A Little History

I am unsure how to begin but I guess the best thing to do is just start so here goes...

It has been a crazy year. Josh was due to leave for boot camp in July however he dove into a pool and ruptured his eardrum. He was moved back to November 2nd. Amanda was supposed to leave for Africa in September but she did not make her medical deadline so she was home until March 8th. In October my mom had a heart attack and passed away. I definitely give thanks to God for keeping my kids home. I am sure I would not have been able to survive without them.

One week after mom's funeral Josh left for boot camp. I was a mess. I was so worried about him and it didn't help when I received the first couple of letters. He talked about what hell it was, how lost and lonely he felt and how every day at mail call he prayed and prayed for letters but none come. It broke my heart. By the way, the day we received his address we mailed him approximately 10 letters. Anyway, as time went on he became more positive and eventually loved it. In January he graduated and it was a beautiful ceremony. I was so proud of him. Not only for graduating but for proving to himself that he could do it.

In March Amanda left for Africa. When she graduated from Ball State we agreed that she would quit her job, come home for the summer and just spend time with the family. We were both a little concerned about living together again. We had some rough (to say the least) periods when she was in high school. Instead of 3 months under one roof we ended up spending 10 months together. Instead of arguing we became best friends. We did almost everything together, grocery shopped, lunch, stained the deck, gardened, laid on the beach played games every night and everything else. It is a time that I will treasure forever but not the smartest thing to do before a long separation. When she left it broke my heart. I have never (and I do mean never) cried so much or so hard in my life. One morning I actually woke up and my chest hurt from crying.

At the beginning of February I received a email from a old friend telling me about a organization that she was involved with, Solace for the Children. She said that there was a child that she believed could be helped by a doctor in my area, they just needed a host family. I of course was full of questions. Everyone in the family wanted to do it but I knew from past experiences that this would change all of our lives and once she was here there would be no changing our minds. I wanted the kids to understand that they may not like this child at all, that there would be sacrifices to make. Mom wouldn't be able to be at everything. Vacations might be skipped or at least changed. I also knew that I would be the main caregiver and I wasn't sure I was ready to be tied down again. Anyway, after a month of talking to anyone and everyone and much prayer I believed it was truly what God was calling us to do. One day, I wish I knew the exact date, I called Patsy (the head of Solace) and told her that we were happy to host Sana. A couple of hours later we met our new daughter on Skype. Wow, we were all so impressed. Sana is such a brave young woman. Things started happening pretty fast and every day became and still is a new adventure.