prioritizing.

ok friends- i know my posting has been less than awesome lately. I just needed a break. Let me share something with you- something I don't like to admit. You ready? here it is: Sometimes I care more about how people think we are doing than how we are actually doing. Blogging can be terrible for this! I get so caught up in how you all think my life is going, that I forget to do an honest survey of how things really are.

Drew and I had a heart to heart about re-prioritizing our life with what is important and realized we are exhausted!  If you know Drew and I, you know that are favorite thing is being around people. Saying "no" to things isn't something we do...not out of a sense of obligation, but we really like being around people and involved in all sorts of things. Lately though, things have gotten a bit...over committed.... at our house. SO- we sat down and really made a list of things that are important and things that aren't.

Here are somethings that didn't make the cut:

1) The photo blog. Too much of a stress... SO- I will continue to take a photo a day- and will occasionally share them here, but I just couldn't keep up another blog.

2) wedding invites. Especially with brides I know. :) Not that any of my brides have been awful, I just have a really hard time charging people I know for my time, so time to money ratio I was only paying myself about $3.00/hour (sometimes less). This isn't that big of a deal with a set of 20 shower invites, but 200+ wedding invites is another story.

3) some church commitments. this is a hard one. I LOVE being involved and I see everything we are doing as important, so it will be tough to choose what gets to go.I still haven't figured out what I am going to stop doing.


but here are some things I am getting excited about that we do see as a priority:

1) this blog. We love having a place for people to get to read what is happening in our lives- especially with the departure back to the Middle East getting closer, what better way to stay connected with people? so I will have more time to do this!

2) "school" with the girls. I don't mean workbooks and multiplication charts, but we will be starting a weekly project that has a purpose and lesson plan. I am excited that the girls are at an age where they are ready to learn and am SO excited to get to have more planned learning times with them!

3) spending time in the Word. I think a lot of times I replace knowing God with trying to serve God and I am excited to cut some stuff to have more time to spend getting to know what the Bible says about things.

Well, I'm glad we had this little chat. I will just pick up from here as oppose to trying to do a catch- up post. That is a little overwhelming.

love you all.

30 things

Happy 30th Birthday Drew!

This year, for Drew's birthday I had friends and family write 30 things they love about Drew. It was such a blessing to read and a really special gift to hear from so many people who love him, and to hear the re-occurring themes.

The top five things people love about drew are:

1. He loves the Lord
2. He is accepting
3. He is laid back
4. He is adventurous
5. He wears sandals (almost every person mentioned his footware!)

We had a great day, and loved celebrating Drew entering a new decade!

Drew, here are 30 things I love about you:

1. Your commitment to our family
2. The way you rough house with our girls, keep em tough.
3. How I always feel completely accepted by you.
4. That you love sitting in coffee shops as much as I do.
5. Watching you “talk” to people in your head- your lips move just a bit.
6. That you are always inviting people to our house
7. That you hardly ever complain
8. Your love for good meat
9. Your big man dance
10. That you still play with my hair when we are waiting in line somewhere
11. I love dreaming with you about our life in Oman
12. Knowing that I can completely trust that you have sought the Lord on decisions for our family.
13. That you take being a leader so seriously, and do such a great job at it.
14. You are such a great travel partner
15. I love that you push me to let go of things that really aren’t a big deal.
16. I love that you truly care what I think about things and always seek my opinion.
17. I love it that so many people know you well. You are easy to know.
18. You never stir conflict
19. You love to have fun and are always coming up with crazy new fun things to do.
20. I know you hate the term, but you are a great “girl dad”
21. I like that you listen to news, read magazines and generally know what is going on in the world.
22. I love hearing you talk about the tourism stuff, you get so excited
23. You are WAY better at math than me
24. You are awesome at taking the girls so that I can be “jord” and not “mom” for awhile.
25. You are a great son and son-in-law
26. You are always pushing to look more like Christ
27. You are a great cook
28. And pretty good looking, too.
29. You are the funniest person I know.
30. I love thinking of what the future holds for us, and am so thankful for the security of knowing how much you love me. I hope you know how much I love you too.

kiddos

I took LOTS of pictures of the kids at fundaninos. At one point I heard the little boy in the first picture ask his house mom "but why are they taking so many pictures of us?" Dan and Brittany at least had the excuse that it was for the website. I am just crazy. 

The kids range from 2 days old to 18. There is also a really cool program that lets young pregnant girls stay at the orphanage as an alternative to abortion. When they have the baby they can decide to stay and take care of their baby or give it up for adoption. Either way it is a life saved. There were so many that I wanted to bring home with me. Maybe one day.  For now though- you need to sponsor these kids so they can stay at the orphanage. All adoption out of Guatemala is completely closed (they are starting a pilot program to re-open it with some countries, not the US though) so the kids will be living at Fundaninos indefinitely. As soon as the website goes public each kids will be up for sponsorship to pay for the cost of staying at the orphanage and going to school. $40 bucks a month is all it takes. Be expecting a link when the website is finished! For now though- here are their wonderful faces.

fundaninos

Here are some pics of the orphanage, fundaninos. Y'all- it was such a wonderful place. I can't even tell you how peaceful it is. The workers do such a great job with the kids and it is truly a refuge from the craziness of the city. I was talking to a girl at the church who helps in the kids area and she said that she can actually see this kids faces soften the longer they are at Fundaninos. So great.