The news just gets BIGGER

It has been a little strange for us to look back on how much has changed since last Thanksgiving.

Last year our closest family member would have been Brandon's cousin in Morocco, this year all of Hannah’s cousins were together.

Last year we ate sweet potato casserole with food coloring to make it orange at the “Toyota Thanksgiving”, this year we have three snowy Thanksgiving feasts planned.

Last year the only Christmas decoration we had was a stick of chapstick with Santa on it, this year we can't escape Commercial Christmas and our tree has been up for a week.

Last year we were bike-riding or moto-riding into town for groceries in the 90 degree warmth, this year Brandon has been driving his 21 year old car through record-breaking snow and record-breaking cold.

Last year the rest of Brandon's family was in Maine waiting out his dad's quadruple bypass surgery after a mild heart attack, this year the family is spread back across countries and continents.

Last year we were making new friends in foreign languages, this year we shared a meal with 40 friends under one roof.

Last year the first ebola case was still a month away, this year it has closed the Louis Pasteur Clinic in Bamako, Mali where we first heard our baby’s heartbeat in May.

Last year we were anticipating the January arrival of two college grads who would be spending several months with us, this year we’re anticipating the (possible) January arrival of up to 2 foster children AND the July arrival of our own baby.

We hope you're as excited to hear the news as they were before. You got that right: for the third time we’re clinging to the hope of building a human to raise to honor God and live with Him. If you haven't already heard this part of our story, you can catch up here and here. 

At church this past week we were encouraged to thank God for imperfect gifts. Waiting to thank God for things that are just how we wanted them to be is a road to bitterness. So right now we’re thankful for the joy of being pregnant and the hope God has given us.

You’ve heard that it “takes a village to raise a child” and we want you to be a part of our village. But we don’t even think that you have to wait to meet our baby to be a part of our village. We’re asking our village to be serious about praying for the safety of Hannah and baby. We’re thankful to still have each other despite some dark circumstances that could have turned out otherwise.

In our quest to live genuine, open and vulnerable lives, you can help our growing family in an unusual way. Because Hannah is considered high risk, she has to give herself shots twice a day. Anyone in our village that wants to, we’re willing to let you give Hannah one of the 450 shots she’ll need to take between now and birthday. So if you've always kinda wanted to give someone a shot and want to be a part of our family in that way, here's your "shot". (See what I did there?)

And since some of you are wondering, just because we’re having a baby doesn’t mean there are any fewer kids in St. Joseph County who need a foster home: we’re still in 100%!