Okay....so it's been a (long) while

I admit it. I got caught up in six million things since our move. I thought I'd easily slip back into my schedule, but moving across the country takes a little more than a week to recover from. Here I am, six months in, and still trying to figure life in Washington out.

And I mean that in the best possible way.

Do I love it here?

Yep.

Would I do it again?

Of course.

But a move is a life change and life changes need time to be recovered from. I love our new house, our new neighbors, the rural feel and the closeness of town. I love the view of the mountains that I see every time I glance out the kitchen window. I love our land and our little red barn (which will soon be home to several chickens). I love our new church and our new friends, but I miss our old church and our old friends. I miss my family. My nieces and my plethora of nephews. I miss going out to the store and seeing a dozen people that I know.

What I've realized about this move is that life is often about taking chances. We can choose to sit and let life happen to us or we can choose to take action and happen to life. Rodney, the kids and I....well, we happened to life when we arrived in Spokane. Our loud, exuberant family took the quiet street we live on by storm. We barged into churches and dance studios and art centers. We banged out piano songs and sang loudly. We laughed. We happened.

That's not to say it was easy. God has planned this for us for a long time. I've no doubt about that. Selling our Maryland house to the first people to walk through the door, finding our new home that met our needs so beautifully (and was built by a man who was building for no one but himself...proving that in 1978 God was planning for us to live here)...everything fell into place. But change is scary, isn't it? The unknown, the unseen, the invisible roads that will lead from this place and to others....it is hard to walk toward those things no matter how much faith we have that God is in them.

Which brings me to some news that I share with the greatest fear and the fullest of hope. Soon my family will 'happen' to China. In three months or four or five or six we will travel to meet the newest member of the McCoy family. At this point we are still waiting for a pre approval letter from China, but we have submitted a letter of intent to adopt. In other words, we have accepted a referral for a little girl. She will be seven in March. She needs us as much as we need her. Like our other children, she is talkative and outgoing, loves music and activity. My mother, on viewing the photo, said, "She looks like another live wire. Well, what's one more?"

So true, Mom, so true.

Once we receive pre-approval I will be able to post more information, but for now, I leave you with this thought: Doing nothing is safe. Doing nothing is easy. Make it your goal to not do nothing.

Not do nothing.

I've heard that six million times on the Christian radio station lately. Such an easy concept, but so difficult.

Whatever your dreams, whatever God's desire for you....go forward boldly and do NOT do nothing.

Shirlee