still here

I have neglected posting much these last several weeks due to, well, life - the hard, the good and the just plain everyday stuff.

Hard stuff: Andy lost a good friend and fellow-entrepreneur, Tom Coble, in a private plane crash on Jan 20th. Tom was a long-time client as well so Andy spent the next week helping the family with press releases, speeches, some funeral planning, etc. It was such an honor for him to help and, as you can imagine, quite jolting to suddenly lose someone so tragically. It has been a good reminder to us on a couple of levels. One, to remember who is control of our every breath. We are not promised tomorrow nor are our loved ones. I've personally found myself wanting to cling a little tighter and be a little kinder to Andy.  Second, to make the days we do have count. Tom was one of the most generous people I've ever met. He made a lot of money. But boy did he ever give a lot. It's interesting too, how after someone passes away, you start to really learn about who they were. My favorite story was of how Tom's wife, Debby had been praying for a certain South American country for years. So, one year for her birthday he put up the money to place a radio tower in that country so that the people there could get the Bible Broadcast Network! Tom had close ties to adoption too. His daughter and son-in-law run a ministry in Panama, helping to free orphans there. Matt and Misty have adopted two precious children in the process, making Tom their pawpaw.

Good stuff: Andy and I were able to get away last Tuesday to the mountains for some much needed planning, R&R and time with friends. We got to our cabin Tuesday night and awoke to fresh snow Wednesday morning. Being that our winter has felt like spring (which I love), it was nice to finally see some snow. After all, that's what you hope for while in the mountains in the winter! It all melted by Friday, perfect timing for our friends to get there safely, then started snowing again late Friday night! God was so good to us in the timing of it all. We got around 3 inches on Saturday and were able to get in some good sledding.

Plain everyday stuff: Taxes. Taxes. Taxes. This consumed much of my time in January and early February. Getting everything ready for our accountant (personal and businesses combined), is always so time-consuming. I was more prepared this year and got it done earlier than usual. But still. It just took time.

All this to say, I haven't had much time for any adoption updates. But there really hasn't been anything to update. This is a new month and we're hoping for some news in a week or two. Please continue to pray for us as we wait. It definitely is getting harder each and every month. But we're hopeful and continuing to trust in His will for our lives. And our daughter's. Perhaps this will be the month we see her little face.