The Whole Story

I've had a few conversations recently about the value of telling the whole story, not just the happy-ending, final product part of the story. Our story in starting a family is a long story. Dramatic. Painful. Multi-layered. Providential. Scary. Hopeful. Devastating. Years of story. How sad it would be to only tell a part of the story.
Our babies will also have a long story. Their story will mainly include Brian and me as their parents, but will also include a chapter of abandonment, loss, grief, new country and language. The months and years of their story that leads up to them becoming Diaz's matters, too.

In the wise words of a few friends, your WHOLE life story is valuable because God's written all of it. He has never once left them or abandoned them. He's been a part of their story since conception, and will continue to be even in our home.

I promise to say "yes" to the whole story - theirs and mine.

Nesting :: Baby Room

I need some help. I've been in serious nesting mode these past few weeks!!!! We're getting our house ready for these babies to come our way, but can't do the baby room (they'll share a room) until we know if we're getting 2 girls or 1 boy/1 girl. It's a little frustrating, but will be so fun once we know!

Here's where I need your help:
What websites are great for baby decor?
What products/baby stuff can we not live without?

If you want to give us a little more educated resources, here's a few things we know:

• We DO NOT want to over run our home with baby stuff. We don't feel like we "need" a lot of baby stuff, but we do know we'll need some key supplies...
• We don't have anything yet: crib, curtains, dresser, etc. We're hoping to use our queen bed for our toddler. We're not getting a changing table.
  
• If we do have 2 girls, we don't want a crazy pink room. But we would like to use pink as an accent.
• We do not want a predominantly African room. We're open to some key Ethiopian accents that we'll get when we pick them up.
  
• Our style is very cozy, homey, and yet modern. Our living room is already decorated African style. Our wall colors for the most part are pretty earthy.
• We don't want to spend a lot of money on this room. :)

Have fun! Can't wait to see your ideas!!!

Risk

"Every child deserves someone to have someone to take a risk on them." My friend, Erin, shared that at our church's adoption meeting last Sunday, and immediate I had to stifle ugly crying. I was holding her foster-to-adopt son in my arms, thinking about our own 2 kiddos and their unknown stories, and just lost it.

Erin's right. EVERY CHILD deserves someone - especially Christians - to have someone risk something for them. No child deserves to be orphaned. No child deserves to be abandoned. No child deserves to live in abuse or malnutrition or poverty. But someone has to take a risk on their little lives in order for those wrongs to be righted and their stories changed.

Erin went on to passionately call us toward action, "God doesn't call us to protect our hearts. He calls us to risk and take a chance on someone who might not have anyone else to risk on their behalf." Truth. Someone has surely taken a chance on you - relationally, vocationally, financially. And after we take a risk, who knows what God might do with their life!??! When I think about our 2 Ethiopian kiddos, their little lives are already implicitly changing our lives...and we haven't even met them. And they deserve for us to take a chance on them. For better or worse.

Later last week, I saw this video about Apple founder, Steve Jobs. If you don't watch the whole thing, just watch the first few minutes.


Take a risk today.