2020

On Saturday, September 14, my husband Randy and dad Tom were finishing putting soffits under the eaves of the second story of our house. Dad was on his way down the ladder and Randy was up above him on a walkboard. The ladder where Dad was standing buckled, folding beneath him. He said it felt like the ladder was ripped right out from under him. That is the last thing he remembers. Randy also remembers feeling like the floor was pulled out from under him. He fell 20+ feet, landing squarely on top of my dad. This perfect landing saved Randy's life and spared him from major injuries. Dad, taking the brunt of both their falls, sustained 8 broken ribs and a punctured lung. We spent the next 15 hours at one hospital and then another. Dad had a chest tube for three days, draining the fluid from his lungs. He has been home since the 18th, but returns to Miami Valley Hospital today to see if his lungs and ribs are showing signs of healing. Please join us in praying that he...

July was a month of goodbyes for me. Some goodbyes were harder than others. Some were expected and others came out of the blue. Some I handled well and others not so much.  Goodbyes are never easy. They often come with regret, with longing for the past, with wondering if you've made the right decision.  One goodbye that Randy and I have been discussing for a while now is letting go of the motorhome we inherited when his mother died in November of 2017. While it is sad to let that piece of her legacy go, that sense of adventure and exploration and discovery, it was a necessary next step.  The money we got from selling the motorhome will help us continue progressing in the adoption process, and show that we are committed to providing a stable environment for the boys. (The adoption lady wasn't impressed that we have had 6 different addresses in the 5 years we have been together, and many more months with no address at all. And while it was an incredibly fun and...

May was a really incredible month for us, filled with other peoples' overwhelming generosity. But before I fill you in on that, let me rewind a bit to last December. In December, Randy and I went to San Felipe. Our primary motivation was to spend Christmas with the kids at the orphanage. But we had a very important secondary motivation: to go to DIF (children's services) to inquire about adoption. While living at Sonshine Hacienda, Randy and I obviously grew very attached to the children. Over 40 kids were part of our lives while we lived in San Felipe. Some for just a few days. Others were there at the children's home when we first visited in 2016, and continue to live there today. They all made a lasting impact on us, but we connected with three boys in particular. So it was those three brothers that we asked about when we went to DIF (pronounced Deef). We were met with a familiar face when we arrived at the offices -- a woman we had worked with on numerous occas...

Of all the states we were planning to travel to in our 4 months of wandering, South Dakota was the only one I had never been to. So obviously I was most excited about this one! I had always wanted to see Mt Rushmore, and even though I've heard people say it is disappointing, I didn't care. It was still tops on my bucket list! After visiting Devil's Tower, Wyoming, we once again started heading east, making the short drive to South Dakota. We stopped at the rest stop/visitor's center on the border of the two states and asked for a recommendation of an RV park. The woman suggested we go to Wyatt's Hideaway in her hometown of Belle Fourche (pronounced "bell foosh"). We had already been to Belle Fourche -- it was the geologic center of the United States that we had passed through earlier in the day -- but we were all about taking recommendations from locals, so back to the center we went! And we were so glad we did. The plan had only been to spend o...

Flying from Ohio to California is like flying from home to home. Ohio was relaxed and quiet. Ohio was dandelions. Ohio was walks down the lane with the dog and coffee in the morning with the parents. Ohio was home. California is busy and loud. California is traffic and warm skies and orange poppies. California is coffee in the morning with the kids and then running off to meet up with friends. California is home too. It’s funny, to feel so at home in such different worlds. But it reveals a truth that I spent my entire 20s searching for: home is not a place. (I was sitting at an outdoor Starbucks in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when I wrote that last paragraph. A small group of people were chatting, waiting for their drinks, and as they said goodbye I overheard the woman say: “I’m not seeking any more. I’ve found it.” I don’t know to what she was referring to—a job, a spouse, a home, a higher power—but I understood immediately that deep sense of contentment.) ...

We finally arrived in New Vienna, Ohio, on Tuesday, April 17. 17 days after leaving Mexico. It was a quiet homecoming. Dad was in town, bringing home his combine which had been in the shop. And Mom was napping. But Jovi's joyous face held all of Randy's and my attention. She was dumped off by a stranger here 12 years ago, and she's delighted to call it home ever since. It was obvious by her galloping across the lawn that she remembered, from her paws to her soul, that this was her happy place. We unloaded a few things, started a load of laundry, took a walk down the lane and soon were greeted by my parents. Later that evening my older brother and his family joined us. And just like when we spent time with my younger brother in Texas, we were delighted to have children around (though we are still adjusting to the fact that they can understand us when we speak!). Even though it has been busy, the week has been relaxing. And I see why Randy has so longed to move h...

Time for another guest blog! This one comes from my friend Nathan Sheets, who interned for me while I was the Communications Editor at Friends United Meeting in Richmond, Indiana. Now Nathan is working in Hollywood as the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of an organization that is working to end isolation and homelessness in Hollywood. What?! How incredible is that?! He shares with us just a taste of what The Center at Blessed Sacrament is all about: THE CENTER “The Center is a place that not only helps you. It’s been a place where I’ve discovered how to help myself.” Long before any of the current staff knew the place existed, "Social Services at Blessed Sacrament" and the staff/volunteers therein were devoted to facilitating a chaotic shower and (occasional) meal program, where people shuffled in as fast as the showers they were allowed. John F. was around in those days. “It wasn’t pretty,” he laughed as he talked, recalling how his life has transformed from tho...

Time for another guest blog! This one comes from my friend Jeff Laycock, who I went to high school with. When my nieces were born and spent time in the NICU, Jeff reached out to me to assure me that even though it was scary to see them so tiny, with IVs in their heads and tubes up their noses keeping them alive, it was also the safest, best place for them to be. He knew, because he had just been through it with his son, Hayden. Who has to be the cutest spokesperson for Nationwide Children's Hospital, BuckeyeThon, and ending Pediatric Cancer that I have ever seen. Here's their story: BUCKEYETHON Our story starts when my pregnant wife, Bri, and I went to her 20-week appointment to find out the sex of our baby. The excitement of the day soon turned to confusion, fear, and sadness as the doctor explained that the heartbeat of our unborn child, a boy, had dropped into the 50s from the typical 180s since the last time Bri had visited. He told us he suspected congenital he...