I love my family

My kids are at onething, Christina just got back, we have 2 sets of 2 people each staying with us, and we have visitors.

I love the way our life is. It seems to be getting a little hard right now on some fronts, but on others, it is just blossoming. It really doesnt seem like it is fair, or work. Danie and I both feel strognly it is our part ont he team to be with people, eat with them, have them over, and just enjoy them.

And then to throw wonderful kids and babies ont op of that? and thenfriends coming through every other day i just too much. Family is a weird word. It has a lot of different applications and facets.

Having just come back from California with my "bio" family, it is an interesting experience. Im not sure how easily family is defined any longer. I have friends who have different kids adopted, biological and there isnt a distinction. Seems same with friends and loved ones.

I live is a weird kind of freindship stew. Lots of different shapes and flavors, and it only gets better the longer it sits around in my life refrigerator.

Home is where the what is?

Here I am in California. Wow. We went to Canters deli yesterday down in LA, and ir was one of the hardest drives I have made in a long time. 1.7 hours there and almost as much back. I tried to get creative coming back, and didnt help. I dont think we lost time, but it was stressful.



Driving here is interesting for me. I still know where everything is, and how to get places. A year away doesnt changeit that much. But I notice little tings, like how many for lease signs there are up and down Hawthorne blvd. Lots of small retail companies going out of business.



Things are just different enough on that simple, subtle level, and I have been gone just long enough to change my experience enough, that I feel a LOT different.



This isnt my home anymore. Even my parents house is different. Literally. They remodeled the remaining pieces that havent been remodeled, and the light switch and sink are in totally different places in my old bathroom. I almost slammed into a wall where there used to be a sink.



This is an interesting experience for me. Like I said inan earlier post, I am here for the people. But Im finding myself craving my own little bubble. Im beginning to miss the IHOP a little, the rhythm of things, and the familiarity.



I think perhaps Im not a traveller. I have done a fair share of it, but Im beginnign to prefer home most. I am realizing that Home is beginning to be a focus for me, and perhaps an emphasis for me. I can feel things changing for the future on that topic that indicate a lot of focus on it. We even had a good friend with a dream email us and it talked about significant changes to what Home is, how it works, and what it looks like.



Havah seems ot be adapting so well. One of big concerns is how hard we work to have a routine and a schedule for her, and how easy it is to disrupt that. Even with a schedule we havent been as successful with sleep and rest as a certain supermom in Ohio is. But we really thought "If tis goes south, we are going to be miserable". Maybe Havah runs the house, I dont know. But sh works good within her routine. Danie doesnt sleep much anyhow, so every little bit is precious.

Havah just kind of looks around at people, and things. There is a lot ofthings at Grandmas. Lots of shiny, colorful things. And some weird older people that like to try and get her attention.

Im starting to relax a little, and looking forward to being with my kids a little more. Work is stressful (the lack of it) and I need to disengage my head from it for just long enough to get refreshed.

Like the Song says...

"Im going to California with an aching in my heart..." Led Zepplin

We are leaving today for California. Havah has been on an airplane or a car coast to coast within 8 months of being born. Florida, Washington DC. California, Ohio... The kids have been Caost to Coast To Coast in 13 months.

If it wernt for family, I wouldnt go back. I lived there 37 years, and have no affection for the place. It was 9 degrees the other day,a nd snowed a few inches, and I loved it. I was driving through snow last night sliding all over and couldnt imagine being anywhere else.

It isnt like California is bad, it just isnt great. Southern Cal is one big morass of people. It is so congested and dense with urban and sub-urban environments I never realized how constipated it is.

Is the weather good? Maybe. If you like a narrow range of weather and almost no true variance except for hot, and wet/cool.

Since moving here my girls have not had even remotely the incidence of colds or allergies. The doctors there told us "It is environmental, not viral or bacterial". They were right. The air there is awful.

Im not sure any place is really that attractive to me. It is the people. We are leaving our home, hassling with things like the dog, and travel, and expense because we love the people there, and we got a chance to go sponsored by Grandma and Grandpa.

We have some friends who seem to be moving here shortly, and I have been reflecting on how much my life has changed in 1 year.

Im fatter than I have ever been, yet happier. I need to fix the first without compromising the second, and I think its possible.

Im playing music again several hours a week.

I spend time in an environment among people who are so focused I seem like an uncentered, laid back kind of guy.

My kids have developed spiritually in ways I coulnt have foreseen.

But we also have made a lot of friends. We have pre-existing friends like the Bohlenders, and Christina. Those have been wonderful. Living with Chrissy has been a great treat, and being able to stop my day, and sit down with her and Danie and talk about stuff for an hour is something I cherish. Seeing Randy or Kelsey or the kids somewhere in the say at random is so wonderful! Instead of making a big deal and travelling, we stumble upon them at times.

We have lots of new friends. I didnt realize that until I thought through it. We dont have the normal IHOP experience. we connected to all sorts of folks. They are so wonderful. We have a patchwork of people and experiences that happen all the time that have become part of the backdrop that I didnt realize until I stepped out of it.

So the aching isnt to GO to California. I will be waiting to get back home.

Chilly Billy

9 degrees. Wind makes it about -10. Isnt too windy, but things are FROZEN.....

You would think it would be great for snow. Alas, no mositure. Hopefully tomorrow, and then non for Wed as we are leaving on a plane...

Now it starts getting scary when...

Even secular Journalists start describing orthodox biblical eschatology without knowing it...

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7a03e5b6-c541-11dd-b516-000077b07658.html

TOdd and Kims story

This is a quick and simple story of their daughte HOPE. I say that because they really arent able to share the whole thing that is involved, simply for timesake!

http://www.tmphillips.com/adoption/hope/sharing-at-the-river/

I have known Todd (and Kim) for most of my life. We have grieved together laughed, ate, prayed. I cannot tell you how proud I am of their commitment to this,a nd their effort and faithfulness in this. Theseare very real people, experiencing something very abnormal to most of us, yet very NORMAL from Gods perspective. It is so edifying.