Valentine's Day Memories...

Since this is our 12th Valentine's Day together, we have some fun memories of past celebrations.

Here are a couple of favorites:

• One year, when we were in college and money was of course tight, we decided to make each other memory boxes. Cliff made an extremely impressive one. It was beautiful and I still have it. He did, however, lose some "points" because he'd wrapped this amazing creation in a variety of Walmart bags. It was absolutely hilarious!
• Another year when we were in college, the idea of having a reservation was lost on us. We drove into Omaha, went into PF Chang's (a very fancy restaurant by our college standards) only to find out that their first available table for two would be after 9pm. Needless to say, we headed over to the Macaroni Grill next door and thankfully had a friend working there who helped us get a table. We haven't made the same mistake again.
• Our new tradition is to stay home on Valentine's Day, but go out for a special date a few days before or after to avoid the craziness. (Are we getting old?)

This year, we're staying home to make a new recipe together. We shopped for all the ingredients this weekend and are looking forward to making a traditional Taiwanese recipe given to me by one of my students. We're going to have a wonderful evening at home together.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I've loved my valentine since we were 18 years old. This year we'll celebrate our 12th Valentine's Day together. What a gift that is...

Cliff is a daily evidence of God's grace to me. I'm thankful for a husband who leads me, provides for me, prays over me, goes first in repentance, asks questions, shares his heart, serves selflessly, is gracious when I fail, and loves Jesus deeply. I pray that God gives us many more years together.

Interesting Week

The last few weeks have been full of anticipation as we’ve wrapped up a few loose ends of the foster/adopt licensing process. We had to have physicals and TB tests done. We needed to make copies of our car insurance. Just little things like that, which I never even thought might be part of the process. Turns out, I’ve learned a lot these last few years!

Our social worker, Alexa, mentioned she was hoping to have our foster/adopt home study completed by the end of January so we’d be ready for placement beginning in February, but we actually heard from her last Tuesday. We also heard from our attorney, Andrew, on Monday. It was definitely an interesting week!

Last Monday, Andrew called Cliff to let him know that he had word of a newborn in Bellingham that would need a placement. He was calling to confirm we were interested. Of course we were! Andrew is an amazing attorney, an adoptive dad, a man who loves Jesus, and is a HUGE blessing to us. After three hours of waiting to see what was decided, Andrew called to tell us that the birth mom had chosen a couple she found online before the social worker arrived to share our profile. (Our profile is a brochure explaining who we are and why we are in the adoption process.) We were disappointed to be sure.

Then on Tuesday, Cliff got an email from Alexa, our foster/adopt social worker, about a possible placement of a toddler. We were interested, but there were some details we were unsure about. After discussing the possibility with Alexa and giving her a chance to read the child’s report, she recommended we not pursue the toddler placement. That was a disappointment, because we thought we had a possible placement.

It was definitely a week of ups and downs. There have been many of those for us in this process. Over the almost two years we’ve officially been in the adoption process and in the four years since we started trying to get pregnant, we’ve experienced a great deal of grief and loss. Certainly we’ve had joyful moments of unity, but also moments of disappointment and discouragement.

The only comfort we have is found in Jesus and knowing that he has a plan for us and that he is working all of this together according to his purpose. We have days in which we’re discouraged, but I’m thankful I have a husband, family, and friends who pray for me, love me well, and encourage us to stay focused on what God has called us to. We do believe that we are called to this. Otherwise, I’m not sure how we could possibly move forward.

I got a text from a dear friend last week amidst the ups and downs of the week, encouraging me to read Psalm 16. These verses were a great comfort and reminder to me.

Psalm 16: 1-2, 8-11

Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”
I have set the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

We’re praying for:

• Our children’s protection, care, and salvation.
• Our children’s birth parents.
• Our hearts…that we would trust God fully with this and not try to control or idolize becoming parents.
• For discernment to know when to accept a placement and bring a child into our home.
• For the thousands of children in the foster care system who are waiting for families.

Would you join us in praying?

Help!

Yes, we are getting more chickens this spring! I'm getting more and more excited to meet the little fluff-balls. I can't say I'm excited to have to tend to them for the first few months of their lives, but once they're outside and independent, they are delightfully easy and amazingly productive.

All that to say, we are going to get four little chicks at the end of February. I'm going to get four different breeds just as I did last spring. We're down to two hens now - Delaney and Amelia. Unfortunately, Blanche died and "Bethula" turned out to be a rooster. Despite only having two laying hens right now, we have plenty of delicious eggs and are looking forward to more.

Now, the reason I'm telling you about the new brood isn't so you think we're crazy. (We're pretty sure you already think so.) What I really need are some name ideas! I'm looking for some creative, vintage names. Send them my way, please! Our new girls are depending on you!

A flashback to last year...
From left to right: Blanche, Delaney, Bethula, Amelia

Snow Days!

We've had some crazy weather here the last few days! The snow started on Sunday afternoon and has been on and off since then with about 5 inches since Tuesday evening. I missed school on Wednesday and Thursday and will tomorrow as well. It has been nice to have some quiet days at home, especially given that Cliff's been working from home too. I've been cooking, reading, napping, and enjoying these quiet moments. The puppies have enjoyed the playtime in the yard!

Mackenzie's Reading List for 2012

Happy New Year! The beginning of a new year always makes me reflective and this year is no different. One of the things I'm thinking about most this year is how I spend my time. This year I'd like to spend more time reading books and less time reading Facebook updates!

The last few years, I've attempted to set up a plan for books to read throughout the year and then add to the list as my interests lead. Last year, I read only about half of the books on my reading list. This year, I have fewer books on my list to read, so that I have the space to read additional books as time will allow and changing interests arise. The books on my list have come through recommendations of friends, areas I need to grow in, and books on Cliff's dresser that look interesting!

Marriage Matters by Winston T. Smith
Trusting God by Jerry Bridges
"Don't Make Me Count to Three!" by Ginger Plowman
One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
Counsel from the Cross by Elyse Fitzpatrick
Legacy of Faith by Lydia Brownback
Give Them Grace by Elyse Fitzpatrick
Radical by David Platt
The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
A Meal with Jesus by Tim Chester

I'll also be reading through the Bible this year, using a Bible reading plan suggested by Pastor John Piper.

Lots to read! I certainly look forward to seeing how God uses each of these books to teach me over the course of this year. What are you reading?

Adoption Update: Pursuing Foster to Adopt

The other day I looked at our blog to see when we last posted something, and realized it's been almost two months. Oops. Then, I had the thought to see when we last posted an update on the adoption process, and was shocked to find it has been over a year. Double oops. So Mackenzie and I agreed it was way past time to give a little update.

But to be honest there isn't a whole lot to share. When people ask where we're at in the process or how things are going, I usually reply with "We're in the hurry-up-and-wait phase." There have been a few possibilities along the way (phone calls and emails about potential leads) that haven't moved forward or worked out for one reason or another, but by in large we've been continuing to wait and pray for the child or children God has planned for us.

Last February (almost a year after we started the process) was the closest we came to having a child placed in our home (literally twenty-four hours away before the birth mom decided to continue raising her eight-month-old son). It was by far one of the hardest and lowest points in this journey, but also one where we experienced God's comfort and peace most evidently through the people he's placed in our lives.

After that experience we struggled to be as excited about the process, and started to feel like a child being placed in our home was never going to happen. We discussed whether we should consider other possibilities, like international adoption, but agreed to wait until the end of this year to make any changes.

Well, about a month or so ago, we both started to sense God calling us to consider getting our foster to adopt license, even though we had both been resistant to that option from the very beginning (be careful what you tell God you won't do). We're on an email chain that periodically sends out info on kids in need of a family and home. Oftentimes, the kids are older than what we've been hoping and praying for (usually five and up), but in the last month or so there have been a couple of kids in the age range we're considering.

In both cases it initially seemed as if the kids were legally free (i.e. ready for adoption), but turned out they were still in foster care and pursuing the possibility of adoption. Because we don't have our foster license, we weren't eligible to have those kids placed with us (plus they were so darn cute there were several families interested). But this led to us having a serious conversation about getting our license. 

So we contacted the social worker in our area of King County who oversees the foster to adopt program, got another packet of paperwork to complete (oh joy!), went to an info meeting last week, and are now planning to do another round of home visits in January. It's still possible that an opportunity for a private adoption could come along, but God continues to challenge our notion of what this whole thing is going to look like.

Foster to adopt would mean that any child or children placed in our home would technically be in foster care, which means the State's ultimate goal would be reunification with their biological parents (most often the mother). But at that point the state would have determined that adoption is a viable option to pursue, often because biological parents haven't met the requirements for their child/children to be returned to them. As you can imagine, this means there's a greater "risk" for us as the potential adoptive family, but we believe God is calling us to love any child in our home for a long as he has them there. As our friend, Michele, explained at our initial adoption info meeting, none of us is guaranteed any amount of time with our children, regardless of whether they're biological kids or not.

So I guess there's more "update" to share in our adoption journey than I initially realized. We appreciate your continued prayers and support, and hope to do a better job this coming year sharing periodic updates. Specifically, please pray that the licensing process moves quickly (we got fingerprinted this morning), so that we can be considered for possible placements soon. And as always, please pray for patience and faith as we continue to wait. 

Sheet Mulching

I can't quite believe it's been over two months since our last blog post. With the start of Mackenzie's school year in September and all that comes with the fall church rhythms, it's been a busy two months for us. But during that time, we've managed to spend a few spare hours in our yard, finishing up our summer growing season, and preparing our yard for fall and winter.

The two biggest projects on the docket were trimming our overgrown apple tree, which Mackenzie's dad, Jim, and I tackled a few weeks ago, and expanding our garden area for next spring.

For the latter we decided to try our hand at sheet mulching rather than renting a tiller and fighting with the grass and weeds. First off, we made a trip to Bed, Bath & Beyond and Pier 1 to collect cardboard boxes to cover the area. Fortunately, Pier 1 had just received their Christmas shipment (already!?!), so they were more than happy to give us all the boxes we wanted.

 

We then visited our local landscape supply store, West Seattle Landscape & Stone Supply, to purchase 3 1/2 yards of cedar grove compost--enough to cover a 26 by 14 foot area 3 inches deep, bringing our total garden area to 26 by 26 feet.

They were able to deliver it the same day, so I got right to work, trying to avoid the coming rainy weather. It took about two hours to move and spread most of the compost, and then I finished the job a few days later. It was fun watching our garden expand, and picturing what we will plant next spring. (We definitely want to try growing a few pumpkins next year.) Now we wait for the cardboard and compost to work their magic. Bye-bye grass and weeds!

Can't wait for spring!