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Summer

Let’s start back into Writing Wednesdays with a big reality check!

My idea of a summer series about the different branches of health simply did not happen even though I outlined several blogs at the beginning. I thought I would have a time to get back here and at least schedule some out, but nope! And it has been a GREAT summer, truly.

Here’s what DID happen:

My book, Belonging & Behavior: 12 Weeks of Connection Training for Adoptive Parents, got put into high gear with a wonderful design/artist friend who is formatting the book. Now, thanks to her, we should have a book available on Amazon in September. This book is all about connection as well as correction, with five chapters of information/education/our story about what TBRI (Trust Based Relational Intervention) is. Then the second part of the book, which is the largest portion, is 12 weeks of:

-1 Bible Study Lesson for the parent per week

-3 Student Devos per week that could be done together or assigned to the student, depending on their age

-1 “Connection Time” Activity to do per week, with many to choose from

There is a packet of beautiful worksheets, again thanks to the designer I hired – happy to share her info if you love it! – that can be downloaded and printed off right here from my website and put in a binder for each child. You can print off as many as you’d like, and having those student binders made ahead of time will set you up for the best success along the 12 weeks.

Also, this summer, I ordered more Sister Bridge items and already sold about half of my merch, so it’s time to order more! I have beautiful handmade mugs, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, purses of all kinds, zipper pouches, and backpacks. Soon I will also have ornaments and Christmas-related items and would love to bring the shop to your house or women’s meeting for a party this fall!

Sister Bridge is a ministry I started over 10 years ago, and now that I have a home office/studio for lessons and coaching, I have a little international gift shop right here, open by appointment! I have items from Haiti (Papillon Marketplace), Ethiopia, and Swaziland (Timbali Crafts) right now, but I am open to carrying more from different countries and ministries. I am not making any income from this, but the “profit” is being put in a fund for my trips to Ethiopia to minister with Embracing Hope Ethiopia, which is very dear to my heart.

Our family had many birthday grill-outs, movie and pizza nights, and time to chill. My summer flowers are beautiful…the tiger lilies were my favorite but as soon as they left, the naked ladies (I know) popped up and took their place in the spotlight. I’m thinking about learning how to compost and get better soil for next summer. We lost two trees which has made some sunny spots and I’m contemplating a garden??!! Am I crazy?

Oh, one more thing, my dear friend Heather and I are almost done with our Life Coaching (and fully done with our Mental Health Coaching) Certification, and we will have the fun of being in a graduation ceremony in Nashville this September, complete with cap and gown. I’m so proud of us! It’s been a wonderful experience, and we both are busy already using what we are learning.

Thanks for this opportunity to just sum it all up and start back fresh into this semester of Writing Wednesdays! I am READY!

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ethiopia, here i come…

In less than a week, I get to go to Ethiopia and be with Jesus and precious people He loves.

I feel so excited, and also a little sad because I will miss my family. As friends prayed over me today and mentioned my husband and children’s names individually before the Lord, I was struck, again, by the beauty of my LIFE that I get to live here with them.

As I have said in recent posts, family life is hard. Sometimes I’m grieving, sometimes I’m confused. I am not saying it is smooth or easy. But it is beautiful.

About four years ago, I got my first tattoo and it was a step of faith – not the tattoo, but what it said and meant. It says “life is beautiful”. It was a time in my life where my daily existence didn’t feel beautiful, but I was proclaiming what GOD said about it! A year later, I went back and added three more lines to the tattoo, each saying “life is beautiful” in the three other languages that have greatly blessed and affected my life: Bambara (Mali), Amharic (Ethiopia-adopting Yemi), & Haitian Kreyol (Haiti-adopting Eva & Zoe).

Although I will keep it covered in Ethiopia most likely, the Amharic line goes with me next week as I live and abide in this truth: Ethiopian lives are beautiful. Each are created in the image of God. The ones living in the garbage dump in Kore, the ones working at the daycare, preschool, and kindergarten, the ones begging on a street corner. I am already overwhelmed (with heavy gratitude and awe) to foresee how many eyes and faces and hands and souls I will come in contact with, and I have ONE prayer…

That through the power of the Holy Spirit, my eyes and smile will convey that I value them, that Jesus loves them, that Creator God is for them not against them, that they are seen and known by Him, and that this Holy Spirit interaction will indeed enact desire for GRACE BY FAITH in Jesus.

Other than my last time in Ethiopia, I can’t think of a place I have gone that I could not speak at least a preschool version of the language. In Amharic, I’ve got nothing! How awesome to know that my lack and inability will be so deep and wide, making lots of room for Him to speak in the spirit realm.

As was confirmed with my sweet friends this morning, it is my lack and inability that truly is the “new wineskins” that Jesus needed me to prepare for Him to fill with new wine. Maybe the old wineskins were my laws and my self-righteousness, my abilities and commitment level and strengths. Now, both in this Ethiopian trip and in my new desire for the counseling and prayer ministry, I only have this to offer: Me (weaknesses & all) plus the grace and presence of Jesus. And how clear it is in this moment that my beautiful life was not meant to be anything but that.