thursday.

Tonight's prayer from Ellory Sue:
God thank you Daddy, Mommy, Xavian get better. Amen.

Man I love this girl.
She'll be 2 on May 21st, and just like any other parent, I can't believe how fast it is going. She's smart. She knows a LOT more than I think she knows. Pretty much if she's seen something once, she's stored it. Last week I took Ellory to the doctor to clear up this snot thing she's had for weeks...the last time we were at the doctor, she was 17 months old, it was the beginning of December, and we ran in for maybe 5 minutes to get the follow up booster for her flu shot. When we pulled into the parking lot last week, I parked facing away from the building:
"Oh, Mommy! I see fish and then I get a sucker!"
"Ellory Sue! How do you remember this?"
"Mommy, the fish. I see the fish, I get a sucker." (insert, "duh" look.)

I didn't even remember that they had fish at the doctor, but I did remember the sucker, because the nurse gave it to her before I could give her the mom eyes that said "JUST OFFER A STICKER." However, I know my girl, so I wasn't surprised to walk in and see a large tank of fish in the corner...

This and numerous other instances have been encouragements to turn up our Bible Reading. I regret that we weren't as consistent with this as we set out to be. But over the past 2 weeks we've totally changed our "night-night" routine, and it now includes all three of us putting Ellory in her p.j.'s reading a Bible Story from her Children's Bible (And then ALWAYS reading "The Sneaky Snake", the story of Adam and Eve's rebellion--Ellory will not let this one go!) Then we sing a song and say our prayers. Over the past couple nights, Ellory Sue wants to pray too...

Deuteronomy 6:6-8

⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

Pray that Lachlan and I can continue to point Ellory towards Christ. That we can point out our own sins and desire to believe the sneaky snake-- and our desperate need for grace and forgiveness found in Christ alone. Pray that all those time outs, all those, "Ellory you disobeyed, and you have to pay for that. "--Make the path to the perfect payment by Christ more clear to her.

I know, she's only 23 months, but she knows a LOT more than I think she knows...

our love story...the beginning

This is a post I could write about forever. But I will take just a few moments to skim the surface. I love my husband. I am guessing that if you read this blog, you know me, and you probably know Lachlan...but perhaps there are those I have not seen in months or years who know little about my life now, so I think Lachlan is a good place to start. This is the beginning.
Lachlan and I met on my 20th birthday. I was supposed to be going out with friends to celebrate, but they insisted that we first go to a UofL campus ministry event. On this night, all the Christian groups on campus were coming together to worship, and young Sojourn (our church) was enlisted to to help with the service. I was having a good time...the music was great, and it was cool to be with a group of friends on my birthday, but I was anxious to meet up with more friends and the guy I was dating at the time at the restaurant.
Lachlan was the speaker that night. Lachlan Coffee. "Coffee!--No one has the last name Coffee...maybe we are related...long lost cousins!" This dude was funny too. I loved hearing him speak, and it was clear he loved Jesus. I was captivated--I needed to make this guy a friend, (or cousin...). My now pastor, Daniel, was sitting in front of me, and I could tell he was with this dude, Lachlan. I tapped him on the shoulder to confirm that he said his name was Lachlan Coffee. Daniel said I needed to introduce myself...duh! Coffees don't just walk around not introducing themselves to other confirmed Coffees.
After the service was over, I put my friends on hold to see if this Lachlan man was going to be as excited as I was to meet a fellow beveraged-named human. He was! Although I was disappointed at first when he told me his name was actually COFFEY--the EY's, not quite as cool or authentic as the EE's, and that we were not infact related in any way. Dang, I always wanted a cousin my age...
We had a great little chat. He was friendly and cute and I could tell WAY cooler than me. We discovered we would both be traveling to Costa Rica on mission trips over the summer, with different groups and at different times...He found out that I just lived around U of L and went to a campus ministry there, but that I really went to JCC--which I remember him telling me was weird, and that I needed to just go to U of L.
I had heard of this Sojourn place through a friend I'd have lunch with in college, and I made a note to give it a visit. It had sounded cool before, but my 20th birthday confirmed it.

to be continued...


until then, you can read my husband's weekly Wednesday installment of his blog that he writes for Sojourn. It will make you laugh and give you more insight into why this man is my best friend and so doggone easy to love.
http://travelblog.sojournchurch.com/2009/04/29/the-curious-case-of-lachlan-coffey-sojourn-dudes-that-i-met-on-the-mens-retreat/#more-1620

Ellory's prayers...

I posted these on FB, but I can't resist posting them here too--I need to make sure these stick around.

4/26

Ellory decided to pray tonight after Lachlan and I did: "God, thank you Jesus. Adam took a bite too. Amen" This made me cry.

4/27

My new fav. part of the day, Ellory's prayer: "God, thank you Xavian get better. Thank you Dante, Xavian, Matt and ummmm...Cassie. Thank you Matt. Amen"

House.

So, many people have been calling asking about the house we supposedly have bought. I say supposedly, because the offer was accepted, but of course we still have to go through inspections and all that fun stuff. We don't anticipate that there are any problems, but we are trying to be cautious...IT'S SO HARD TO CONTAIN OUR EXCITEMENT THOUGH.
Here are some of the details...
It is a cute brick bungalow on Keswick Blvd. The best part is that is is right next door to our friends, Josh and Beth Pace, who have 3 wonderful little girls, all right around Ellory Sue's age. (Ellory is especially excited that the Pace's have a "pay-gound" aka swingset.)
The house has a beautiful front porch with a nifty mail box that emptys into the house. A perfect place for a swing and rocker.
Inside, there is a living room, followed by a dining room, that opens into a small but effeciant kitchen. I can see Ellory from the kitchen all the way to the living room! off the kitchen you can go up into a finished attic space, or into a hallway that is anchored on each end with a bedroom, and has a bathroom in the middle.
There is also a basement, that has a family room, 2 rooms that have really tiny windos, so will be maybe a playroom or guestroom/office and laundry and a bath.
I should let everyone know how blessed we feel. It was last year at this time that we realized our home would be tight as we grew as a family down the road. We also saw that we had a lot of bills--Car, truck, house--no more than anyone else, but a lot considering that we desire to adopt a child from Ethiopia in the future. In a brief conversation with my amazing mom, she quickly offered up her home to us to live in so we could pay off our cars, and save up for a home that we could grow our family in. It's been rough at times, mostly because I am impatient. I've missed walking to the coffee shop, being so close to our church, Sojourn. But I always remind myself how incredibly blessed we are. There are people all around the world who have no home--complaining about a completely finished basement is silly. There are people who don't have moms who sacrifice--my mom has been nothing but AMAZING--people are always surprised that there have been no riffs between any of us. There are people who have no real friends--how selfish of me to whine that my countless friends were a 30-40 minute drive.
Around January, I started to get anxious...looking at homes on the MLS each morning. Lachlan kept telling me to wait, we needed to do what we set out to do. (pay off our car/truck)...but then another good house would come up (few andfar between) and we'd go out looking again. We saw a lot of duds, and we saw several that we were hopeful about--putting in offers on 2, and almost on another...but the never worked out. We told the Pace's we were looking at a house around the corner from them, hoping to put in an offer...(we heard that 4 other offers were coming that day, and decided to bow out gracefully on that home.) Beth said their neighbors werre thinking of moving but still were not sure.
A couple weeks past, and during that time, Lachlan and I sent off the last 2500 bucks to pay off our truck and Lachlan went on a Men's retreat at church where he felt a little "push" to start getting more serious about looking for a home and working hard to make it happen (Lachlan has worked his butt off working 40+ hours at his regular job and painting houses on the weekends) On Sunday, I ran into Beth at church, and she asked what the update was on the house search. I told her we were going out that afternoon to see some open houses. She said her neighbors had mentioned to her again that they might sell, and that she'd ask them if we could see it...they agreed to let us in that afternoon. We loved it! We brought our realtor the next day and put in an offer. Thankfully, the sellers accepted!
If everything goes as planned, we could close anywhere from 30-90 days...because the sellers had not even looked for a new house, we wanted to give them as much time as they needed to find a really great new house for themselves. I am praying that they have open doors and great opportunities.
All this to say, God is good and faithful. Even when we push or complain, or grow impatient. God is constant. We are so thankful that he prevented us from jumping the gun and buying a house that wasn't what our family really needed. We are also so thankful that we were given the opportunity by my mom to pay off our cars, and get a step closer to growing our family through adoption.
We are most thankful for Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior...whom without, none of these things would matter.
If you are a believer, would you pray for our home process, that it would go smoothly. Would you pray that we can be good neighbors not just to the Pace's but to our street--teamed withthe Pace's that they might see our love and know the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. Will you also pray for Ellory Sue as she transitions to a new home, without the constant companionship of her Nanny...(who is considering filing for joint custody!) Will you also pray that Lachlan and I will ust be faithful to use our home to serve our church, friends, family, neighbors and community?
I will try to keep you updated...this blog thing is all new to me, so I will do my best.
I love you friends.

The beginning.

I am quite scared of this whole thing really. Sitting here writing this first entry, I want to turn back. I don't have much to say. But that's exactly why I've decided to venture here. I have forgotten what I know, or should I say, I've found myself not really sharing what I know, and therefore surrendered it as forgotten. So I am challenging myself to not simply motion myself through the day, but to take time as much as I can to remember my days, to share my childhood, the childhood I get to reexperience through Ellory, my marriage to my amazing husband, and to praise my God. I want to share these things with my friends, but mostly I want to share these things in written form to myself. I am forgetful...I need to remember.