Priceless...

...because some days it is just simply so important to remember to laugh...even if it is at yourself.

Twenty Two

We're getting closer. Can you feel it? This month was good for a couple of referrals affecting us and though courts will close Aug 8 to Sept 28, I feel that there is much in store during the next couple of months.

Here's to another 30 days closer.

And The Journey Continues

I'm not really back from this so-called hiatus. I'm in the midst of a week sans kids, and making the most of it. Oh - and we made the most of our hot hot weather last week too...but that's a story in photos perhaps for another day.

Today, ironically we will head on down to the "big city" and get our fingerprinting updated.

Thursday, we will visit with a (new!) social worker to update our homestudy.

It's all a bit ironic as today marks One Year since that horrible July 2009 date when Imagine announced bankruptcy. And some of the journeys came to a jarring halt. And some of the journeys raced full steam ahead. And some of the journeys changed course and headed in a different direction. And as tragic or exciting as it is and was, that's all part of the journey. And, some of the stories we will never know.

What we do know is that we've risen. We've come a long long way. And for us, there's no turning back. These tragedies, these uncontrollable circumstances, they all happen for a reason. And though we may never truly understand the reason, I believe this journey is the one that will take us to the child who is meant to be ours. Through the tears, the anguish, the exhaustion, the anticipation, the elation, the days upon days of waiting and hoping and praying and waiting some more, this is the only way to the one predestined for us.

And though we've always known we have wanted it...wanted her...we ache for her now. It's a sensation which couldn't possibly have been known, felt, or understood had we not endured this part of this journey. So while I'm not saying it's good, it's okay, it's needed, I am saying this: It just is. It is what it is.

So we will continue on waiting and hoping and praying and waiting some more. We know our day will come. All we need to do it hold on, journey along, expect great things.

We did it.

For A Brief Time

hi-a-tus [hahy-ey-tuh s]

-noun, plural -tus-es, -tus.

1. a break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action, etc.
2. a missing part; gap or lacuna: Scholars attempted to account for the hiatus i the medieval manuscript.
3. any gap or opening

I feel a desire, perhaps a need right now to refocus.

Focus down toward my children.

Focus across at my husband.

Focus forward at the next 8 1/2 weeks of ministry.

Focus up.

Always and constantly a focus heavenward.

Yes, there must be more of that.

The lapse could be short lived. Perhaps not. I'll still be around. The need for more presence in other places, with other people is more pressing than the need here. Certainly. A break for this Mama is necessary. Email, FB, old school telephones are still just a click away - as am I.

For now, in this moment of this glorious sunshine-filled evening with the hum of the mower in the background and the shrieks of the children ever joyful, it is clear that my presence is needed elsewhere. And there it shall remain for a brief time.