The Hunted and the Haunted

January 22, 2016

So lately I’ve found myself on edge. I feel like I’m being stalked…by mosquitoes. Although I’m sure they’re acting purely instinctually, it seems a bit more intentional at times. In a room full of people, I will be bitten tenfold. Right now, I feel like I’m in the middle of an all-out war against these […]

A New Kind of Strange

January 12, 2016

Living in a new culture and climate is all about adjustment, flexing and bending with the current. There’s the life-changing adjustments that happen every once in a long while, but mostly life is made up of subtle, minuscule changes over time. It’s fun to look back and see what has become normal after 9 months. For […]

Weighing In

August 22, 2015

So, I’m not going to write a birth story since I’d rather not revisit the insanity of it all. I’ll just say that it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I wish that my water hadn’t broken early. I definitely got a taste of the curse. Only by the grace of God and […]

Overwhelming Thankfulness

July 2, 2015

I’m sure our journey will seem more and more profound as time passes, but even now, it strikes me as miraculous. Some days I’m even overwhelmed with the thought of what God has done in our lives. Sometimes I can just sit and savor one or two notes of the symphony that’s before me. Our […]

Glossy or Matte?

March 9, 2015

After a good, long week in Colorado and a 10 hour drive ahead of us, Payton and I had a chance to let our thoughts settle and take shape. A lot had happened in a week as we had the chance to see old friends and faces through Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado. On our way from Wichita to […]

What should I say?

January 2, 2015

So, I haven’t blogged for a while. It’s not because I haven’t had time. It’s not because I didn’t have anything to say. It’s not because there’s been nothing going on. It’s because I’ve had no clue how to put it all into words. But, I believe with all of my heart that God wants […]

Travlin’ across ‘Merica

October 9, 2014

Our drive from MI to CA was daunting to say the least. I myself have never made the complete journey. I remember my dad driving our moving truck out there with a friend back in 1990 and probably in 1995 when we returned to MI after seminary was over. But, golly gee, it’s not very […]

Really? Adoption?

August 24, 2014

If you get our monthly newsletters, you know that we’re smack dab in the middle of the adoption process. If not, this might be this first you’ve heard, and you’re not sure how all of this happened. It still seems very surreal to me too, so you’re not alone. (Sometimes I honestly wonder how we […]

The Wrong Word

July 31, 2014

I’m not going to lie; July was packed. I hesitate to use the word “busy” because I think I use it a lot, and it usually implies duty and a bit of negativity. Payton says that when I use “busy,” I’m usually worried (usually true!) or I don’t like that I’m required to do all […]

A Living Book

February 3, 2014

Things had just started to feel routine here and then, unexpectedly, a dear friend from church went home to be with the Lord late one Saturday afternoon. It’s been three weeks since Al left us all to be in eternity. He was only 61 and we all knew him really well as he’d been at […]