Starting Fresh ... 2010

Happy New Years! Today is the first day of the best year of my life! :)

What a year 2009 was. It was a crazy hard year. We rode the emotional roller coaster of getting our kids home for the first 5 months. We traveled 30 hours each way to Ethiopia and back. And then began the hardest transition of our lives, trying to blend 3 new children into our family ~ three children who had no understanding of the concepts of family, love, joy, forgiveness, grace, tenderness, laughter, forever, ... Twelve weeks into that process, I crumbled my foot and spent three months on crutches. And then the Lord was gracious to give us the last month of the year to pull it together and finish well. And finish well we did!

We had the joy and blessing of returning to the family camp we attend every summer for a New Years retreat. You may remember that we went there in July, just 7 weeks after becoming a family of 8. At that point we were just one big mess of a family and it took the prayers of many to get us through that week. What a blessing to be able to go back to that same camp and finish the year well. A sweet friend from the camp told us "we looked like a different family". I was able to smile and say "we ARE a different family".

By God's grace and wisdom and blessing, he has peeled some layers off all 8 of us that needed to go. And He has added some things into each of our lives that needed to be added. And through His goodness alone, we have become a family. It was not a year that I would ever want to re-do and yet I would not want to undo any of it, because of the growth and blessing we have each personally experienced.

As for the retreat, I went anticipating what God would challenge me with for 2010. I was excited and a little scared to think of what He might call me to in the new year. I thought about different areas He might want to use me or things He might want our family to do. And through His tenderness, God humbled me and spoke to me that He didn't "need" me to do anything for Him in 2010. He has simply challenged me to "draw near to Him". He just wants me to know Him more deeply and love Him more passionately.

It was fun to ring out the old with our family and a number of dear friends. And yes, all 8 of us made it to midnight. Shortly after the clock stuck midnite, I literally raised my hands in the air and cheered "I made it!"

It was so fitting that on this New Years day, one of the morning worship songs at our retreat was "Mighty to Save". Those of you who have followed my past year know the significance of this song to our journey. The Lord moved mountains and saved not only three little orphan children this year, but He saved me, and He saved our family, I will eternally sing His praises for it!

As I tried to explain the concept of New Years to Isaiah, I told him how the calendar would start over and it would be a new year. He looked at me and said "Jesus changes". Oh yes He does my precious boy!

Thank you Lord that 2009 is over. And Jesus, I am so excited that 2010 is going to be our best year yet!


Philipians 3:12-14 I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back.