Walk on, Laurentz (our beautiful boy)
It was his smile that did me in. From the moment I met him, I was captured. Beautiful eyes, warm smile, toddling steps. I laughed out loud when he toddled through the hallways of the orphanage, giggling and squealing. I cried when he fell asleep on my lap during the orphanage devotions – arms and […]
My blonde-headed stepchild (Cassandra Mae)
Step is stupid. And I’m not even allowed to say stupid in our house. Yet it’s true. Stepchild, stepmom, step whatever. I hear that word and I get flashes of Cinderella and the 27 remake movies where the horrible stepmom (usually ugly to boot) is a cruel task master who robs her stepdaughter of love […]
Lovence – special needs, special boy (unexpected, unbelievable, beautiful).
For a boy who doesn’t speak, he sure says a lot. And he surprises me. All the time. Lovence was rescued from a mountain village in May, 2012. He was four years old and fourteen pounds. He couldn’t walk or talk, he gorged himself on food only to throw it all up. He was never […]
Wilna – the big of our littles
She is brave, strong, fiercely passionate about almost everything. At 12 years old, she is part woman with grown up thoughts, ideas and feelings and part little girl who can get lost in dress up and loves a colorful band-aid on her boo-boos. I tell her often that God overdosed when he poured out her […]
I watched you today.
I watched you. Sometimes with my heart in my throat, sometimes with tears in my eyes. I wanted you to connect, to feel welcome, to make a friend. I wanted people to be nice to you and you to be nice to them. I watched. I watched you as you giggled nervously and then […]
Perfection is overrated!
If you ever feel like you mess up as a parent, take comfort from this. 🙂
Taken by ambulance – you won’t believe what happened next!
It started with a ferocious leg cramp. Like a charley horse on steroids, it hit the muscle in my shin. Never felt anything like it. Whined like a baby as Brian tried to stretch and massage it. I stood up and hobbled around the room. Finally sat on the steps leading upstairs and planted my […]
From Tragedy to the Best Stuff Ever
Four years ago, it was tragedy that prompted my Christmas letter. Within two months time, our world was upended. In May my husband gave a kidney to our oldest son Sean, and we fought through the healing/rejection/healing process. Then my dad went sailing one warm July day and never came home. He somehow fell overboard […]
Rats, spiders and love that won’t quit
The rat visited at 5:37 p.m. every night. While I was in Haiti, we clocked him by the minute. We’d enjoy dinner on the outside veranda and at 5:37, Ratatouille (as we affectionately nicknamed him), would run along the roof of the veranda and dash off to parts unknown. We made up a whole life […]
Love is a risk
I don’t want to love them too much. I don’t want to hold on too tight. I mean, it was amazing when I was in Haiti – when two little boys with big smiles fell into my lap, when one fell asleep on my shoulder and I didn’t dare move so I could enjoy the […]