Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a Seminary as follows, "an institution for the training of candidates for the priesthood, ministry or rabbinate." Since we are neither Catholic nor Jewish, Michael and I obviously fall under the ministry part of the definition. But I must say, this definition falls woefully short of what a Seminary truly is and does, especially SEBTS and what it has meant to our lives.
In May of 2010, Michael and I set out on a journey that has been quite the ride. It hasn't always been easy, but it has been a wonderful ride nonetheless. I am sure if you sat us down separately, Michael and I would have a somewhat different description about what our time at SEBTS has meant. But the important things like spiritual growth, growing in our marriage and the amazing friendships we have made would definitely be the same! So, I guess this is my chance to share my side of the story and to thank the Lord and SEBTS for the preparation of these past few years.
The day I married Michael I knew that I was going to be a minister's wife for the rest of my life. I was excited about it and looking forward to hopefully following in the footsteps of so many wonderful women I had watched over the years in my churches. It was with that excitement that I set off to Wake Forest with my new husband. Little did I know the refining that awaited me.
I think the best way to sum up my time here is by using the word refining. Isaiah 48:9-11 says, "For my own name's sake I will delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I will hold it back from you, so as not to destroy you completely. See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another." Everything is for the Lord's glory....absolutely everything...every struggle, every difficulty, every joy, every dream fulfilled, every blessing...it is all to bring glory to His name. I didn't see this clearly at the beginning of our seminary journey but through the refining only the Lord can bring, I am thankful to see it so clearly now. (It seemed only fitting that our pastor preached on Isaiah 48 just 2 weeks ago. I highly recommend listening to this message. You can find it at www.fbcdurham.org). In light of these revelations and the end of our time here in Wake Forest, here are some reflections from a Seminary wife.
Where I struggled...
In the beginning the struggle list seemed much longer than the blessings list. There were times where I felt lonely and bit like a bystander watching my husband experience this new and exciting time in his life. There were times where I saw my husband drinking from a fire hydrant of knowledge while I was hoping for a drip from the faucet. There were times where I longed to be closer to the family and friends I left behind in Georgia. There were times where I didn't want to meet anymore new people, I just wanted one real friend. There were times where my relationship with the Lord was dryer than the Sahara. Basically, there were just rough times and they really stunk. Don't get me wrong, there were some wonderful things that happened in those early years, but there was a very real struggle as well.
But God...(one of my favorite phrases)...But God was refining me and preparing me for the future and even for the new adventure we are about to embark on. I see now how He knew that I would be able to give Him the praise for all that has happened in these years and to bring glory to His name for all He has done. I see now how those struggles turned into blessings in the last couple of years and everything that hurt turned into undeserved blessings that brought joy.
What I have learned...
Being a minister's wife is a calling in and of itself. Women cannot just rely on their husband's call to be sufficient for their own lives. We must seek the Lord and ask Him what it is He wants us to be in His Kingdom and how that fleshes out in our support for our husband's ministry. If I only rely on my husband's call to ministry then I am not relying on the Lord. As we seek the Lord in our marriages He will show us what we can do as a couple and as individuals to further His kingdom.
I have also learned to find joy in all things. We are going to have things come our way that we don't like and that we aren't prepared for, but the joy of the Lord is our strength as Nehemiah 8:10 says. When things are rough, find joy by counting your blessings, because they are always there.
I have also learned to rest in the Lord. Isaiah 26:3-4 says, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock." When my world seems to have tilted upside down I remind myself of this verse because I am at peace when my mind is on the Lord alone and not my never ending to-do list.
To all you other seminary wives who might be reading this or to those women who have men in ministry, my advice to you is this...find the Joy of your Salvation each and everyday. Find a ministry you can flourish in as you also support your husband in his. Talk to your husband about the things God is teaching you in a bible study or in a ministry you are leading/helping. If he wants you to proofread a paper or just listen to him share about what he learned in class...listen (even if it makes no sense to you!) Iron sharpens iron and there is nothing better than you and your spouse supporting each other in ministry. It is also nice when your husband acts as your Greek or Hebrew reference :-)
(Please note I am still a work in progress on all of these things!)
Why I am thankful for SEBTS...
Two years into our time here in Wake Forest I was blessed to get a job in the Provost Office on campus. I now not only had the experience of being a seminary spouse but also a seminary employee. It has been an honor to work with the faculty and administration on this campus. These men and women are a true gift to the kingdom of God and they love the Lord with all their hearts. They pray for their students and hope that each of them are equipped to go and spread the Gospel once they leave here.
It has also been a joy to work with the support staff on this campus. From the administrative assistants to the secretaries to the directors of various departments, I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt these people work here not for money but as a ministry God has given them. The friendships I have made here will last a lifetime.
What I am most thankful for though is the vision of this school. Their passion is for everyone to GO! No matter where that is...across the ocean, across the country or across the street. They want people to leave this place and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ no matter what. The minute you step on this campus you quickly feel that and I am thankful Michael and I are equipped to go to Chicago. Thank you SEBTS for being faithful to the Word, for being servants willing to teach and for equipping students to go. You will forever hold a special place in our hearts and we are thankful God led us here even for a brief time. We look forward to being a part of the many that have gone out before us and the many that will come after!
When I walk off this campus for the last time on December 30, it will be with joyful tears. God took me on a journey and refined me for His glory. As a new journey and refining process begins, I can say I am ready for the future because I know who is in control and I know He has called me to GO!
Love from the Forest!
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Friday, November 7, 2014
The Windy City
Hi friends! I often apologize for the long time spans between posts on this here blog of mine. But I'm not gonna do it today, because let's face it, we are all busy and sometimes posting to a blog just doesn't make it on the to do list if you know what I mean. So instead I will just say welcome back and thanks for reading!
I recently had a few conversations with some friends who said they don't always mind that my blog posts are few and far between because it means there is probably some important information to be shared if I am taking the time to post :-) Today is one of those days!
Today marks 5 wonderful years that Michael and I have been married. 5 years?!? I often wonder where the time went. We have had our share of ups, downs, joys, hurdles and struggles, but through it all our marriage has been a complete joy and an adventure I have loved every minute of. It seems only fitting to share our next great adventure with you all on the day we celebrate our life together.
As many of you know, Michael will be graduating on December 12 (yay!!!) As we have approached this day over the past several months we have been in prayer over where the Lord is leading us to serve as we end this Seminary chapter. God often answers these prayers in some very unique ways. So, without further adieu...our next great adventure will be leading us to Chicago! Yep, I said Chicago. Trust me, I have done a few double takes myself over the past few weeks.
I am sure there are several questions running through your head about how two people who have lived south of the Mason-Dixon line their entire lives end up in Chicago. Well, the answer is God and God alone! We will be heading to Park Community Church where Michael will be taking on the role of Controller. This ministry position gives him the opportunity to marry both his ministry skills learned at seminary with his many years of business/CPA experience.
Park Community Church is located in the heart of Chicago and they have a huge passion for reaching the city. It was a joy to visit with them several weeks ago to see this passion first hand. We are excited to join the team and partner with them to see the gospel spread.
We will be moving to Chicago the last week of December/first week of January...just in time for the dead of winter :-) We will be living in the city and look forward to transitioning from suburban life to city life. We know this is going to be a big change for us but it is one we are excited about. Not so sure if Lincoln is going to love the cold and snow, but at least he is an inside dog.
Making this decision has been very bittersweet for us. We will be moving farther away from family and leaving our friends and church family from FBC Durham. But we know that God calls us to go wherever He opens the door and we are excited to see what He will do. Our time at Southeastern has taught us so much and we believe has prepared us for this next step in our journey. They don't call it the Great Commission Seminary for nothing!
So friends, please pray for us as we have 2 months before we make this transition. It is not a lot of time to accomplish the many things we need to do with the holidays thrown in there but we are trusting that if God has called us to it he will make a way for us.
We look forward to sharing this new journey with you. And since we will be living in a cool new city with much to do, maybe I will post a little more often on here :-) And of course, visitors will be welcome! Love from the Forest....soon to be the Windy City!
I recently had a few conversations with some friends who said they don't always mind that my blog posts are few and far between because it means there is probably some important information to be shared if I am taking the time to post :-) Today is one of those days!
Today marks 5 wonderful years that Michael and I have been married. 5 years?!? I often wonder where the time went. We have had our share of ups, downs, joys, hurdles and struggles, but through it all our marriage has been a complete joy and an adventure I have loved every minute of. It seems only fitting to share our next great adventure with you all on the day we celebrate our life together.
As many of you know, Michael will be graduating on December 12 (yay!!!) As we have approached this day over the past several months we have been in prayer over where the Lord is leading us to serve as we end this Seminary chapter. God often answers these prayers in some very unique ways. So, without further adieu...our next great adventure will be leading us to Chicago! Yep, I said Chicago. Trust me, I have done a few double takes myself over the past few weeks.
I am sure there are several questions running through your head about how two people who have lived south of the Mason-Dixon line their entire lives end up in Chicago. Well, the answer is God and God alone! We will be heading to Park Community Church where Michael will be taking on the role of Controller. This ministry position gives him the opportunity to marry both his ministry skills learned at seminary with his many years of business/CPA experience.
Park Community Church is located in the heart of Chicago and they have a huge passion for reaching the city. It was a joy to visit with them several weeks ago to see this passion first hand. We are excited to join the team and partner with them to see the gospel spread.
We will be moving to Chicago the last week of December/first week of January...just in time for the dead of winter :-) We will be living in the city and look forward to transitioning from suburban life to city life. We know this is going to be a big change for us but it is one we are excited about. Not so sure if Lincoln is going to love the cold and snow, but at least he is an inside dog.
Making this decision has been very bittersweet for us. We will be moving farther away from family and leaving our friends and church family from FBC Durham. But we know that God calls us to go wherever He opens the door and we are excited to see what He will do. Our time at Southeastern has taught us so much and we believe has prepared us for this next step in our journey. They don't call it the Great Commission Seminary for nothing!
So friends, please pray for us as we have 2 months before we make this transition. It is not a lot of time to accomplish the many things we need to do with the holidays thrown in there but we are trusting that if God has called us to it he will make a way for us.
We look forward to sharing this new journey with you. And since we will be living in a cool new city with much to do, maybe I will post a little more often on here :-) And of course, visitors will be welcome! Love from the Forest....soon to be the Windy City!
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Adoption Update
Hi friends! I know, I know, I know....it has been a long time since I posted. But I promise I have a good reason for it. What you are about to read is still rather raw in our lives, but my hope is that sharing it will bless someone who has or will experience a similar situation and to share with my fellow believers who I know will lift us up in prayer as we continue this journey. (P.S. It's long....but if you have read any of my other blogs you know that is par for the course).
That said, I want to first and foremost bless the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Because no matter what happens in this life he deserves all praise, honor and glory....period. No matter what we face, He is right there leading the charge and fighting for us in ways we don't even know or fully comprehend. I am so thankful I am a child of the King. To understand the joy we can still find in this situation, you have to understand that and how it shades every aspect of our life.
So, let's start at the very beginning. After all, Maria in the Sound of Music says it is a very good place to start :-) As many of you know, back in January, Michael and I began the international adoption process from Ukraine with Lifeline Children's Services. There were pages and pages of paperwork to complete and phone conferences to have and then there was the unrest in Ukraine that wasn't making things much easier either. But still, we trudged along with the many requirements we had to fulfill.
On Easter Sunday this year we were about 2-3 days away from turning in the next round of paperwork as well as a $2000 non-refundable payment. That Sunday, I got a text from my mom stating that my grandmother's hairdresser had a daughter who was pregnant and incarcerated in a prison in Georgia. Would we be interested in possibly adopting the baby?! Our immediate answer was YES! Thus began a roller coaster journey like nothing I have ever experienced in my life. FYI....birthmom is due July 14!
At this point we had to work fast, we basically had 3 months. We immediately contacted Lifeline and put things on hold with the international adoption (totally a God thing stopping that payment before it went!) We then began researching what in the world one does for an independent, interstate adoption with an incarcerated mother....yep....we thought the same thing...WHAT?! We were blessed to find a local lawyer who also runs an adoption agency called A Child's Hope. Not only could they do an expedited home study for us, our lawyer could also handle the legal portions of the adoption. But then we also found out we had to have an attorney in Georgia as well. Again, God worked and we were able to find someone though our good friend Randy Smith.
Once we signed on with everyone we began yet another round of paper work. Let's just say my husband really learned what a control freak I am with all this paper work. I was quite the task master where it was concerned and we worked hard and fast to complete everything. We had to gather notarized reference letters (special thanks to our sweet friends who moved so quickly on this!), we had to have an updated physical completed, we had to get a back ground check from the county and an FBI background check. Not to mention financial records, birth certificates, marriage certificate etc. You name it, we probably had to have it!
On a side note, it was quite hilarious to see Michael and I head into the Wake County Prison to get fingerprinted for our FBI background check. The sweet security guard took pity on us and helped us know where to go and what to do...we were totally fish out of water. But hey, if you ever need to get fingerprinted I can give you the scoop on what to do and where to go.
But I digress, as we are working through the paperwork process, we are also getting info about the birthmother and trying to figure out how we can contact her and visit her. Through much research of the prison system in Georgia, I was able to figure out a time for us to go and visit. We were also able to send postcards to her in order to introduce ourselves and make sure we were on her visitation list. We were about a week away from heading down to GA for the visit when one evening around 9:30 I had a strange number come up on my phone. Normally I would have ignored it but thank the Lord he prompted me to answer. It was a collect call from the prison and birthmom was on the other side. I only had about 10 minutes to chat with her but it was a great icebreaker before meeting her in person the next week. At that time she sounded quite happy about the prospect of adoption (I forgot to mention that the birthdad is in prison as well).
Let me say, that until getting fingerprinted, I had never been to a prison before. For those who have known me since I was little, I am a goody-two-shoes to the max. The mere idea of getting in trouble was enough for me to break out in a sweat. So walking into my second prison in under a month was totally a God thing! When we arrived, we found out that only one of us could visit with birthmom. We decided it would be best for me to do it and Mike would sit right outside and storm Heaven with his prayers.
As I was taken in to the visitation room I had an "is this really happening" moment. But the Lord gave me that peace that passes all understanding and I sat down in front of the video screen and picked up the phone like I had seen done on TV so many times and began our 15 minute conversation. Our chat went well and it was good to learn more about her and she learned more about Michael and I as well. At that point she was still unsure of what she wanted to do but said that we were a Godsend and she would stay in touch.
At this point, we weren't sure what our emotions were about the whole situation. We were happy that she was honest about not being sure, but at the same time it made us uneasy too. All we could do was trust. To give you a time reference this visit happened on the Thursday before Memorial Day. As soon as we left the prison we headed to Florida with my parents for a few days of rest.
Upon our return that next Wednesday, we had our first Home Study visit with Kelly from A Child's Hope. What a blessing Kelly has been! We had 3 visits with her and she made the whole process so easy and shared her own adoption story with us. She wrote up our Home Study in record time and it has been ready to go for the past 2 weeks. We were thankful for at least one portion of this process to be somewhat simple :-)
Back to the birthmom. Long story short....birthmom got out of jail. In addition, her boyfriend is due to be released from prison in August, and she is optimistic that their situation will improve and they will be able to raise the baby together. Over the past few weeks, I believe God started preparing Michael and I for what was to come. This past Monday was 2 weeks from the due date for this sweet baby. And this past Monday night, I spoke with birthmom who let me know that she is indeed going to keep the baby.
When I first hung up the phone I didn't feel much. I was basically numb and dreading telling Mike once he got home from work. And then I started dreading telling those people in our lives who have known about the situation and been praying for us. It was a strange place to be. Not knowing exactly what to do. But I was reminded of Job in that moment and how he blessed the name of the Lord when he had lost so much more in comparison. As much as it hurt, I chose to bless His name in that moment. As disappointing as it is even in this moment as I type, I choose to bless his name.
We are not the first family to ever experience this type of disappointment, nor will we be the last. It is the nature of such a process. But I genuinely believe God calls people to it and I genuinely believe that he will pick us right back up and help us as we try again. Just because this didn't go through doesn't mean that God's call to do it has gone away. A verse that has sustained me through this whole process is Exodus 14:14 which says, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." So, we will be still in our hearts and trust that God is fighting for us as we move forward in this process.
I told the birthmother that should she find herself in a place over the next few months or even years that she can't care for the baby, we are here and we will gladly adopt at any point. Our prayer more than anything is that these parents will find Christ and raise their child in a godly home. We also pray God's protection over this new little life that is being born into a difficult situation. And we continue to pray for the Lord's direction as we take the next steps in the adoption process. I ask that you please pray these things with me friends.
We will keep you posted on our next steps and how we see the Lord working. For now, we are going to enjoy the long 4th of July weekend and we pray that all of you do as well! What a blessing it is to have the freedom to serve our Lord! Lots of love from the Forest!
That said, I want to first and foremost bless the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Because no matter what happens in this life he deserves all praise, honor and glory....period. No matter what we face, He is right there leading the charge and fighting for us in ways we don't even know or fully comprehend. I am so thankful I am a child of the King. To understand the joy we can still find in this situation, you have to understand that and how it shades every aspect of our life.
So, let's start at the very beginning. After all, Maria in the Sound of Music says it is a very good place to start :-) As many of you know, back in January, Michael and I began the international adoption process from Ukraine with Lifeline Children's Services. There were pages and pages of paperwork to complete and phone conferences to have and then there was the unrest in Ukraine that wasn't making things much easier either. But still, we trudged along with the many requirements we had to fulfill.
On Easter Sunday this year we were about 2-3 days away from turning in the next round of paperwork as well as a $2000 non-refundable payment. That Sunday, I got a text from my mom stating that my grandmother's hairdresser had a daughter who was pregnant and incarcerated in a prison in Georgia. Would we be interested in possibly adopting the baby?! Our immediate answer was YES! Thus began a roller coaster journey like nothing I have ever experienced in my life. FYI....birthmom is due July 14!
At this point we had to work fast, we basically had 3 months. We immediately contacted Lifeline and put things on hold with the international adoption (totally a God thing stopping that payment before it went!) We then began researching what in the world one does for an independent, interstate adoption with an incarcerated mother....yep....we thought the same thing...WHAT?! We were blessed to find a local lawyer who also runs an adoption agency called A Child's Hope. Not only could they do an expedited home study for us, our lawyer could also handle the legal portions of the adoption. But then we also found out we had to have an attorney in Georgia as well. Again, God worked and we were able to find someone though our good friend Randy Smith.
Once we signed on with everyone we began yet another round of paper work. Let's just say my husband really learned what a control freak I am with all this paper work. I was quite the task master where it was concerned and we worked hard and fast to complete everything. We had to gather notarized reference letters (special thanks to our sweet friends who moved so quickly on this!), we had to have an updated physical completed, we had to get a back ground check from the county and an FBI background check. Not to mention financial records, birth certificates, marriage certificate etc. You name it, we probably had to have it!
On a side note, it was quite hilarious to see Michael and I head into the Wake County Prison to get fingerprinted for our FBI background check. The sweet security guard took pity on us and helped us know where to go and what to do...we were totally fish out of water. But hey, if you ever need to get fingerprinted I can give you the scoop on what to do and where to go.
But I digress, as we are working through the paperwork process, we are also getting info about the birthmother and trying to figure out how we can contact her and visit her. Through much research of the prison system in Georgia, I was able to figure out a time for us to go and visit. We were also able to send postcards to her in order to introduce ourselves and make sure we were on her visitation list. We were about a week away from heading down to GA for the visit when one evening around 9:30 I had a strange number come up on my phone. Normally I would have ignored it but thank the Lord he prompted me to answer. It was a collect call from the prison and birthmom was on the other side. I only had about 10 minutes to chat with her but it was a great icebreaker before meeting her in person the next week. At that time she sounded quite happy about the prospect of adoption (I forgot to mention that the birthdad is in prison as well).
Let me say, that until getting fingerprinted, I had never been to a prison before. For those who have known me since I was little, I am a goody-two-shoes to the max. The mere idea of getting in trouble was enough for me to break out in a sweat. So walking into my second prison in under a month was totally a God thing! When we arrived, we found out that only one of us could visit with birthmom. We decided it would be best for me to do it and Mike would sit right outside and storm Heaven with his prayers.
As I was taken in to the visitation room I had an "is this really happening" moment. But the Lord gave me that peace that passes all understanding and I sat down in front of the video screen and picked up the phone like I had seen done on TV so many times and began our 15 minute conversation. Our chat went well and it was good to learn more about her and she learned more about Michael and I as well. At that point she was still unsure of what she wanted to do but said that we were a Godsend and she would stay in touch.
At this point, we weren't sure what our emotions were about the whole situation. We were happy that she was honest about not being sure, but at the same time it made us uneasy too. All we could do was trust. To give you a time reference this visit happened on the Thursday before Memorial Day. As soon as we left the prison we headed to Florida with my parents for a few days of rest.
Upon our return that next Wednesday, we had our first Home Study visit with Kelly from A Child's Hope. What a blessing Kelly has been! We had 3 visits with her and she made the whole process so easy and shared her own adoption story with us. She wrote up our Home Study in record time and it has been ready to go for the past 2 weeks. We were thankful for at least one portion of this process to be somewhat simple :-)
Back to the birthmom. Long story short....birthmom got out of jail. In addition, her boyfriend is due to be released from prison in August, and she is optimistic that their situation will improve and they will be able to raise the baby together. Over the past few weeks, I believe God started preparing Michael and I for what was to come. This past Monday was 2 weeks from the due date for this sweet baby. And this past Monday night, I spoke with birthmom who let me know that she is indeed going to keep the baby.
When I first hung up the phone I didn't feel much. I was basically numb and dreading telling Mike once he got home from work. And then I started dreading telling those people in our lives who have known about the situation and been praying for us. It was a strange place to be. Not knowing exactly what to do. But I was reminded of Job in that moment and how he blessed the name of the Lord when he had lost so much more in comparison. As much as it hurt, I chose to bless His name in that moment. As disappointing as it is even in this moment as I type, I choose to bless his name.
We are not the first family to ever experience this type of disappointment, nor will we be the last. It is the nature of such a process. But I genuinely believe God calls people to it and I genuinely believe that he will pick us right back up and help us as we try again. Just because this didn't go through doesn't mean that God's call to do it has gone away. A verse that has sustained me through this whole process is Exodus 14:14 which says, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." So, we will be still in our hearts and trust that God is fighting for us as we move forward in this process.
I told the birthmother that should she find herself in a place over the next few months or even years that she can't care for the baby, we are here and we will gladly adopt at any point. Our prayer more than anything is that these parents will find Christ and raise their child in a godly home. We also pray God's protection over this new little life that is being born into a difficult situation. And we continue to pray for the Lord's direction as we take the next steps in the adoption process. I ask that you please pray these things with me friends.
We will keep you posted on our next steps and how we see the Lord working. For now, we are going to enjoy the long 4th of July weekend and we pray that all of you do as well! What a blessing it is to have the freedom to serve our Lord! Lots of love from the Forest!
Friday, April 11, 2014
There and back again...Atlanta, not Middle Earth
I had the chance to visit my hometown of Atlanta a few weeks ago. Sadly, Mike couldn't join me due to loads of school work so we decided I would fly down for a long weekend. I missed my hubby and my puppy but it was great to visit Mom and Dad and get to see tons of friends and family too! Hope you enjoy the journey with me!
I arrived in Atlanta on Thursday evening and mom and dad picked me up from the thriving metropolis known as the Atlanta airport! Friday morning Mom and I headed to a CABI party. If you don't know what that is, it is basically like an in-home jewelry party but with clothes instead. The party was at Wanda Clarke's house. Wanda is one of my childhood mamas. Her daughter Jessica and I have known each other since birth. It was such a blessing being back in her home and reminiscing about so many memories made there. It was also fun to look at the cool clothes.
From there, I headed to the Mall of GA and met up with my best friend Julie. We went to a place called Burger 21. It was super yummy! Hopefully they will make there way to Raleigh because my burger lovin husband would love it! Here are a couple of pics of us after our 2.5 hour lunch....we had much to catch up on :-)
Thankfully I had one free night just to hang out with Mom and Dad. We spent Friday evening in and Mom and I cooked dinner. It was just like the old days. Where does the time go? I also introduced Mom to the Brussels Sprouts I shared here on the blog. She loved them....Dad on the other hand was not a fan. You would have thought the sprouts had the Bubonic Plague the way he stared at them! I am so thankful for my parents and the way they have always loved me and Tara and now our families as well. I try not to take for granted how blessed I am to have them as parents.
Saturday dawned as another busy day. First up was coffee with my childhood friend Jessica...the same one mentioned above. I was born in February and she was born in April. We met in the nursery and have been friends ever since. I hate that I forgot to get a picture of us...sorry! We had a great time catching up and hopefully we can make it happen much sooner the next time :-)
Next up on the Tour de Georgia was a visit to see my Nana. She recently moved to a swanky retirement home called The Park. No joke, this place is like the Ritz! Even better though is that she is only 5 minutes from Mom and Dad. Me and mom and Dad and my Aunt Tina and my 3 cousins all had lunch with Nana that day. I got a few family shots at the end.
I arrived in Atlanta on Thursday evening and mom and dad picked me up from the thriving metropolis known as the Atlanta airport! Friday morning Mom and I headed to a CABI party. If you don't know what that is, it is basically like an in-home jewelry party but with clothes instead. The party was at Wanda Clarke's house. Wanda is one of my childhood mamas. Her daughter Jessica and I have known each other since birth. It was such a blessing being back in her home and reminiscing about so many memories made there. It was also fun to look at the cool clothes.
From there, I headed to the Mall of GA and met up with my best friend Julie. We went to a place called Burger 21. It was super yummy! Hopefully they will make there way to Raleigh because my burger lovin husband would love it! Here are a couple of pics of us after our 2.5 hour lunch....we had much to catch up on :-)
We are kinda silly...
Thankfully I had one free night just to hang out with Mom and Dad. We spent Friday evening in and Mom and I cooked dinner. It was just like the old days. Where does the time go? I also introduced Mom to the Brussels Sprouts I shared here on the blog. She loved them....Dad on the other hand was not a fan. You would have thought the sprouts had the Bubonic Plague the way he stared at them! I am so thankful for my parents and the way they have always loved me and Tara and now our families as well. I try not to take for granted how blessed I am to have them as parents.
Saturday dawned as another busy day. First up was coffee with my childhood friend Jessica...the same one mentioned above. I was born in February and she was born in April. We met in the nursery and have been friends ever since. I hate that I forgot to get a picture of us...sorry! We had a great time catching up and hopefully we can make it happen much sooner the next time :-)
Next up on the Tour de Georgia was a visit to see my Nana. She recently moved to a swanky retirement home called The Park. No joke, this place is like the Ritz! Even better though is that she is only 5 minutes from Mom and Dad. Me and mom and Dad and my Aunt Tina and my 3 cousins all had lunch with Nana that day. I got a few family shots at the end.
Me and Nana
Me, Mallory, J.P. and Georgia...I used to rock these kiddos to sleep...now look at them! So proud of each of them. They are all super smart and so talented!
Me & Mally!
Me & Aunt Tina
Later that evening we met my other grandmother, Mommyo and her new husband Billy, for dinner. Included in our very large number was our newest family members Billy's 2 daughters, Son-in-law, Granddaughter, Grandson-in-law and 4 great grand-daughters. We were also joined by my Uncle Kevin, Aunt Cathy and cousin Marc. There were 16 of us and we were missing 6 people! Needless to say, both sides of my family are now quite large :-) We had a great time at a Hibachi restaurant and then all headed back to Mommyo's for dessert. It was great to meet this new family of ours and laugh and have a great time. Sadly there was so much going on that I couldn't get a picture of the whole crew. Thankfully I was able to get one with Mommyo at church the next day!
Last but certainly not least on my whirlwind visit was lunch with Uncle John, Aunt Cheryl, Cousin Jenn and her hubby Keith and their sweet girls Maddy, Macie and Piper....oh and Mom and Dad too! We figured up while we were there that Dad's side of the family is now up to 26! I am thankful for my big happy family. It was great to catch up with everyone and spend time with Jenn again. We used to be attached at the hip from infancy through college then we had to go off and get jobs and get married and have babies...or adopt them in my case :-) Growing up is fun, but it is great to share the memories when we are together!
Here is a pic of me and Jenn...I'm not so sure Piper was as happy about taking a picture :-)
That is about all for this trip. Mom and Dad took me back to the airport that afternoon where I was happy to head home and see my husband and Lincoln. Of course, there is never a dull moment at the Atlanta airport. My flight was delayed 45 minutes and they changed our gate 3 times. I walked the length of concourse A then had to go all the way back, get on the train and walk the length of concourse B. When I texted my mom that I had been to A3, A4 and B27 she wrote me back and said "bingo!" And that ladies and gentlemen is why I love her so much...she always has such a great outlook on life and has so much fun no matter what is going on. It was a crazy whirlwind of a visit but it was great fun and I was so happy to be able to spend time with so many people. Georgia will forever and always be on my mind because of all the wonderful people I love that live there. See you soon Atlanta! For now though, it is great to get back to my two favorites!
See you next time blog readers! Love from the Forest!
Friday, March 28, 2014
Noah...to see or not to see, that is the question
As Christians living in a media saturated society there is always a fine line between what we should and should not support. Unfortunately that dilemma seems to be occurring more and more frequently as Hollywood keeps cranking out productions based on Biblical stories. As an aside, I must say I find it ironic that they have run out of enough fresh ideas that they are now turning to the very Book they despise to get their creative juices flowing. But I digress. How do we as Christians living in the 21st century live out our faith and manage to be in the world but not of the world? I don't know about you, but that is something I have a continual struggle with.
There are many rabbit trails I could take concerning the topic of being in the world and not of the world but that would be quite a long post. And let's face it, I am long winded enough :-) So, let's talk about Noah. Both the Noah of the Bible and the Noah in the new movie coming out....and yes, they are 2 completely different people...one is a true hero of faith while the other is Hollywood's poor excuse of man who doesn't really know God and just wanted to save the environment (interesting way to go about it!)
The movie Noah hits theaters this weekend and has caused quite the stir among Christians, Non-Christians and even the Arab community. I will admit that yes, it does look like an incredible cinematic display of special effects. And yes, they have some incredibly big Oscar winning stars portraying the roles. But does that mean we should support it? Does that mean we should pay $10.00 or more per person to see something that is only "loosely" based on scripture and distorts the true story of Noah and turns it into something it was never meant to be?
I have been writing this blog for a few days now thanks to the prompting of my mom (we had a discussion about it while I was home last week and she told me I should write about it here...you can thank her :-)) Anyway, I have been adding and deleting things as I think about this topic and as I read multiple blogs and other articles about it. Sadly, there is great divisiveness among the Christian community as to whether or not we should see this movie. And not just divisiveness, but name calling and disparaging people's characters. That more than anything breaks my heart because we further portray to a lost and dying world a hypocritical nature and the forsaking of our Christ centered community. When we fight against each other who wins?
This blog is not to tell you what to do concerning seeing this movie, but more to give you some food for thought concerning it. Ultimately the choice is between you and the Lord as in all things. Again, going back to the point of how to live in the world and not of the world.
So, let's dive right in shall we :-) I was blessed to hear a sermon in SEBTS chapel this week about the second temptation of Christ in Matthew 4. The topic of this blog wasn't where the speaker went with the message, but I made a connection that for me was a light bulb moment in light of this blog topic. In Matthew 4:6 the devil quotes Psalm 61:11-12 to Jesus and he grossly misrepresents and misinterprets the verses. And I thought, if the devil can use the very Word of God against the Son of God, why would we ever think he wouldn't do the same thing to us mere humans in forms that are easily accessible. We see this clearly in the Noah movie. The devil has used a proclaimed atheist director to make a movie about a true story from the Word of God and he has done it through the lens of entertainment, and boy do we love to be entertained here in America.
Sadly, there are too many Christians out there who see a movie like Noah advertised and immediately think this is something they need to support to help further the cause of Christ. Unfortunately this is exactly where the devil wants us. Because if he can get us in the door, the mental images that stay in our mind from the movie will often times strongly overcome our knowledge of the true scripture passage. To give an example...How many of you have ever seen the Ten Commandments staring Charlton Heston? When you think of the story of Moses does your mind go straight to the scripture or to what you remember from the movie? When you "picture" Moses in your head, how much does he look like Charlton Heston? And I hate to burst some people's bubble, but the character of Nefretiri is not in the scriptural account of Moses :-) It is so easy for these seemingly harmless images to infiltrate our minds until we realize how far away from the truth we have gone. When faced with decisions about what to support and not support as believers, I believe we need to ask ourselves some questions based on scripture.
2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." Now, I am not remotely saying that this movie should be held in the same esteem as the Word of God, but since it claims to be loosely based on scripture, I think it is healthy for us as believers to ask if something like this film is useful in these aspects. Is this movie useful for teaching me anything? Is this movie going to rebuke me in my current sins? Will it correct me? Will it train me in righteousness? More importantly, is this movie going to bring me closer to the God of this universe and bring him glory? I can tell you that my answer is a profound no to all of these questions, but you must answer them for yourself.
Another passage that gives you some direction is asking the right questions is Philippians 4:8 which says, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." Again, when thinking about this film you have to ask yourself is this true? noble? right? pure? lovely? admirable? excellent? praiseworthy (to God...not man!)? I think you get the picture. When we evaluate our decisions through the lens of scripture the decision doesn't seem to be so hard anymore. P.S. These are questions we need to ask about everything...not just this movie.
There are many Christians who will say that we should see this movie so we can know how to defend our faith and share the true story of Noah. To them I give an example my husband uses often. When banks are training their employees to spot counterfeit bills, they don't show them various kinds of counterfeit bills. Instead, they have them study what a real bill looks like. They memorize every nuance of the bill so it is ingrained in their mind. This then enables them to spot any type of counterfeit bill no matter what changes have been made to it. You see, when you have the truth memorized you can defend it against any falsehood brought before you. This situation is no different. If you know the story of Noah inside and out from Genesis 6-9 it doesn't matter what questions someone brings you from the movie, you will know if it is a falsehood because you are in possession of The Truth.
There are indeed movies that Christians can get behind and support because they are based on glorifying God and getting the message of Christ out to an unbelieving world. But I don't believe there has to be gimmicks, millions of dollars and story inflation to do it. Obviously there are movies such as the Jesus Film (entirely based on scripture), Facing the Giants, Fireproof, Courageous and most recently God's Not Dead that we can indeed get behind because their sole purpose is to bring people to the cross. But there are other productions that have come out recently that also have gross misrepresentations of the facts of scripture and yet Christians back them. There are some obvious ones not in my list above so you can probably guess what they are :-) All that to say, as believers we must be careful where we step in culture these days. And the only way to step boldly without any regret is to rely solely on the truth of the Word of God.
You have probably gathered that Michael and I will not be seeing Noah when it hits the theaters this weekend. But in closing, I do want to say that I believe God can use anything or anybody to draw unbelievers to Himself. And I do pray that those unsaved people who see this movie will be drawn to the scripture and to the true story of the Living God because of it. But, I don't think it wise for me to attend for all the reasons I listed above. It is one of those times when I think it is important to be salt and light. I also think it is important that we as believers support each others decision whether we go see it or not. Our unity as the body of Christ is far more important than the entertainment industry!
Thanks for sticking with me if you read this far :-) Hopefully I gave you a little to think about. Next up will be a post about my trip to Atlanta last weekend. It was so great to see friends and family. Have a great weekend! Love from the Forest!
There are many rabbit trails I could take concerning the topic of being in the world and not of the world but that would be quite a long post. And let's face it, I am long winded enough :-) So, let's talk about Noah. Both the Noah of the Bible and the Noah in the new movie coming out....and yes, they are 2 completely different people...one is a true hero of faith while the other is Hollywood's poor excuse of man who doesn't really know God and just wanted to save the environment (interesting way to go about it!)
The movie Noah hits theaters this weekend and has caused quite the stir among Christians, Non-Christians and even the Arab community. I will admit that yes, it does look like an incredible cinematic display of special effects. And yes, they have some incredibly big Oscar winning stars portraying the roles. But does that mean we should support it? Does that mean we should pay $10.00 or more per person to see something that is only "loosely" based on scripture and distorts the true story of Noah and turns it into something it was never meant to be?
I have been writing this blog for a few days now thanks to the prompting of my mom (we had a discussion about it while I was home last week and she told me I should write about it here...you can thank her :-)) Anyway, I have been adding and deleting things as I think about this topic and as I read multiple blogs and other articles about it. Sadly, there is great divisiveness among the Christian community as to whether or not we should see this movie. And not just divisiveness, but name calling and disparaging people's characters. That more than anything breaks my heart because we further portray to a lost and dying world a hypocritical nature and the forsaking of our Christ centered community. When we fight against each other who wins?
This blog is not to tell you what to do concerning seeing this movie, but more to give you some food for thought concerning it. Ultimately the choice is between you and the Lord as in all things. Again, going back to the point of how to live in the world and not of the world.
So, let's dive right in shall we :-) I was blessed to hear a sermon in SEBTS chapel this week about the second temptation of Christ in Matthew 4. The topic of this blog wasn't where the speaker went with the message, but I made a connection that for me was a light bulb moment in light of this blog topic. In Matthew 4:6 the devil quotes Psalm 61:11-12 to Jesus and he grossly misrepresents and misinterprets the verses. And I thought, if the devil can use the very Word of God against the Son of God, why would we ever think he wouldn't do the same thing to us mere humans in forms that are easily accessible. We see this clearly in the Noah movie. The devil has used a proclaimed atheist director to make a movie about a true story from the Word of God and he has done it through the lens of entertainment, and boy do we love to be entertained here in America.
Sadly, there are too many Christians out there who see a movie like Noah advertised and immediately think this is something they need to support to help further the cause of Christ. Unfortunately this is exactly where the devil wants us. Because if he can get us in the door, the mental images that stay in our mind from the movie will often times strongly overcome our knowledge of the true scripture passage. To give an example...How many of you have ever seen the Ten Commandments staring Charlton Heston? When you think of the story of Moses does your mind go straight to the scripture or to what you remember from the movie? When you "picture" Moses in your head, how much does he look like Charlton Heston? And I hate to burst some people's bubble, but the character of Nefretiri is not in the scriptural account of Moses :-) It is so easy for these seemingly harmless images to infiltrate our minds until we realize how far away from the truth we have gone. When faced with decisions about what to support and not support as believers, I believe we need to ask ourselves some questions based on scripture.
2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." Now, I am not remotely saying that this movie should be held in the same esteem as the Word of God, but since it claims to be loosely based on scripture, I think it is healthy for us as believers to ask if something like this film is useful in these aspects. Is this movie useful for teaching me anything? Is this movie going to rebuke me in my current sins? Will it correct me? Will it train me in righteousness? More importantly, is this movie going to bring me closer to the God of this universe and bring him glory? I can tell you that my answer is a profound no to all of these questions, but you must answer them for yourself.
Another passage that gives you some direction is asking the right questions is Philippians 4:8 which says, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." Again, when thinking about this film you have to ask yourself is this true? noble? right? pure? lovely? admirable? excellent? praiseworthy (to God...not man!)? I think you get the picture. When we evaluate our decisions through the lens of scripture the decision doesn't seem to be so hard anymore. P.S. These are questions we need to ask about everything...not just this movie.
There are many Christians who will say that we should see this movie so we can know how to defend our faith and share the true story of Noah. To them I give an example my husband uses often. When banks are training their employees to spot counterfeit bills, they don't show them various kinds of counterfeit bills. Instead, they have them study what a real bill looks like. They memorize every nuance of the bill so it is ingrained in their mind. This then enables them to spot any type of counterfeit bill no matter what changes have been made to it. You see, when you have the truth memorized you can defend it against any falsehood brought before you. This situation is no different. If you know the story of Noah inside and out from Genesis 6-9 it doesn't matter what questions someone brings you from the movie, you will know if it is a falsehood because you are in possession of The Truth.
There are indeed movies that Christians can get behind and support because they are based on glorifying God and getting the message of Christ out to an unbelieving world. But I don't believe there has to be gimmicks, millions of dollars and story inflation to do it. Obviously there are movies such as the Jesus Film (entirely based on scripture), Facing the Giants, Fireproof, Courageous and most recently God's Not Dead that we can indeed get behind because their sole purpose is to bring people to the cross. But there are other productions that have come out recently that also have gross misrepresentations of the facts of scripture and yet Christians back them. There are some obvious ones not in my list above so you can probably guess what they are :-) All that to say, as believers we must be careful where we step in culture these days. And the only way to step boldly without any regret is to rely solely on the truth of the Word of God.
You have probably gathered that Michael and I will not be seeing Noah when it hits the theaters this weekend. But in closing, I do want to say that I believe God can use anything or anybody to draw unbelievers to Himself. And I do pray that those unsaved people who see this movie will be drawn to the scripture and to the true story of the Living God because of it. But, I don't think it wise for me to attend for all the reasons I listed above. It is one of those times when I think it is important to be salt and light. I also think it is important that we as believers support each others decision whether we go see it or not. Our unity as the body of Christ is far more important than the entertainment industry!
Thanks for sticking with me if you read this far :-) Hopefully I gave you a little to think about. Next up will be a post about my trip to Atlanta last weekend. It was so great to see friends and family. Have a great weekend! Love from the Forest!
Monday, March 3, 2014
The Sprout
Let's face it, the Brussels Sprout gets a bad rap. And yes, it is supposed to be Brussels with a capital B and an "s" on the end...even in the singular. I know this because I looked it up...and because I am a foodie dork :-)
We have all heard the age old stories of how parents made kids eat their Brussels sprouts and how much they resented their parents for such torture and thus swore off all greens until one day as an adult they realized green vegetables actually taste good...except Brussels Sprouts...they would never taste good because they brought back terrible childhood memories. Ok, that might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but the poor Brussels sprout does get a bad rap and is usually the punch line of the vegetable joke world....if there is such a thing :-)
I must admit, the Brussels sprout has never held much appeal to me. My parents aren't really fans of them and I was one of the lucky kids that wasn't forced to eat them or hide them in a napkin and flush them down the toilet later (yes, I know someone who did this). So, they have just never been on my radar...until now. Because I love to try new things and cook with new foods I was intrigued by this cute little sprout and how I could turn it into something yummy.
On a side note, I have made them in the past and they were a disaster. That was about 2 years ago. That was before Pioneer Woman came into my life. She opened up the world of the sprout to me :-) I highly recommend trying Brussels sprouts using her recipe, especially for your first time out. She makes this wonderfully yummy balsamic glaze and adds dried cranberries to the mix (bacon is a nice addition as well...but when is bacon not a nice addition to anything?!). Roasting the sprouts gives them a tender inside and crispy outside when cut in half. I have made this recipe twice now and Mike and I actually consumed more of the sprouts than the rest of the meal!
Once you have tried them a few times with the glaze, try them without it and just roast them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. They are equally good. If you like to use the glaze on a regular basis, I recommend cutting the amount of sugar in half. In fact, if it is just 2-3 people I recommend halving the whole recipe. Maybe buy the full amount and cook half one night and half another. This is one of those veggies that doesn't reheat very well.
So, all I can say is try them! I was skeptical myself but they were truly delicious. They might even make up for all that therapy you needed from being forced to eat them as a child :-) I posted a picture of the Pioneer Woman's recipe below as well as a link to it on her site. You can also find it in her newest cookbook. Happy sprout eating my friends!!
We have all heard the age old stories of how parents made kids eat their Brussels sprouts and how much they resented their parents for such torture and thus swore off all greens until one day as an adult they realized green vegetables actually taste good...except Brussels Sprouts...they would never taste good because they brought back terrible childhood memories. Ok, that might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but the poor Brussels sprout does get a bad rap and is usually the punch line of the vegetable joke world....if there is such a thing :-)
I must admit, the Brussels sprout has never held much appeal to me. My parents aren't really fans of them and I was one of the lucky kids that wasn't forced to eat them or hide them in a napkin and flush them down the toilet later (yes, I know someone who did this). So, they have just never been on my radar...until now. Because I love to try new things and cook with new foods I was intrigued by this cute little sprout and how I could turn it into something yummy.
On a side note, I have made them in the past and they were a disaster. That was about 2 years ago. That was before Pioneer Woman came into my life. She opened up the world of the sprout to me :-) I highly recommend trying Brussels sprouts using her recipe, especially for your first time out. She makes this wonderfully yummy balsamic glaze and adds dried cranberries to the mix (bacon is a nice addition as well...but when is bacon not a nice addition to anything?!). Roasting the sprouts gives them a tender inside and crispy outside when cut in half. I have made this recipe twice now and Mike and I actually consumed more of the sprouts than the rest of the meal!
Once you have tried them a few times with the glaze, try them without it and just roast them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. They are equally good. If you like to use the glaze on a regular basis, I recommend cutting the amount of sugar in half. In fact, if it is just 2-3 people I recommend halving the whole recipe. Maybe buy the full amount and cook half one night and half another. This is one of those veggies that doesn't reheat very well.
So, all I can say is try them! I was skeptical myself but they were truly delicious. They might even make up for all that therapy you needed from being forced to eat them as a child :-) I posted a picture of the Pioneer Woman's recipe below as well as a link to it on her site. You can also find it in her newest cookbook. Happy sprout eating my friends!!
Friday, February 28, 2014
Birthday Surprise
Happy Friday friends! I have tried to write this post all week, but as you know, life sometimes gets in the way of our best made plans. But, here it is finally. And this post is about how we told our parents about our decision to adopt. I think I have been promising this post for about 3 weeks now. I might not be fast, but I do follow through eventually right?!?! :-) So without further adieu, here we go....
As Mike and I started the application process for international adoption we couldn't decide when to tell our parents and extended family. Would it be better to just tell them now when we don't have a lot of answers? Or would it be better to wait until we are little further down the road so we have plenty of answers?Thankfully, the decision was made for us when the application specifically said please make sure you tell immediate family members before turning in the application. So, we started to plan.
Even though we weren't physically pregnant, we wanted to have a fun way to surprise our parents with the announcement. It is the surprise of a child no matter how they enter our family so we wanted to make it special and we wanted them to be together if at all possible. Yay for timely birthdays!
My birthday is on February 1 and this year that day happened to fall on the weekend. We had to do a little coaxing and planning, but both sets of parents decided to come celebrate my birthday. They thought they would be surprising me with gifts, but we had our own Birthday Surprise up our sleeves.
My birthday fell on Saturday and the plan was to just hang out at our house, open gifts and then go have dinner. So, the moms said it was time to open gifts and as usual they spoiled me. All while opening them though I was getting that nervous excitement right before you tell someone happy news. As I finished, Mike went upstairs and grabbed two gifts as well. Only these were for our parents.
We decided to have the moms open a gift. Inside the gift was Russell Moore's book Adopted for Life. This is a great book and I would recommend it for not only those thinking about adoption but for all church members who should know why supporting adoption is so important. I love this description of the book, "The gospel of Jesus Christ—the good news that through Jesus we have been adopted as sons and daughters into God's family—means that Christians ought to be at the forefront of the adoption of orphans in North America and around the world. Russell D. Moore does not shy away from this call in Adopted for Life, a practical manifesto for Christians to adopt children and to help equip other Christian families to do the same. He shows that adoption is not just about couples who want children—or who want more children. It is about an entire culture within the church, a culture that sees adoption as part of the Great Commission mandate and as a sign of the gospel itself." You won't regret purchasing this book!
So, when we handed them a gift on my birthday they were a little confused. Thankfully (more liked divinely in my opinion), they were sitting next to each other on the couch and the dads were close by watching it all unfold. The moms unwrap the gift and see the book title and Mike and I could see a small glimmer of understanding, then they opened the front cover and saw this inside...
That was when we could see all the lights come on in full understanding and the moms first started crying and then my favorite part...and I wish I had a video...the moms both jump off the couch and jump up and down and start hugging each other shouting "we are going to have grandchildren close by!!" (Keep in mind that each of them have two grandsons, but my moms are half way around the world and my mom-in-laws are in Oklahoma). Meanwhile, the dad's are trying to figure out what just happened :-) We quickly filled them in, they decided to hug us and not jump up and down like school girls....that would have been an even better video!
Thus began the questions and explanations and a fun day of being excited about the future. We are so thankful for our parents and their support through this decision. We already know what wonderful grandparents they are and we know they will welcome our child(ren) with open arms...and spoil them rotten in the process :-)
Well, that is it for another installment of adoption info. There will be more to come. Please continue to keep Ukraine in your prayers. There is still so much unrest there. But there are adoptive triumphs as well. You can read about a family who was stuck in the middle of it all here.
As you can guess, I have done a great deal of reading about adoption and of course read many articles and blogs about it as well. This blog was a great reminder for people to be cautious with the questions and remarks they make to adoptive families both before and after they bring their children home. People don't usually say these things with a mean spirit, they are just a little ignorant sometimes. Sadly I have heard some of these and thankfully I haven't heard many of them. Just wanted to share for those interested so you make sure your filter is in place....don't we all need a little more of that!
Thank you all for your support and love...we are truly thankful for your prayers. Hope you have a great weekend friends! Love from the Forest!
As Mike and I started the application process for international adoption we couldn't decide when to tell our parents and extended family. Would it be better to just tell them now when we don't have a lot of answers? Or would it be better to wait until we are little further down the road so we have plenty of answers?Thankfully, the decision was made for us when the application specifically said please make sure you tell immediate family members before turning in the application. So, we started to plan.
Even though we weren't physically pregnant, we wanted to have a fun way to surprise our parents with the announcement. It is the surprise of a child no matter how they enter our family so we wanted to make it special and we wanted them to be together if at all possible. Yay for timely birthdays!
My birthday is on February 1 and this year that day happened to fall on the weekend. We had to do a little coaxing and planning, but both sets of parents decided to come celebrate my birthday. They thought they would be surprising me with gifts, but we had our own Birthday Surprise up our sleeves.
My birthday fell on Saturday and the plan was to just hang out at our house, open gifts and then go have dinner. So, the moms said it was time to open gifts and as usual they spoiled me. All while opening them though I was getting that nervous excitement right before you tell someone happy news. As I finished, Mike went upstairs and grabbed two gifts as well. Only these were for our parents.
We decided to have the moms open a gift. Inside the gift was Russell Moore's book Adopted for Life. This is a great book and I would recommend it for not only those thinking about adoption but for all church members who should know why supporting adoption is so important. I love this description of the book, "The gospel of Jesus Christ—the good news that through Jesus we have been adopted as sons and daughters into God's family—means that Christians ought to be at the forefront of the adoption of orphans in North America and around the world. Russell D. Moore does not shy away from this call in Adopted for Life, a practical manifesto for Christians to adopt children and to help equip other Christian families to do the same. He shows that adoption is not just about couples who want children—or who want more children. It is about an entire culture within the church, a culture that sees adoption as part of the Great Commission mandate and as a sign of the gospel itself." You won't regret purchasing this book!
So, when we handed them a gift on my birthday they were a little confused. Thankfully (more liked divinely in my opinion), they were sitting next to each other on the couch and the dads were close by watching it all unfold. The moms unwrap the gift and see the book title and Mike and I could see a small glimmer of understanding, then they opened the front cover and saw this inside...
That was when we could see all the lights come on in full understanding and the moms first started crying and then my favorite part...and I wish I had a video...the moms both jump off the couch and jump up and down and start hugging each other shouting "we are going to have grandchildren close by!!" (Keep in mind that each of them have two grandsons, but my moms are half way around the world and my mom-in-laws are in Oklahoma). Meanwhile, the dad's are trying to figure out what just happened :-) We quickly filled them in, they decided to hug us and not jump up and down like school girls....that would have been an even better video!
Thus began the questions and explanations and a fun day of being excited about the future. We are so thankful for our parents and their support through this decision. We already know what wonderful grandparents they are and we know they will welcome our child(ren) with open arms...and spoil them rotten in the process :-)
Well, that is it for another installment of adoption info. There will be more to come. Please continue to keep Ukraine in your prayers. There is still so much unrest there. But there are adoptive triumphs as well. You can read about a family who was stuck in the middle of it all here.
As you can guess, I have done a great deal of reading about adoption and of course read many articles and blogs about it as well. This blog was a great reminder for people to be cautious with the questions and remarks they make to adoptive families both before and after they bring their children home. People don't usually say these things with a mean spirit, they are just a little ignorant sometimes. Sadly I have heard some of these and thankfully I haven't heard many of them. Just wanted to share for those interested so you make sure your filter is in place....don't we all need a little more of that!
Thank you all for your support and love...we are truly thankful for your prayers. Hope you have a great weekend friends! Love from the Forest!
Friday, February 21, 2014
Crazy Week Wrap Up
Hi friends! What a week it has been. Mike has been gone every night this week and I have been gone three nights this week. Needless to say, we are exhausted and will be sleeping late tomorrow morning. Ok, Mike won't since he is an early bird, but I will! I will be up in just enough time to see a new episode of Pioneer Woman :-) I must enjoy these small joys now before we head to Ukraine!
Speaking of Ukraine...brief update on the adoption front. We had what is called our "Welcome Call" today. Basically that means that the agency has researched us enough to know we aren't completely crazy and they are willing to continue on in this process with us :-) Next comes more paperwork and our first interview. This will take place over the next couple of weeks. The agency will also begin to contact our references...hopefully they will be kind :-) So, we should have another update for you in a few weeks. Please continue to keep Ukraine in your prayers. The country has a long way to go to reach stability. Things are still open where adoptions are concerned and we want to continue to pray they stay that way. Thank you for the continued prayers and support. They mean so much to us!
Another fun event happened on Monday night of this week. It was one of our late nights, but thankfully we were together :-) A bit of history before I elaborate. Back in November, Mike got me tickets to see Les Mis on February 13. He knows me well! We were going to make it a Valentines date and have dinner downtown, the whole works. I waited for 3 long months and was so excited because the time had come....then the snow made a rather bold appearance. Don't get me wrong, I love snow but not when it disrupts my Les Mis viewing pleasure. It is my favorite after all! Long story short, our reservation for dinner was cancelled because the restaurant was closed that day due to the weather and they cancelled our show. Thankfully though, they moved our show to Monday night which is their usual night off.
So, our plans were back on and we headed downtown for dinner at The Pit Authentic BBQ (super yum...you must go if you come to Raleigh!) and then to see Les Mis! We had great seats in the front middle section back row. Here is a pic of the stage from our seats. Sorry it is a little fuzzy.You can see where the red seats end and the stage begins as well as Les Mis logo on the stage.
The show was great as always! This was my third time to see it live and this was Mike's first time. He had only ever seen the movie. The movie was great, but you just can't beat the live singing and acting. The two stand out characters for me was the man who played Jean Valjean and the young girl who played Eponine. This girl is a senior in high school and we will all see her name in lights on Broadway one day...she was that phenomenal. Needless to say we had a wonderful time even if we did get home at 11:00 and had to be up early for work the next day. It was worth the wait and I am thankful my husband feeds my love of musicals and live performances :-) If you ever have the chance go see this show. You won't regret it!
The last part of this crazy week wrap up is the really cool opportunity I have been given through both work and church. Dr. Danny Akin just celebrated his 10 year anniversary as President of Southeastern. The 10 year celebration will be taking place while our Board of Trustees is here March 31 and April 1. As part of the celebration, Keith and Kristyn Getty will be here on campus for an exciting concert. They have asked local churches in the area to form a mass choir to sing with them. It is a blessing to have FBC Durham be a part of this choir. It has given me the joy of seeing what I love about my job join together with my ministry in my church. We had our kick-off event this Tuesday and it is so great to meet fellow Christians in the area who are excited to sing as well.
If you don't know much about the Gettys check them out. They are modern day hymn writers and have beautiful gospel-centered theologically sound music. We sing their songs at church all the time. You can click on the link below the picture to read more about them on their website. Needless to say I am excited!
Speaking of Ukraine...brief update on the adoption front. We had what is called our "Welcome Call" today. Basically that means that the agency has researched us enough to know we aren't completely crazy and they are willing to continue on in this process with us :-) Next comes more paperwork and our first interview. This will take place over the next couple of weeks. The agency will also begin to contact our references...hopefully they will be kind :-) So, we should have another update for you in a few weeks. Please continue to keep Ukraine in your prayers. The country has a long way to go to reach stability. Things are still open where adoptions are concerned and we want to continue to pray they stay that way. Thank you for the continued prayers and support. They mean so much to us!
Another fun event happened on Monday night of this week. It was one of our late nights, but thankfully we were together :-) A bit of history before I elaborate. Back in November, Mike got me tickets to see Les Mis on February 13. He knows me well! We were going to make it a Valentines date and have dinner downtown, the whole works. I waited for 3 long months and was so excited because the time had come....then the snow made a rather bold appearance. Don't get me wrong, I love snow but not when it disrupts my Les Mis viewing pleasure. It is my favorite after all! Long story short, our reservation for dinner was cancelled because the restaurant was closed that day due to the weather and they cancelled our show. Thankfully though, they moved our show to Monday night which is their usual night off.
So, our plans were back on and we headed downtown for dinner at The Pit Authentic BBQ (super yum...you must go if you come to Raleigh!) and then to see Les Mis! We had great seats in the front middle section back row. Here is a pic of the stage from our seats. Sorry it is a little fuzzy.You can see where the red seats end and the stage begins as well as Les Mis logo on the stage.
The show was great as always! This was my third time to see it live and this was Mike's first time. He had only ever seen the movie. The movie was great, but you just can't beat the live singing and acting. The two stand out characters for me was the man who played Jean Valjean and the young girl who played Eponine. This girl is a senior in high school and we will all see her name in lights on Broadway one day...she was that phenomenal. Needless to say we had a wonderful time even if we did get home at 11:00 and had to be up early for work the next day. It was worth the wait and I am thankful my husband feeds my love of musicals and live performances :-) If you ever have the chance go see this show. You won't regret it!
The last part of this crazy week wrap up is the really cool opportunity I have been given through both work and church. Dr. Danny Akin just celebrated his 10 year anniversary as President of Southeastern. The 10 year celebration will be taking place while our Board of Trustees is here March 31 and April 1. As part of the celebration, Keith and Kristyn Getty will be here on campus for an exciting concert. They have asked local churches in the area to form a mass choir to sing with them. It is a blessing to have FBC Durham be a part of this choir. It has given me the joy of seeing what I love about my job join together with my ministry in my church. We had our kick-off event this Tuesday and it is so great to meet fellow Christians in the area who are excited to sing as well.
If you don't know much about the Gettys check them out. They are modern day hymn writers and have beautiful gospel-centered theologically sound music. We sing their songs at church all the time. You can click on the link below the picture to read more about them on their website. Needless to say I am excited!
That is about all the excitement we can take for this week :-) Of course that doesn't include all of Mike's school related excitement. Keep him in your prayers as he juggles 3 classes, work and church commitments. I know I promised you the story of how we told our parents about the adoption. I haven't forgotten! It is coming to a blog near you next week :-) Have a great weekend friends! Love from the Forest!
Monday, February 10, 2014
And then there were 3...or maybe 4...
Michael and I are happy to announce that our family is expanding! Now before you jump to the pregnant conclusion I will let you that I am not currently with child :-) Our family is expanding through the precious gift of adoption. Our future child(ren) will be joining our family from Ukraine.
I'm sure there are many questions running through your head right now so I will do my best to explain how we arrived at this point in our family and what the future process entails. I have written this post in question and answer form. These are the questions we have been asked the most and hopefully this will provide some answers and give you some insight into this exciting process.
Question 1: What made you decide to adopt?
When Michael and I were dating we of course had the "how many kids do you want" talk. The Lord had already worked in our hearts as single people to give us the desire to adopt one day. That desire made the "kids" talk that much more exciting as we spoke about adoption and our hope to adopt one day. This is a desire that the Lord has grown in us over the past 4 years of our marriage. There have been a few times in the last 4 years that we have said "ok let's start the process." But for whatever reason (I like to think of it as divine intervention) we would put it off.
As many of you know we had the wonderful opportunity to visit my sister and her family back in December. That trip gave us some wonderful quality time together as a couple and I think also gave us such a great perspective on the world and how we can be globally minded even in our own family here in the US. January was the month we said "let's do this" and it has been truly amazing to see how God has thrown open so many doors and we have already been surrounded by such love and excitement.
We also firmly believe that God has called us to adopt as we have read scripture. We ourselves are adopted into the family of God and feel called to welcome a child or children into our earthly family just as God graciously invited us into his through the death and resurrection of Christ. We believe that adoption is such a beautiful earthly picture of what Christ did for us spiritually. There are multiple passages in scripture that helped us in this decision. Here are just a few:
Romans 8:5 - For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Galatians 4:4-7 - But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son,born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Jesus speaking in John 14:18 - I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
James 1:27 - Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Question 2: Why Ukraine? Why international?
Amazingly enough this was a very easy decision. Once we chose the agency we wanted to use (see next question for those details) we looked at the international countries they offered for adoption. We felt led to eastern Europe and Asia. As we read the various descriptions for each of the countries listed, our hearts went out to the many orphans in each of these countries. But when we got to Ukraine, we just looked at each other and knew that was where God was leading us without even saying a word.
The majority of the girls and boys in Ukraine who are not adopted enter the ugly world of prostitution and drugs. When I say majority, I am talking around 70-80%. This broke our hearts and we knew that we had to at least save one if not more from such a life.
Some of you may ask why we chose international over domestic. I can't say that we have a definitive answer to that question other than we felt the leading of the Holy Spirit directly to Ukraine. We believe that international and domestic adoption are both so very important and we applaud and cheer families who do both. For us, we know our future child(ren) are in Ukraine waiting to be brought home with their forever family.
We have the opportunity to adopt sibling sets in Ukraine. We are very open to this which is why we say child or children. We are excited to see where God leads with this. The minimum age of adoption in Ukraine is 5. If we get a sibling set we could get a second child that is older or younger than that.
Question 3: What agency are you using?
The agency we have chosen is Lifeline Children's Services. This agency does both domestic and international adoptions. Their main office is located in Birmingham, Alabama with multiple branches in other states including North Carolina. Lifeline is a gospel based agency whose mission drew us in immediately. A quote from their website states:
After speaking with people who have used Lifeline and with members of their staff, we knew Lifeline was the agency God had placed in our path for this process.
Question 4: How long will it take?
The adoption process for Ukraine can take anywhere from 12-18 months. This includes the home studies, creation of our dossier which is then sent to Ukraine and finally a trip to Ukraine to choose our child or children. We may be in the country anywhere from 30-60 days depending on what city/orphanage we are assigned to. Once all the paperwork is filed we then get to come home with our new family! We wish it could be faster, but this will not be a sprint; it will be a marathon and we will need your help.
Question 5: How can we help? (At least we hope you asked this one :-))
First and foremost you can pray for us! Pray for both of us as we enter this journey that will have many bumps along the way, that we will have patience and continue to rely on God. Pray for the staff we work with at Lifeline as they seek to do their job and help us in this process. Pray for us as we raise the funds for this adoption...it isn't cheap :-) Pray for our future child(ren) who are most likely already on this planet and living in an orphanage even as I type this. Pray that their heart(s) are prepared to be adopted and ultimately to be adopted as a child of God. And if you think of anything else...pray for that too...we aren't picky :-)
We will also have some fundraising events through out this process. We will keep you posted on that front because we will definitely need some help!
Ok, so that was a long post...I'm sure your eyes are tired, I know my fingers are :-) Hopefully this post gave you an insight into this journey we have just begun. We look forward to sharing more and more with you as we proceed. Thank you already for the prayers I know so many of you will lift up on our behalf. We are truly grateful!
Our next post will be about how we told our parents. I promise that one won't be as long :-) Love to you from a very cold Wake Forest!
I'm sure there are many questions running through your head right now so I will do my best to explain how we arrived at this point in our family and what the future process entails. I have written this post in question and answer form. These are the questions we have been asked the most and hopefully this will provide some answers and give you some insight into this exciting process.
Question 1: What made you decide to adopt?
When Michael and I were dating we of course had the "how many kids do you want" talk. The Lord had already worked in our hearts as single people to give us the desire to adopt one day. That desire made the "kids" talk that much more exciting as we spoke about adoption and our hope to adopt one day. This is a desire that the Lord has grown in us over the past 4 years of our marriage. There have been a few times in the last 4 years that we have said "ok let's start the process." But for whatever reason (I like to think of it as divine intervention) we would put it off.
As many of you know we had the wonderful opportunity to visit my sister and her family back in December. That trip gave us some wonderful quality time together as a couple and I think also gave us such a great perspective on the world and how we can be globally minded even in our own family here in the US. January was the month we said "let's do this" and it has been truly amazing to see how God has thrown open so many doors and we have already been surrounded by such love and excitement.
We also firmly believe that God has called us to adopt as we have read scripture. We ourselves are adopted into the family of God and feel called to welcome a child or children into our earthly family just as God graciously invited us into his through the death and resurrection of Christ. We believe that adoption is such a beautiful earthly picture of what Christ did for us spiritually. There are multiple passages in scripture that helped us in this decision. Here are just a few:
Romans 8:5 - For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Galatians 4:4-7 - But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son,born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Jesus speaking in John 14:18 - I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
James 1:27 - Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Question 2: Why Ukraine? Why international?
Amazingly enough this was a very easy decision. Once we chose the agency we wanted to use (see next question for those details) we looked at the international countries they offered for adoption. We felt led to eastern Europe and Asia. As we read the various descriptions for each of the countries listed, our hearts went out to the many orphans in each of these countries. But when we got to Ukraine, we just looked at each other and knew that was where God was leading us without even saying a word.
The majority of the girls and boys in Ukraine who are not adopted enter the ugly world of prostitution and drugs. When I say majority, I am talking around 70-80%. This broke our hearts and we knew that we had to at least save one if not more from such a life.
Some of you may ask why we chose international over domestic. I can't say that we have a definitive answer to that question other than we felt the leading of the Holy Spirit directly to Ukraine. We believe that international and domestic adoption are both so very important and we applaud and cheer families who do both. For us, we know our future child(ren) are in Ukraine waiting to be brought home with their forever family.
We have the opportunity to adopt sibling sets in Ukraine. We are very open to this which is why we say child or children. We are excited to see where God leads with this. The minimum age of adoption in Ukraine is 5. If we get a sibling set we could get a second child that is older or younger than that.
Question 3: What agency are you using?
The agency we have chosen is Lifeline Children's Services. This agency does both domestic and international adoptions. Their main office is located in Birmingham, Alabama with multiple branches in other states including North Carolina. Lifeline is a gospel based agency whose mission drew us in immediately. A quote from their website states:
Lifeline is here to help the Church respond to the
command in James 1:27; “to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to
keep oneself unstained from the world.” We acknowledge the church is the Bride
of Christ, and while our Staff, as believers are discipling, equipping, and
engaging people to care for the fatherless, it will ultimately be accomplished
in and through the Bride of Christ- His Church. Lifeline seeks and prays for
missional families who understand that this journey is so much greater than our
own plans, time frames, and desires, and who ultimately want God’s Glory
in the end.
After speaking with people who have used Lifeline and with members of their staff, we knew Lifeline was the agency God had placed in our path for this process.
Question 4: How long will it take?
The adoption process for Ukraine can take anywhere from 12-18 months. This includes the home studies, creation of our dossier which is then sent to Ukraine and finally a trip to Ukraine to choose our child or children. We may be in the country anywhere from 30-60 days depending on what city/orphanage we are assigned to. Once all the paperwork is filed we then get to come home with our new family! We wish it could be faster, but this will not be a sprint; it will be a marathon and we will need your help.
Question 5: How can we help? (At least we hope you asked this one :-))
First and foremost you can pray for us! Pray for both of us as we enter this journey that will have many bumps along the way, that we will have patience and continue to rely on God. Pray for the staff we work with at Lifeline as they seek to do their job and help us in this process. Pray for us as we raise the funds for this adoption...it isn't cheap :-) Pray for our future child(ren) who are most likely already on this planet and living in an orphanage even as I type this. Pray that their heart(s) are prepared to be adopted and ultimately to be adopted as a child of God. And if you think of anything else...pray for that too...we aren't picky :-)
We will also have some fundraising events through out this process. We will keep you posted on that front because we will definitely need some help!
Ok, so that was a long post...I'm sure your eyes are tired, I know my fingers are :-) Hopefully this post gave you an insight into this journey we have just begun. We look forward to sharing more and more with you as we proceed. Thank you already for the prayers I know so many of you will lift up on our behalf. We are truly grateful!
Our next post will be about how we told our parents. I promise that one won't be as long :-) Love to you from a very cold Wake Forest!
Monday, February 3, 2014
Leaving on a jet plane....
Did you think I would never get around to posting about our trip to Asia? I was beginning to think that too! December and January have turned out to be a complete blur and the daunting task of writing a large post about an unforgettable trip didn't help much. But, here it is at last for those who have waited with baited breath....anybody....Bueller?
To help you better understand the month of December, I am listing a short time line to give you an idea of when these events took place. It is probably more for me than anything...that way I don't get lost. Also, please note that I will not be listing the country or city we visited. If you leave comments please don't list it either. So, without further adieu please join me and the hubby on our trip to Asia!
December 4- drove to Atlanta and left out little fur ball Lincoln with mom and dad
December 5 - Boarded plane to Detroit, then 2nd plane to Asia
December 6 - Boarded 3rd plane to my sister's city - beyond exhausted at this point!
December 6-14 - Hanging with my sister's family
December 14&15 - Boarded 4 planes with an overnight layover in Boston to finally reach Atlanta
December 16-17 - Christmas in Atlanta and then journey back to Wake Forest
**Please note that there are no pictures of me and Michael during the 26 hours of travel. We didn't want to scare anyone with crazy hair and bloodshot eyes :-)
Last 3 I promise :-) First is me and Caden at a playhouse in the mall. A padded playhouse is exactly what that crazy nephew of mine needs to get all his energy out. Second is a pic of Grady in his UGA pajamas me and Mike gave him. I think he is the cutest little Bulldog there is. And last is a group shot in front of Tara and Britton's Christmas tree.
To help you better understand the month of December, I am listing a short time line to give you an idea of when these events took place. It is probably more for me than anything...that way I don't get lost. Also, please note that I will not be listing the country or city we visited. If you leave comments please don't list it either. So, without further adieu please join me and the hubby on our trip to Asia!
December 4- drove to Atlanta and left out little fur ball Lincoln with mom and dad
December 5 - Boarded plane to Detroit, then 2nd plane to Asia
December 6 - Boarded 3rd plane to my sister's city - beyond exhausted at this point!
December 6-14 - Hanging with my sister's family
December 14&15 - Boarded 4 planes with an overnight layover in Boston to finally reach Atlanta
December 16-17 - Christmas in Atlanta and then journey back to Wake Forest
**Please note that there are no pictures of me and Michael during the 26 hours of travel. We didn't want to scare anyone with crazy hair and bloodshot eyes :-)
This precious cutie was waiting for us at the airport with a sign when we arrived. I couldn't wait to get my hands on the whole family! It was rather late at night so I think he was a little dazed and confused :-)
This is one of my favorite pics my sister took. This was the first time I met Grady in person and I was a very happy Aunt T that he snuggled right up to me. Of course holding his blanket and dog might have had something to do with it.
Isn't he just the cutest?! Like any other one year old, the kid loves a good box to play in. Grady reminds me so much of Tara at this age. I just love the face he is making!
We got to have Christmas with the family and had mom and dad there via Skye. Here is the cute red footie pajama family.
Caden loved his new Big Buzz from GaGa & CoCo (my mom and dad) and Grady was happy to play with boxes and wrapping paper and waddle around :-)
Tara and I got to have some fun sister time while we were there. There was one day where we left the boys with their daddy and Uncle Mike and off we went to explore the city with Tara playing tour guide. We rode the bus and a taxi. My blond hair got me stared at and talked about in the local language quite a bit :-) Here are two pics of us that were taken outside of 2 different malls. We also got to have coffee at a local shop and Tara even ran me across a busy intersection...diagonally. Apparently that is ok where they live.
I think one of my favorite memories was when Tara spotted the "Opening Soon: Burger King" sign. The girl seriously had an out of body experience. It was great fun to witness her excitement. When you only have Pizza Hut and KFC to choose from I can't blame her for being excited!
We have always had a tradition of watching White Christmas together and we were so excited to watch it together this year after a 2 year hiatus. We had to watch it on the laptop but the sisters did what they had to! We may or may not have sung all the songs :-)
We really enjoyed our cultural experiences in the city. We had some yummy local cuisine. I think our favorite were the dumplings. The next two pictures are at 2 restaurants we went to. The pork was yummy! Mike and I even got pretty good with using chopsticks.
Tara and Britton and the boys took us to several beautiful parks in the city. This first one was very large and had a tunnel you had to walk through to get to the other side of the park. On our walk over we went by several groups that dance on the plaza. I loved watching these ladies use their fans as they danced.
On the other side of the tunnel we came to another plaza where there were people flying a remote control plane of sorts. Britton went over to talk to the local people to find out where the device came from. If you look closely at the picture on the right side you will see the airplane. I was quite happy with my picture taking luck :-)
We also decided to get a group shot at this pretty spot in the park. When we asked some locals to take our photo I got a small glimpse into what celebrities feel like with paparazzi. You can't see it, but there were about 20 people standing behind the person taking our picture and they were all taking our picture with their phones and even shooting videos. At least we got a good group shot out of it!
Me and Mike had to get one too!
There was also a ride in this park called the toboggan. Caden was happy because he got a chance to ride with both Aunt T and Uncle Mike.
I love this picture! I just think it so epitomizes the culture. This was the structure at the top of the park we visited. We rode a gondola up to the top of the mountain and then stood at the top of this building for an incredible view of the city.
Here is a shot of me and Mike at the top
On another day we went to a park that is in the heart of the city. It was so cool to see the old unique buildings right in the heart of the city with all the high rise buildings. You will be able to see the contrast in the next 3 pictures. I totally stole the first one from my sister's blog :-)
Another thing I loved about this park were the artists. They would work right inside one of the little plaza's making banners and fans. We wanted to buy one but they are quite pricey, even in US dollars!
And of course we had to have the always important group shot. We did it for mom :-)
Only a few pics to go! On the day that Tara and I went out for our girls day, we eventually went home and picked up all the boys so we could go out for dinner. Unfortunately the restaurant we went to was closed. So, what does any good American do, they go to the KFC...ha! We visited a newly renovated KFC and got to have the Asian experience. I personally think it was better than here :-) I was glad we went so I could see Grady try his first corn on the cob. I think he was a fan.
We decided to walk home since it was a pretty nice evening. Despite being tired from the day, I was really glad we did because we got to see this beautiful bridge. I love visiting other places just to see unique things like this.
Last 3 I promise :-) First is me and Caden at a playhouse in the mall. A padded playhouse is exactly what that crazy nephew of mine needs to get all his energy out. Second is a pic of Grady in his UGA pajamas me and Mike gave him. I think he is the cutest little Bulldog there is. And last is a group shot in front of Tara and Britton's Christmas tree.
We had a wonderful trip to visit them and can't wait for them to come home for a visit in September. So thankful to have such a wonderful family who is willing to serve!
Stay tuned for more blog posts. I promise I will get back on a better schedule. Might even have another one this week. Have a blessed week friends! Love from the Forest!
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