"Some nights, just pretzels and beer, but I'm here..."

Okay, maybe not beer. (Nor pretzels, they make me thirsty.)

This week has sucked.

I mean. They sent me home from work early on Monday. They sent me home from work. (And actually, even then, they only asked me if I wanted to go. YES. PLEASE.)

No, on a serious note, they did send me home. I practically imploded on Monday. I came down with an awful cold and on top of that suddenly Phyllis' death just overwhelmed my system. Tuesday was pretty much the same. I spent most of Wednesday feeling on the mend, but exhausted. Today was pretty miserable.

But you sounded so chipper at the beginning of this post....

GUILD WARS.

Guild Wars 2 has salvaged this week. It is so much fun.

Seriously, pure fun. This is the first game where I haven't felt overwhelmed or like I'm not able to help or like I have to reach such and such level or area, etc. I have just enjoyed it. So I'm running around as a Sylvari Elementalist and I'm shooting electricity and fire at things and finding pretty vista points, and fulfilling quests and having a ball. It seems to be really balanced and very newbie friendly. So I have gotten through my days this week by thinking "In a few hours, I get to play Guild Wars...."

So for everyone that pitched in to buy the game for me, you have my sincere enjoyment of it as well as my thanks for brightening up my awful, no good, very bad week. :)

Also brightening my week was getting to see Holly & Sam at the movies! I would say they put up with me stumbling around and almost falling over, but now that I think about it, that's probably not much different than normal. :)

And while we're speaking of the Dark Knight Rises, this HISHE bonus is hysterical: (Spoilers.)



"I'm startin' to think this guy doesn't have our best interests in mind here!"

So anyway, I'm still here. I still plan on blogging. I'm just working to find my way back into it.

And I've seen love make heaven ring.

Adoption Update:

My cousins leave this Friday for Ethopia and their final court date is the 12th! Ahhhh!

After that, they have to wait on their embassy date before they can come home. The embassy date, to my understanding, is final preparations for Tate to enter the US (passport, etc).

Here's the deal: My cousin Brian only has a few weeks of vacation. The embassy dates possible are either late October, early November or the middle of November. While early November would still be okay, if it's the middle of November he'll have to come back early. And leave his wife and new son in Ethopia until the embassy date.
So. Ideally here, the embassy date will be late October or possible early November. Either way, even if it ends up being in the middle of November, God is still in control. But if you would pray towards it being one of the earlier two dates, that would be lovely and very appreciated by all of us. :)

I was considering their trip this past Sunday during our church's invitation. The thought popped into my mind that I was jealous. Jealous? I thought. I considered. Jealous was the right word. But not the right context. Jealous of them? No. I kept internally poking around. That wasn't it. Then it dawned on me. Ahhhh....jealous for them?

Yes. Jealous for them. That was it.

Jealous for them, in the sense, that they have this unique opportunity and they're taking it and I am so very happy for them!
Jealous that they will be traveling to Africa, a land that holds a very special place in my heart. They will get to step into this beautiful country that not everyone has the opportunity to see. To spend time with their son's heritage and culture. That their son will soon be in their arms. :)

But what if Tate had never made it to the adoption center?

I spent some time on Gladney's site tonight and they had a video up specifically towards Ethopian adoption. The video opens with this statistic: 6,000,000 orphans in Ethopia alone. Can you envision that kind of number?
The statistics continued.
12% will die before the age of 5.
53% over 5 will have to work to support their family.
Less than 5% are adopted.

My heart sunk. This is not worldwide numbers- can you imagine how much larger they go? Millions of children with no home. If any, a few loved ones. No parents. Little stability. And this beautiful baby boy?

The video continued. It doesn't have to be this way it read.

It doesn't have to be this way. Indeed. This is not fair. This is not right. This is where "looking after the widows & the orphans" comes in. This is where we should be stepping in. This is where I should be stepping in.

Ah. Lots of Rich Mullins lately. Let mercy lead, God. Let love be the strength in our legs. And in every footprint that we leave, there'll be a drop of grace whether its here, Africa or beyond.

May 19th, 2010: The Serbian Sensation

Of all the things I expected to wake up to this morning, this was not one of them. I expected to sleep in. I expected severe weather. I expected a trip to MWC. I expected Chick-Fil-A. I did not expect to log onto a blog I've been caught up in reading for weeks now and see the post that occured at 5:30 this morning.

All Are Precious In His Sight is a blog chronicling the hospital stay of Christyn Joy, a girl from Serbia recently adopted by a couple in the states. They knew before they adopted her that she had medical problems. Honestly, I can't remember the whole list. Basically her entire pulmonary system was failing (to my tiny understanding) and her blood vessels needed to be completely replaced for being too small. Chrissie has already died and been revived twice and had signs of major brain activity afterward both times. But today, it just wasn't enough. Today Chrissie went home with Christ.

I wish I knew something to say to the family. I've never met them personally, but that's irrelevant. Hundreds, if not thousands, all over the world have been following their story. Some (maybe more) have turned to Christ because of the miracles worked so far in Chrissie's life. It just seemed like by this point, God wasn't going to let her die. And while I'm glad that Chrissie is no longer suffering (which she has been - the family has been in the hospital for this visit alone for a month), I'm at a loss for the family & loved ones left behind.

Through the Christian viewpoint, I know God has numbered our days. He knew exactly what would fall on each one. Chrissie's four years were greatly used by the outpouring I've seen of kindness and love to this family and what Chrissie has done through her family. And now she's home. Some days what catches you off guard are more overwhelming than others. Goodbye sweet Serbian sensation. Rest easy in the arms of Christ.

Love and prayers.