[Memorial Day] Gratitude.

My FIL fought in Vietnam. For most of my husband's life, he says he rarely heard much about his dad's time in Vietnam. All we knew was that very few guys from his group made it home. And the ones who did were forever changed.  

As he's gotten older, he'll periodically share with us bits and pieces from his life there... A few years ago, the traveling wall came to our town and FIL came to see it. You see, most of his friends are on that wall. Rows of them, in fact, were people whose names alone flooded his mind with memories. That weekend, we were also able to visit one of the men who served with him and I think those things combined opened the floodgate.

I learned more about him in that weekend than I have in the 13 years I've known him combined.

We, often times, become so desensitized to hearing of fallen soldiers oversees... Almost as if it's so far away that we have convinced ourselves it's not real.

But it is. Real.

Each name on the news is a son or daughter. Someone's husband/wife. Fathers and mothers. Beloved sisters and brothers.

Friends.

Heroes.

Thank You just seems so cheap compared to the sacrifices made. Both by our hero soldiers...and their families...

Thank You. Just isn't a worthy response when so much is given and taken.

When I think about each person who joins our armed forces and takes the call to fight for freedom. So dearly loved by so many. So brave and courageous?

My heart is filled with a gratitude I don't have words to describe.

Recently, as we prayed for the family of a fallen hero, Marvel asked if this soldier was like Captain America.

"Better" I replied, "because he didn't have special powers or superhuman strength. He was brave and courageous all on his own...in his own skin.  He was truly a Super-hero".

A few days later, we saw a man in uniform in the grocery store. Marvel whispered to me "Look, mom...a superhero soldier!" with awe and admiration. 
Had he not been in the middle of a conversation, we would have stopped to thank him..I told Marvel we would thank each and every soldier we saw from now on

Each and every member of our armed forces are superheros. Brave and Courageous in the face of danger. 

So, as we mark a day of remembrance to our fallen heroes..I, humbly, with more respect than I can even describe.. say Thank you.

Thank you to the men and women who daily risk their lives for freedom. Who put on a uniform that asks them to be willing to give their lives for ours.

Thank you to the families who courageously await the return of their beloved soldiers.

Thank you to the husbands and wives who keep their families running smoothly during a long and hard deployment.

Thank you to the moms and dads who hold back tears and lumps in their throats as their hero tells them they are joining the military.

Thank you to those who have come home with battles to face again.

Thank you to those who live with physical---and invisible---reminders of the toll of war.

And Thank you. Thank you... to the heroes whose lives {here} ended on the battlefield.

We honor you. We celebrate you. We thank you.

A few thoughts from the mobility-impaired

Congrats to Valerie!! 

She won the Huge Book Giveaway and is all set with her spring reading!!

1.  When I broke my ankle, my old college roommate suggested I go ahead and get a knee scooter....Every ounce of pride I had left said No Way. Not Gonna Happen.  And then it was exhausting trying to get to the bathroom twenty feet from the couch and getting my own nutrients from the kitchen was near impossible.

Enter Knee Scooter.  It's amazing what being able to go to the bathroom alone does to someones perspective.

2.  I've really been wishing I'd gotten a pedicure before my skydiving adventure...I can't reach my foot now and am still debating the hilarity of going to get a [modified] pedicure anyways! 

3.   I've been blessed with some amazing friends and family! Both my Mother in law and Mom spent several days here post-surgery, friends have been shuttling Marvel around and done more than their fair share..and The Husband. Well, that man deserves a trophy. And a vacation!

4.  Bear with me if things are quiet around here for a while! I'm still on some pretty heavy meds and while my mobility is limited, what I can do is terribly exhausting so I still sleep a lot more than normal!!  

I promise to keep you updated!! Thank you for all the love and prayers!!

A {Life-Transforming} Book Giveaway!!

Hey everyone!  This week I am teaming up with a few of my friends to do an awesome book giveaway!! 

 Each of us were asked to choose a book that had changed or deeply impacted our lives and one lucky winner will receive a copy of EACH of our book choices! That's right, 5 amazing books!!!  For my book choice, I chose the Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne!

“Only Jesus would be crazy enough to suggest that if you want to become the greatest, you should become the least. Only Jesus would declare God's blessing on the po0r rather than on the rich and would insist that it's not enough to just love your friends. I just began to wonder if anybody still believed Jesus meant those things he said.” Shane Claiborne

I fell into this book....or more accurately, stumbled across it.  I was not looking for a book to further destroy my comfortable complacency ..but alas, here it was.

 You see, I was busy being destroyed by McCall's book pick, Seven,  when I decided to dig deeper. I determined that if I was to truly be transformed by a book--I wanted to know all I could about what had wrecked the author of my destruction. 

And there, in that digging, I found The Irresistible Revolution.

I wish I could describe the depth of conviction I had and the adrenaline that coursed through my veins to affect change in my community after finishing this book...but I know that it was truly a personal experience.

I hope that The Irresistible Revolution brings you to that same place of challenge.

To do more for the least.

To be there for our neighbors.

To transform your world into God's Kingdom on Earth.

“Maybe we are a little crazy. After all, we believe in things we don't see. The Scriptures say that faith is "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Heb. 11:1). We believe poverty can end even though it is all around us. We believe in peace even though we hear only rumours of wars. And since we are people of expectation, we are so convinced that another world is coming that we start living as if it were already here.”  Shane Claiborne

        If you want to read even more about this amazingly dangerous book, check out Amazon's book description Here!  

 So as you can see, I believe that The Irresistible Revolution is one of those books that can truly transform your life!! And I want to share it with you!!! Here's how you can enter to win this and 4 other life-changing books!!!

Using the Rafflecopter below, you can get an entry for following my blog and another entry for commenting on this post!  Then head over to my friends pages to learn all about their favorite book picks and enter there as well!!!  That gives you a total of 10 chances to win 5 amazing life-changing books!!!!

Lyndsy at Word from the Wallaces;                McCall at Finding Our Way;   

Tiffany at Stuff and Things;                           Wynn at Gloriously Ruined

a Rafflecopter giveaway


And here's a glimpse of the book collection you can win this week! Winners will be announced this weekend! 

What are you waiting for?!?!

Birthday Fail.

Easter weekend started out with all the usual beauty!

Celebrating our Resurrected Lord. Our church has an amazing multimedia production that {I believe} is really second to none and we were so excited for Marvel to get to see it with us. Easter is the season that messes me up and during the production, as I was sobbing...my gentle and amazing son reached over and said "It's ok, Mom...it isn't over yet...He will Rise!"   Out of the mouths of babes...  Needless to say, I was a proud puddle of blubbering mess after that!

Next, we were on our way to a town about an hour north for my big Birthday present!! I'd been looking forward to this day for months and after 4 (FOUR!) reschedules, the weather was beautiful and I was PUMPED to finally celebrate turning 30 properly!!

Next was....well... slightly less planned.  I often laugh because I consider myself semi-adventurous and pretty close to fearless...and yet.  

I am the most accident prone person you will ever meet. My poor tandem instructor had a spotless record. Over 1500 tandem jumps and no one had ever broken a bone.   Well, he obviously just hadn't met the right beginner yet.

Yep.

I managed to break not one...but TWO! bones in my ankle when I messed up the landing.

Surgery is scheduled for Friday so if I am MIA a while (or my posts seem especially medicated ha!) you'll all know why!!

Please don't hesitate to say a prayer for me when you think about it! My poor husband is single-parenting it for a while and once the adrenaline wore off, I was able to determine that broken ankles HURT!!! :-)

For the Love

If you've guys been around here very long, you've heard me talk about how Hard the adoption journey is.

There are so many tools we have to carry around with us -all the time- as adoptive parents...ready to whip them out at a moment's notice.

Tools for healing and helping our kiddos navigate feelings.

Tools for diffusing situations.

Tools for building attachment.

Tools for food issues, sleep issues, ownership issues...

The list goes on and on and on....

My friends in the adoption-world often joke about kidnapping taking Dr. Purvis home with us from one of her conferences so she can just do it for us... She's really good, ya'll. {and it's exhausting.}

But while all of those tools are needed and incredibly useful in helping bring our children healing.

They are no substitute for Love.

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear" 1 John 4:18(a)

Now, I don't claim to have perfect love. I get annoyed and frustrated  and angry. And I yell more than I mean to and apologize more than I wish I had to.

But...there are times when I can see how my love for Marvel is the vessel God is using to blanket him in perfect Perfect Love.

We took a lot of pictures of Marvel sleeping when he got home. Partly because we were doting first-time parents who took pictures of every remotely cute thing he did (in-turn, we created a monster, ha!)

But partly? because sleep did not come easy for our sweet Marvel. It was a time of vulnerabilty and an opportunity for fear to come roaring out. Awake and asleep.  It was here when fear was its strongest that I saw the power of Love.

Many nights, in the early season of Marvel sleeping in our room, he would wake up overwhelmed with fear and I would reach down and rub his back or hold his hand. As he gripped my hand in his and slowly drifted back into desperately-needed rest, I saw that Love. Perfect Love that only our Heavenly Father can pour out. Was more powerful than even the deepest, most rooted fears.

"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:8

You see...Love doesn't erase the sins. It doesn't get rid of the hard stuff or make any of those things disappear, the way we might want it to.

But. It does release us from the power those things have over us. Deep Love, Perfect Love. brings us the strength we need to walk through the hard things without being overtaken by them.

It covers us. It empowers us. It heals us.

Today I am linking up over at: