A New Year

9:25 p.m., December 31, 2011.
I just arrived home after 5 days in North Carolina visiting my friend Bev. My bed is wonderful, and I am thankful for my laptop that allows me to blog from amongst my pillows and flannel sheets. Fireworks are exploding outside as the greater Orlando area gears up for ringing in a new year. For the first time in a long time, I plan to be asleep when the ball falls in NYC.  I'm too wiped out from the trip to stay up.

2011 was a year of high highs and low lows. I posted on Facebook tonight how glad I am that God is always faithful. As I look ahead to a year of unknowns, I can rest in the knowledge that God sees what I can't see, and He is faithful. 2012 seems less scary when I look at it from that perspective. Now is a good time for me to reflect on the last year. Tomorrow, maybe I'll post on what I'm looking forward to in the coming year, because there's already a lot to anticipate!

High: Ringing in the year with new friends who have become some of our dearest friends this year. We love you, Ron, Christina, and kiddos!
Low: Difficulties with the kids' old school, including an uncooperative principal, a class switch for Snapper, and a run-in with a bully that ended up going all the way through the district's bullying discipline process. While it was stressful for Snapper in the process and hard for her to be a bully's target, justice was done and Snapper learned valuable lessons on courage, forgiveness, loving your enemies, and standing up for what is right.
High: Getting connected with Tracie, Laura, and Brandee through church small group and ladies' Bible study. These three amazing women have become my best friends here in Orlando, and I adore them.
High: Getting to go to a NASCAR race at the Daytona Speedway. Sure, it wasn't the Daytona 500, but it was the Budweiser Shootout, which was AWESOME!
Low: Experiencing problem after problem after problem with our house, only to have the landlord refuse to fix the problems. It was made even worse when he blamed the problems on us, and tried to make us pay for them.
Low: Having both of our cars die in the same week, and being without a vehicle for a month. Ugh!
High: Receiving the gift of our Cadillac from a ministry partner. Really? Someone gave us a beautiful car!
High: Finally getting to start working with Bright Media/DG4Kids after 10 months of raising support. We love it, love it, love it!
High: Having a week with our friends Brian, Carol, and their 3 girls. They came down from Tennessee for Easter and spent 8 days with us.
Low: Experiencing more problems with our house, being told we would be let out of our lease early, and then having our landlord change his mind.
High: Finding the perfect house in the town we wanted to live in, near swim team, in a great school district, at the right price...and the new landlord being willing to hold it 3 months for us until we could get out of our other lease!
High: Celebrating our 10th anniversary! Oh, how I love my man. He is the best!
High: Road trip across 12 states, including 10 days at Cru's U.S. Staff Conference in Colorado.
Low: Unforeseen road trip issues that ended up costing us $2000 more than budgeted.
Low: A sudden drop in our support that landed us in short paycheck land from August 1-December 15.
Low: A miscarriage.
Low: Discovering that Snapper and I are gluten intolerant.
Low: Our van breaking down. The repairs will be extensive. We're saving up, and hope to have the money to fix it this month.
High: This year's school is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Snapper's two teachers and Pepper's teachers all share our faith, which gives us great common ground with them. They are wonderful teachers, and the kids are doing so well in school. It makes up for our awful year last year.
High: Watching Snapper excel in swimming. She is fast, strong, and has won the hearts of her coaches. She has also made the sweetest friends at swim team.
High: Graduating from foster/adoption training, having our case moved to top priority, and preparing to adopt one or two children in 2012!
High: Giving the kids Sea World passes for Christmas.
High: Having our church decide to start supporting us...and we never asked them for support! What an amazing encouragement!
High: Loaded tangelo, lime, and grapefruit trees in our own back yard! YUM!
High: Losing 30 POUNDS since August as a result of going gluten free! Oh, and I feel better than I have since I was a kid.
High: Knowing God better because of all He has done in our lives this year. Seeing what He brought us through, remembering how He provided for us, experiencing His protection and care, and knowing without a doubt how much He loves us--all those things make me eager to move forward into a new year. Happy New Year to you, and may God make Himself known in your life as He has in mine. He loves you so!

From My Home to Yours...

Merry Christmas!

This Christmas Eve night, we celebrated Jesus at our church's Christmas Eve service. Then we came home and enjoyed a delightful dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes, and collard greens. The kids opened the customary new pajamas and put out a plate of gluten free caramels for Santa and a plate of carrots for the reindeer. Matt tucked them into their beds, where they are peacefully dreaming right now.

Tomorrow morning we'll kick off our day with birthday breakfast for Jesus--complete with the reading of Luke 2 and singing some favorite carols--followed by opening stockings and the gifts from our family in California and Washington. Because we went to church this evening, we've decided not to try to rush out to church again in the morning. We open gifts one at a time, savoring each one and remembering the loved one who sent it to us. Around 12:30, we're heading out to spend the day with our dear friends Curt & Tracie and John & Laura. None of us have family in Florida, so we spend holidays together as adopted family. Our time tomorrow promises to be full of good food, lots of fun, and rich fellowship.

What I anticipate to be the highlight of tomorrow, however, is Matt's and my gift to our family. Because we are hoping to welcome two new children into our family this year, we decided to forego any new "stuff" for Snapper and Pepper. They're going to have to get rid of stuff as it is, so why add new stuff to the mix? We pooled our resources and purchased.....drum roll please.....Sea World season passes for our family!!! The Florida resident rate made this extremely affordable for us, and it cost about the same as what we'd normally spend on gifts for the four of us. I've put together a scavenger hunt for the kids. There are eight clues that will ultimately take them to their passes...which are currently taped underneath their chairs at the breakfast table. I am SO EXCITED to see their sweet faces when they discover their gifts!!! Video and photos forthcoming.

Again, from our family to yours, Merry Christmas! May the Lord bless your family as we celebrate His gift to us.

Missing Mom

Today would have been my mom's 62nd birthday. It's the 9th birthday of hers we've celebrated without her. Oh, how I miss her.

Every year when I was little, we used to go to the Tyrolean Inn, a wonderful, little German restaurant in a mountain town near where we lived. My mom was German, and she loved German food. Tonight we're making German food for dinner as a way of remembering and celebrating her life. Later this afternoon the kids and I are going to make lemon bars, which were her favorite dessert. After dinner tonight we're going to watch videos of my mom. She has been gone for 8 1/2 years and I haven't watched any video of her since she passed. I anticipate I will experience every emotion in the book. I think I'm ready for it, but whether I am or not, it's time for the kids to hear her voice and see her move. They know her through stories and photos, but it's time for more.

Happy Birthday, Mommy. I love you.