Eric is now two thirds of the way through seminary! I can’t believe it! This season of life has had it’s challenges but I am SO thankful for the multitude of blessing that have come – often in the challenges themselves! Though it didn’t take me this long to figure it out, I want to share my favorite thing about seminary so far: THE PEOPLE.
The Lord has used this season to bless us with so many wonderful relationships that have enriched our lives in invaluable ways. I praise God for seminary, and all the great people who have come with it. 
Now it probably goes without saying, but have two of my big brothers here at the same time with us has been the best. We had Jonathan, Maggie, Annie, and Lily for a year and a half at the beginning. And now, Danny, Kimberly, DJ, Trinity, Katy-Grace, and Benjamin have been here for a year and we have at least another year together.
Technically we already had these relationships before seminary, but I’m so grateful for how this time of living close together (and our kids becoming BFs!) has deepened our relationships with our family. I’m so thankful the Lord ordained all the steps for each of our three families, and saw fit to intertwine these years of our lives in Orlando!
Also, as a missionary kid having not known my cousins well growing up, watching my kids make memories and enjoy such sweet friendship with their cousins has been such a blessing to my heart!
And I can’t talk about family without talking about our other family member. In January of 2010 we heard of an international student, Agnes, coming to RTS who needed a place to live. We had just sent Sachiko home to Japan, so we had an extra room and invited her to live with us.
What started as just trying to “help a sister out” has turned into a wonderful gift to our family. Agnes lived with us for about 6 weeks last year when she first got here, and then has lived with us again since January. She truly feels like a sister to Eric and I and an aunt to our girls. We are so thankful that God brought her into our lives and blessed us so richly with her friendship (and cooking! ).
Continue reading about My favorite thing about seminary: My Family
Happy Father’s Day to the very best Dads in the whole world!
In my last post I shared about Eric and I being at REV this week. Would all pray for our family while we’re here? Pray for the Lord’s wisdom and guidance as we and those who are assessing us seek confirmation in our call to overseas missions. Would you also pray for kids, who are home in FL with my amazing sister, Hannah. We miss them so much already and when we spoke with them this morning, my heart just ached and I could tell it’s going to be a long week for all of us. It feels like I’m missing one (or three) of my appendages.
On another note, as we were driving into Atlanta last night the snow hit quite hard and we weren’t even sure we’d make it to our hotel. After our crazy adventure driving north in a snow storm last year, we were pretty nervous. Praise God we made it safely (though much later than we had expected).
Thanks for your prayers for us. Much Love!
I’ve got all the symptoms of the big change taking place in our family:
*I stay awake at night thinking of names that have deep meaning, sound good with “Noll” and that would make nice initials.
*I look at my husband through a different lens, the daddy lens, and sigh in contentment and pray with deep gratitude that the Lord has made him the man he is and the leader of our home that he is.
*The nausea this time is not nearly as bad, but I definitely feel I have a constant knot in my stomach. While it is usually from excitement, it also tightens when I worry what people will think of us, wonder about so very many unknowns, and ache to hold a little person already so dear to my heart.
*I think about it constantly. CONSTANTLY. Anyone who I get to really talk to hears me bring it up about 1 million times and verbally vomit all I am thinking/processing/wondering/praying. (Thank you Kimberly and Maggie, our sweet families, and my Monday-night girls who don’t get tired of hearing me talk about this or praying with us through this).
*I walk around my home and see it through different eyes: knowing it will be vastly different this time next year and wanting to prepare the house in any way possible.
*I’m researching vital records and how to obtain them the very quickest way. I’m also learning new words, like “dossier”.
*I’m very emotional and cry at the drop of a hat, especially when I youtube search things like “bringing our children home” or “Ethiopian adoption.”
*I think of money pretty often (which is 99% more than I usually do), and am constantly wondering how I can cut our family’s costs or what I can sell in order to save. I remind myself and the girls often that “every little bit helps”.
*I compulsively check airline tickets to Ethiopia. I also like to check the weather there and I always know what time it is there (it’s 9:52 pm right now).
*And when the mountain of paperwork overwhelms me, and the weight of all that must transpire between now and when we bring our little one(s) home, I have to sit back and remember the heart of my Father in heaven, the One who adopted me and called me his own and has promised to bring about his glory and our good in all things. I also like to remember his faithfulness by reading story after story of ransomed children brought home and be encouraged that he works miracles to do it.
If you haven’t guessed yet, let me make it crystal clear: Our family is growing through the gift of adoption! We’ve just been approved with Celebrate Children International to begin the international adoption process. We are praying to bring 2 children home from Ethiopia as soon as possible (hopefully within 2011). The Lord has been doing a number on our hearts over the last several months and I have so much I am excited to share with you about how he has led this far. Please check back soon to hear about our journey, and PLEASE be praying for us and the children who are yet unknown to us, but who we believe the Lord has marked as ours from before there was time.
I wanted to include some photos from two special friends we got to see in VA:
We didn’t get to see the Lookabills on our first stop, because they were on vacation. But on our way home, when we stopped again, the girls and I got to spend a fun afternoon with Tabitha and her precious kids. I’ve known Tabitha for 14 years (!) and it is amazing to me how the Lord has continued to interweave our lives and bless us with such a sweet friendship. She is always such an encouragement to me, I am always blessed by seeing her and Josh’s marriage, and I love getting glimpses now, when we visit, of what an incredible mom she is. It was such a treat to get some special time with them!
top to bottom: Noa, Jude, Naomi, Martha, Gloria
Me and my sweet friend (I won't tell you how many tries it took to get this photo).
And, though they are not Virginia residents anymore, we got to see Matt and Carly and the boys, who were back from Japan for my cousin Jon’s (Matt’s brother) wedding. It was, as usual, wonderful to be with them. It was especially sweet to hear how life in Japan is, and to reminisce about our own time there. We’re so encouraged by how the Lord is blessing and keeping them, as well as the ways he is using them. It’s really neat to hear about students who we spent a lot of time with, still involved in the student ministry that now meets at their house. We loved spending one evening of just our two families, just talking and laughing and catching up. We miss the companionship of walking day to day life with these precious friends, and wonder if we’ll ever have a season like that again. Even if not, though, we’ll treasure these snippets of time and the joy of reuniting and picking back up again, as if we were never apart. It’s awesome, because the kids do the same. They adore each other!
Me and Carly: Who would have known when we were bff missionary kids in Japan as 12 year olds that we'd one day be family, still super close, and have 3 girls and 3 boys between us?!?! God has been good!
Martha, Noa, Liam, and Hudson... this is the best I could get. And I don't have any photos of Matt and Eric 
*actually, that is not the best photo I have of the kids, but since we have a “no-naked” policy on our blog, you won’t get to see it. Too bad, cause it’s super cute.
