From Here to There Incredible Things are Everywhere...

Come with me back to 2010. I am standing outside with a pair of rubber boots I threw on - no socks of course. It is January and I grabbed my huge white coat that makes me look like a walking marshmallow. I didn't zip it up so instead I hug myself stuffing my hands in my pockets, keeping the cold at bay. I stand ankle deep in fresh clean snow. Up in the sky I watch my breath float away towards the gorgeous full moon. The light of the moon is so bright that no stars can be seen for at least one outstretched-hand-length away and when the light hits the snow it lights up the whole field almost as bright as day. I can see the Milky Way. The sky is black as tar. The sounds I hear are comforting. A pack of coyotes yip and scream as the hunt in the night. Owls talk. Chickens murmur and cluck softly. I walk into the driveway and admire the beautiful snowflakes on the hoods of our suburban, truck, water trailer. They are incredible. I turn back towards the house and head inside. By this time I can't feel my toes. Our blue Christmas lights have faded since we put them up last year. Icicles hang from the roof.

Now, step back into the present. It's December. I am sitting on the short flower bed wall, bare feet planted firmly on our concrete sidewalk.

The Devil Cannot Steal you From God; Go Help Those Over Whom the Devil Actually has a Grip.

It has been a while since I have posted anything with me just talking and sharing my heart with y'all. A lot has been going on lately and I feel like there are some things I need to say.

First of all I must confess that my prayer life is anything but stellar and I feel distant from God at the moment. Formerly I would have interpreted this lost kind of feeling as me being altogether separated from God; Apart from His Grace and unworthy of His Forgiveness. It is a blessing for me to KNOW without a doubt that will never happen. When God brings you into His family there is no way you can ever fall away. There may be times when I feel alone or sometimes when I actually put up a barrier between myself and my Father but just because I have thrown up a short little wall doesn't mean that God can’t see down in and isn't watching over me and protecting me. I need His love more than anything.

Despite my weariness there has been some things my Father has been teaching me lately and I'd like to share that with you. Actually I think it is because of my weariness that I have been able to hear what He has to say. It's about forgiveness and grace.

We need a whole lot of it.

We need to give others even more of it.

Halloween 2014

This picture looks kind of creepy...

Well, here we are. How have y'all been? It's been a while since I've posted anything. Life is really crazy right now. Adopting four boys really shakes things up.

Three of my little brothers go to two different schools in the morning and come home at three and four. They have a good time in school and right now its what's best for our family. While they are gone we scramble to get as much work as we can before they get home. Because when they do... well honestly most days, from the moment they walk in the door till they fall asleep at night our whole world revolves completely around them. Not always in a good way. It is very difficult but I love them all the same. Love them to pieces. I wouldn't go back to just the five of us kids again. Nine is a good number. We'll get through this. For everything there is a season.

I thought I would share with y'all some of the fun we've been up to lately. There was a local festival that we went to but I'm not going to share pictures from there this time. But, I did make a video for my brother so I guess I'll share it with y'all too.

Road Trip with Grandma: Henry Ford Museum, Canada, Visiting Family

You may have heard this already but in case you haven't, my Grandma and I went for a road trip up to Detroit, Michigan. Grandma was keen on visiting family and I was looking forward to exploring the old places my Dad grew up in. I have been back for a while now but I haven't been able to find the time to write this post. Actually right now I really want to go to bed but I figured I had to get this out. In that light, this post won't be as detailed as I want but here we go.

Grandma and I left Wednesday, September 10 and stopped for the night in Kentucky. At one of the rest stops we saw a horse track with a bunch of people standing around. We didn't see any horses though just people and cameras. We arrived in Michigan the next day and stayed at a nice hotel in Troy, about thirty minutes from Detroit. Dad grew up in Royal Oak, between Troy and Detroit.

Just Hopping on to Say Hello

Hello all, I know I have not been active on my blog for a while. Maybe yall can guess why? Yes its true, I'm pulling the "we're in the process of adopting four boys two of which are twins" card.

Since they've moved in things have gone just as I expected. It's been hard, very tiring, amusing, a little hard on the heart strings, and above all else absolutely incredible. I think I have kind of overrun my friends newseed on Facebook with little stories about them. I will share a few of them here just because I know some of my readers don't have Facebook accounts. Don't worry though, when we come to that part I will warn you so those of you who have been following me daily won't have to read it all over again.

I guess the main point of this post is to let yall know that I'm still here, alive and kicking. Well, alive at least. At the moment I am using the little store of energy I have left to write this for yall. I've been sick the past few days and it's just been really blah. Today I went out in the pouring rain to check the mail. It was really exciting and has been the highlight of my day. Understandably, it probably would have been the highlight of the day regardless if I was sick or not. Still, the adrenaline rush I felt walking through the huge puddle that is our yard was nothing like I've felt since the day we spotted the parking lot after a two day hike with only two meals between them.

I've had my birthday since last talking with yall and I've made plans to take a nine day trip up north with my Grandma. We are going to Detroit to see the old home place and go to church. We'll probably take a short jog into Canada too. We'll also spend some time up in Traverse City with family. It's a fifteen hour trip that I am not looking forward to driving, but I am excited to be going. I'll be lugging along some of my school work too and try to get some work in at night before I go to bed. The rest of the time I suppose we'll be busy. I'll write a blog post about our trip when I get back.

Now, here are some Facebook posts for yall and a few pictures. I'll try to get back into Musical Monday as soon as I can. As it is though, it's going to be tough to find a good time to record without little guys playing the accompanying background track.

First Day of School

I am standing out by the mail box about five feet from the road. My bare feet in the cool wet grass are antithetical to the sweat that I can feel beading up on the back of my neck. The sun shines down and I am glad I am wearing my hat on this warm August morning. My eleven year old brother and I are waiting for the bus. This is his first day in middle school. I watch him wandering about the grass, stooping down and watching little creatures in the dirt. His backpack looks like a turtle shell; he is entirely too close to the road. "Come here, don't be so close to the road." I tell him. I put my arm on his back.

Waiting for the bus!

Mom has already left to take the twins to their Headstart school. When I woke up this morning it was because Mom came in calling for reinforcements. There was a missing shoe crisis. The two year old has this thing about shoes. He takes any shoes and all shoes and puts them on his feet, "Dese mine." He will say. And they get lost. So we three, Mom, Savannah and I, looked frantically all through the house for the missing shoe. One boy kept saying his tummy hurt and he was hungry, "You're going to eat at school" we told him, then the moanings increased when he saw his older brother eating a bowl of cerial. (He doesn't eat breakfast at his middle school) The two youngest kept declaring that they wanted to go to school, or asked for food, or asked to be held. We never found the shoe but got a new pair instead. "I want socks!" whined the shoeless boy when he saw his sandals. Finally though they were ready to leave. A hug and kiss for each and they were headed out the door.

We're Adopting!

Today was the beginning of a totally new part of our lives. We're adopting four little boys! I know I haven't said anything on my Facebook account, or in person, or on the phone, but yes it's happening. Three months ago we started the adoption process - home study, meetings, Mom and Dad had to go through adoption classes, phone calls, paper work. Before we knew it, all the preparations were made and we just sat back and waited. Before we knew it, we were matched with these boys.

        Today the paperwork was signed and we were matched to the boys officially and today we met them for the first time. They came straight from daycare to our house. I was so worried before this that they wouldn't like us. I was afraid they wouldn't like me because I was so much older than them. They pulled in a mini van with the case workers and Mom, Dad, and Savannah went out to meet them. I realized Jubal wasn't with them so I looked and found him with his face buried in his pillow and his eyes squeezed tight. He has been so wild with excitement today about meeting his new brothers, he has been singing songs lately about getting more brothers. "Today my new brothers come!" he says. Well, now of course he was shy. I took him out to the back yard where everyone was. He clung to me and kept his face mashed against my shoulder with his eyes closed. It wasn't long though till he got brave and started to play with the boys.