gotten to the point that I think it deserves a special ledger page on the blog to keep track of all these deposits and praise God out loud for them. If you've been following us at all, you couldn't have missed the Ordinary Hero grant contest we participated in during the end of August.  I