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Showing posts from July, 2014

When Life Doesn't Turn Out How You Planned or Hoped

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I have sat down to try and write this several times, but just couldn't. It has just been too fresh & overwhelming. 2006 For those of you who don't know me personally, I am from a big family. I have 15 brothers & sisters. I am the oldest & have one biological brother. When I was 9 years old, my parents began to adopt other children. Lots of people have asked me what I thought about it, has it been hard, would I go back and change anything, etc. And I will answer that later. Growing up in a family that big was definitely an experience with many fun times and many hard ones. As each child became part of our family, whether a baby or a teenager, boy or girl, my heart stretched a little bigger as love grew and I accepted each of them as a real brother or sister. There were many children that my parents were asked to take in that they had to say "No" to and yet others that the Lord led them to say "Yes" to. And I believe with all my heart that

Half A Decade of The Changeable & The Unchanging

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July 2009 So today, July 8th, marks our 5 year anniversary of living in the Philippines. I think "half a decade" sounds better. Makes us sound more mature and wiser or something...(ha!) When we said our goodbyes & tearfully walked away from our family, friends, & everything familiar, we boarded the airplane with high expectations & excitement as we moved halfway across the globe to a new world of jungles, islands, & oceans. Our babies were 4 and 2 years old. We experienced culture shock, a new language, and city life for the first year while we lived in the capital city of Manila to learn Tagalog. The view from our window changed from the rolling hills of a Texas ranch to the 9th floor of an apartment building in the one of the most crowded, smoggiest cities on earth. Instead of being in the majority, we suddenly stuck out like a sore thumb in a sea of beautiful, dark-skinned, dark eyed people. July 2010 But slowly & surely, with the Lord who