i’ve really started to feel baby girl taylor’s movement aLOT lately. it is such a special feeling and a frequent reminder to pray for her and for our future as parents. feeling and seeing the movements have opened my eyes to the incredible workmanship of God. he is perfectly creating her inside of my body. i have so loved the constant reminders of our baby to be. i feel this truth right now, “I will quiet you with My love” (Zephaniah 3:17). i feel at rest in my soul and i trust God because i know he is worthy of my trust. i am blessed to be healthy and i…

i was asked to display some art at LUXE APOTHETIQUE in the DOMAIN. feel free to go check them out and as an added bonus, the store is really cool and has lots of great products to look at! 

i always knew any child of jed’s would be sporting one of these……….. but we learned yesterday that the baby will also be rocking this……………………. that’s right. baby GIRL taylor will be here in march. we are beyond excited and beyond blessed. jed and i have desired to have a family since we got married and the Lord graciously revealed his timing to us this year. many have asked, and yes, we are still pursuing adoption and deeply desire to provide a forever family for many kids throughout our parenting years.  tears ran down my face yesterday as we got to see our baby on the ultrasound. the tech checked…

jed and i completed our requirements to become licensed as a foster/adoptive family for children in the state foster care system! we had our home study this week and things became very real as we got an email the very next day from our case worker asking if we were ready to take a sibling group. wow, this whole thing became real very fast! because of some family commitments this summer, we won’t be taking calls for placements until august. that gives us a little time to decompress from the past four months of our certification process. as i thought this day couldn’t be here soon enough when we started…

we are surrounded by so many heros in our daily lives. i started realizing this in my job when i began walking through life with these kids fighting cancer. they really are my heros. i’ve told many of them this and i believe they believe it too. survivor or not, the fight they put up against such a terrible disease is noble and brave. secondly, in attending the funerals of my grandparents over the past years, i never realized how heroic they were. my grandfathers had military solutes at their funerals because of their service, rank and bravery and it reminded me of the truly amazing roots i come from.…

my opa (dad’s dad) passed away early tuesday morning, expectedly. my dad was able to be with him the hours preceding his death and just got to be by his side. i feel so thankful for opa that he was not alone at the time of his death and i respect my dad so much for having the courage to just be still and present during that time. i think that is the perfect picture of dying with dignity.

the further we go in our adoption certification classes, the bigger my view of GOD gets. tonight we talked about abuse and neglect and the immense hurt these precious kids in cps custody are tacked with. our case worker gave many specific examples and  the stories are beyond comprehension but they are real. the most heartbreaking thing is the way these tragedies find a way to scar these kids for life. we have a giant responsibility to love these children, to accept them as they are with these scars,and to beg GOD for healing and recovery. i am thankful that GOD is so much greater than me, that his heart…

its hard to say no when GOD tugs so strongly on your heart….i’m going to HAITI! i really don’t know many details yet but i do know that i said yes and will be using the gifts i’ve been blessed with care for the injured and sick in haiti. i have an incredible peace about this unknown and am so excited to see what the week will entail! here is a blog for the medical group i’ll be joining.

i’ve been saying lately that there seems to be a black cloud looming over the children’s hospital. i mean i see suffering everyday but those kids just can’t catch a break. it’s been a tough few months of losing kids, receiving new kids with new cancer diagnoses, and trying to alleviate nasty side effects we inflict on the kiddos by trying to treat their cancer. it’s wearing me down. i’m constantly thinking and praying about those kids. they don’t deserve that at all. with all suffering, we are not dealt it because we deserve it or not. i suppose we should take it and immediately look to God and ask…

the most common question i’m asked about my profession is “how do you do that?” well my answer has always been easy, i’m passionate about helping the kids and families and i feel that it’s a privilege to walk along side them during such difficult times. it’s the most difficult thing i’ve ever had to do and i do it everyday. i cry with families, i rejoice with families, i go home from work and worry about the kids but i don’t think i could make the same impact i do without being vulnerable to “feel.” after seeing the heartache and unknowns day after day i begin to think i’m…