Ropes Course

I bet you don't know many thirty-something married couples who celebrate their anniversary by doing a ropes course together. Well, that's exactly what we did a few weeks ago! And it was stinkin' awesome!

Daniel and I had actually purchased a "Groupon" for this several months ago, and our ninth anniversary was the perfect occasion to redeem it.

I have always LOVED doing things like this, but I was a little nervous that I wouldn't be as strong as I used to be. But I was pretty pleased with how this ole girl did. :)

Daniel was about 50 feet up at this point

I love this picture! We were both standing on wires that gradually became farther and farther apart. We had to lean forward into each other in order to keep from falling.

Walking over the telephone poles. This was WAY highter than it looks in the photo. And they SWAYED! The trick was to just keep moving...

Daniel on the poles. I'm so glad that I married a man who is willing to do this kind of stuff with me.

Daniel on the falling-apart rope bridge high up in the trees. I loved this one!

The second half of our anniversary get away was a trip to go white water rafting on the Ocoee River in East Tennessee. No photos from that one, unfortunately, but that day was just as fun as our ropes course day.

Happy anniversary, Daniel!

Surgery Is Over!

Mom’s surgery is over, and we are so thankful. The surgeon said that the mass was about the size of a peach. It was bigger than expected, and he had to do a lot of cutting and a lot of repair work. It was more complicated than anticipated, (he said it was “a booger”) but he felt like everything went well.

She will be in ICU for two days probably and then in the hospital until Saturday or Sunday.

They are concerned about the risk of stroke and bleeding for the next few days, but we trust that everything will be fine.

Thank you for your prayers!

Wonder of a Child

We are just hanging out, waiting for mom's surgery around here. She is doing great. Seriously, I don't think the cardiology floor has ever seen a patient filled with so much joy. She knows that God has been taking care of her, and she has confidence that everything is going to be just fine.

While we are waiting, I thought I would share some happiness.

When we asked Madeline what special thing she would like to do for her third birthday (back in March), she informed us that she wanted to ride a train. So we took her to ride the Music City Star - the local commuter train in Nashville.

This video captures her excitement mixed with nervousness as she watched the train approach. I have watched it probably 100 times and it fills me with joy every time. :)

Unexpected News

So my mom has a tumor in her heart. I hope she's not mad at me for broadcasting this in so public a way, but I felt the need to share.

Yesterday morning at 9:30 I was driving home from a quick trip to Dollar General to buy a swimming pool float when "Mom" popped up on my caller ID. I heard the tension in her voice - "Where are you right now?....Well I have some news to share...."

She was still at the cardiologist.

"My doctor just did an echocardiogram, and I have a mass growing in my heart."

What?!?

"Dad is on his way, and the doctor is sending me straight to the hospital and scheduling the surgery as soon as possible."

Well, this was pretty much last on the list of things I was expecting to happen on Friday June 24th, 2011.

I guess that's how it goes, though. Nobody is expecting that it will happen TODAY. We all know that eventually something is going to happen to us, our spouses, our parents - disease, accidents, eventually death. Just not today, right?

I try desperately to live life intentionally. To live with the end in mind and with a constant awareness of how temporary this life is. I strive for this to be a theme of my life - to do what matters so that I will not have regrets.

Then the unexpected "tragedy" occurs and I am just as blindsided as everyone else is when it happens to them.

Listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city and spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."

-James 4:13-15

I share all this to say: Hug your kids, go on a date with your spouse, call your mama. Your "today" will come. Maybe it's not TODAY. I hope not. But live with the end in mind every single day.

But anyway, the rest of the story: My mom has a atrial myxoma. It nearly fills her left atrium and spills into the left ventricle. 99% of the time, this type of tumor is non-cancerous. The surgery to remove it will be Tuesday, and the prognosis is extremely good.

We have seen God's hand at work in many ways already. It's practically a miracle that the tumor was even discovered. Often this type of tumor is not found until part of it breaks off and causes a stroke. Many other details about her current situation make it apparent that God is taking care of her in this. What a comfort that he knows in advance what is going to happen. Our God is never blindsided by "today"!

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.

- Psalm 23:4

He is always with us and we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS in death or in life, in illness or in health through Christ Jesus. He is with us and works all things for our good, according to his purposes. We trust him!

Our Ethiopian-American Family

So this is what dinner-time sometimes looks like at our kitchen table:

Sloppy joes on injera! And it was AWESOME!

We have a wonderful international market in Nashville that sells injera made at a local Ethiopian restaurant. We try to stop by about once a month or so. Doesn't it look lovely in the injera basket that we bought at a little village while we were in Ethiopia?

Here is a photo of the lady who made it!

The funny thing is, everyone in our family loves injera except for Benjamin. We won't give up, though. We'll keep forcing it on him until he learns to like it. :)

Happy Birthday Benjamin!

We had a lion-themed birthday party for Benjamin on Saturday

Madeline was very excited to help me make these lion cupcakes. :)

I used a runner on the table that I bought at the ALERT hospital in Ethiopia, and a wood carved lion from the market.

I made a rare full-price retail purchase when I bought this lion shirt for the birthday boy to wear at his party. He had a diaper explosion not long after the party started, and he had to have a wardrobe change. I was determined to get a picture of him in it, though, before we changed his clothes. He was NOT cooperating. :)

Pizza and fruit was on the menu. We kept it simple. :)

Mama and the birthday boy

Getting some tickles from Peepaw

Cousin Annie

The fire truck riding toy was a huge hit

Time to blow out the candles!

And time to eat cake! Here is the first bite...

Ooh! I think I like this stuff!

Oh yeah, I am seriously digging the cake thing.

Woah! Did I seriously just eat the whole thing?!

And big sister enjoyed the fruits of her labor too.

A Happy Report

Well I am filled with joy to share that things are going really well now. I have gradually found new rhythms and routines for our days that are working for us. Madeline is doing SO WELL with Benjamin – so helpful and kind and patient (well, most of the time…). Benjamin is doing awesome! I mean, incredible. He has done a 180 and is so much more secure and content than he was a few weeks ago. And me? Well, I am no longer on the brink of crying all the time and instead I am having a lot of fun! Really!

My threshold for dealing with the craziness has increased so that it doesn’t get to me nearly as much. I am a one-thing-at-a-time type of person and I get overwhelmed too easily. I wish so badly that I could multi-task well. Aren’t all women supposed to be good at that? Well, I’m not. The multi-tasking part of my brain is underdeveloped, and trying to juggle a lot of things at once is extremely stressful for me. But I’m getting used to it and getting better at it. I no longer cry every time I am trying to get the car packed and the kids loaded just to go to the grocery store. :)

Thank you SO MUCH for your prayers and encouragement over the past few weeks. You guys are wonderful – I have gotten emails, phone calls, offers to help, and even a card in the mail with a gift certificate for chocolate! So many have encouraged me by sharing scripture and relating your own experiences and struggles. Oh, it has helped so much! Thank you one and all. I had felt reluctant to share my difficulties in such a public way, but I am so glad that I did.

By the way, we went on a road trip to Asheville, NC, last weekend to run an important errand (and had a very fun family weekend in the process). It’s related to a fun and exciting announcement coming up about a way that we are going to be able to help even more adoptive families. We have been praying and dreaming about this for a long time now. I can't wait to share, but I'll just leave you with that teaser for now...

And finally...What kind of blog post would this be without cute pictures of the kids?

Our Life in Pictures

I have no idea how you mama's out there who have four or five kids are able to keep up with a blog. I hardly have time to go to the bathroom these days, much less write long and thoughtful blog posts. By the time they go to bed, I am beat. I am a tired mama these days. But I sure do have two cute kids! :) Here is a peek at some of the cuteness that our little house has been filled with lately.

Cuddling in mama and daddy's bed before bedtime. Yes, our pillow cases don't match the sheets. Yes, there is a wet spot from a bottle that leaked. Focus on the cute kids please.

Bath time. Oh how our boy loves the bath tub. Splashes and laughs and splashes and laughs. He even lets you pour water over his head and thinks that it is funny.

Dress up. We do this A LOT. She wears the tiara and the high heels (her "pancy" shoes) at least half of the time.

And, of course, Elmo needs to dress up too.

Madeline loves raw corn on the cob. I let her try it once because she was being so impatient when I told her that I needed to cook it first. I thought one bite would convince her that she would rather wait. Nope. She ate the whole thing.

"Don't touch me, brother!"

More dressing up. She has learned how to do the "cheese" face.

And more dressing up. Notice the wings she is eating while eating supper.

Madeline goes through spells where she wears these rose-tinted sunglasses all the time. Even while watching Pingu on Netflix. Oh yes, and holding her friend Mr. Potato head at the same time.

Quite a handsome guy, don't you think? :)

The little guy LOVES to make noise. The more noise the better in his opinion.

Ready for the 4th of July parade in our little town.

Spraying Daddy with a squirt bottle to help him keep cool. Don't you love the feather hat that she got at the parade? :)

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Cool dude. He LOVES to swing, and the higher the better. Quite the opposite of my cautious little girl who likes to just barely move on the swing. I lightly push her, and she tells me, "Too high mama! Too high!"

Gotta love the icing goatee. July 2nd is the birthday of one of M's friends, so we had some cupcake fun with them on the 4th.

Yea for birthdays and yea for cupcakes!

Yes, and yea for sparklers too! Madeline thought this was great fun. I LOVE that she is getting old enough now to do fun things with.

Flowers that Daniel sent me on a particularly hard day. Yes, I will admit that the transition to having two young children has been overwhelming on some days. Daniel has been so helpful and supportive.

Playing in the water on a very hot day at my parents' house. My sis and her daughter came to visit for a week earlier this month.

What a cutie!

Benjamin and his cousin Abigail are only three days apart.

Isn't she beautiful?

A little over two years ago, there were no babies in our extended family. Now there are four with a fifth on the way! These are fun years. Abigail jumped off the stairs only moments after this was taken.

Rachel and Abigail - two beauties.

A couple of my college friends had a shower for us a couple of weeks ago. It was such a special day. Isn't this the best cake ever?

Mary, me, and Chrissy. Friends since college. I love these girls.

And I love this one too! Kristen was my roommate for four years. She has three sweet girls with a fourth on the way!

My friend Gloria from Sierra Leone

Playing by the creek at the park

Lots of diapers! The best present ever!

And this is what Benjamin thought of the shower... A great opportunity to take a nap. :) He is such a great sleeper. He goes to sleep easily and even sleeps in the stroller occasionally. He has slept through the night ever since he got over his jet lag, and slowly but surely he is sleeping a little later in the morning too. Yea!

Daniel's co-workers had a shower for us too! Lots of diapers and money for formula. :) It was so special and appreciated. They were so good to us.

Cool beach cupcakes

Lovin' the blue icing. And notice the "silly bands" on Madeline's wrist. She got her first silly bands as a gift at the shower. She loves the things. So funny on a two year old.

Everyone signed a "Go. Seek. Love." shirt for us. I love it! I can't decide whether to frame it or make it into a pillow.

The guest of honor.

(The photos of this shower came from Daniel's co-worker Joan.)