I'm Back!

 November 17, 2024

I’m back!  It’s been seven and a half years since my last post.  What’s happened since then?  Well…let’s see.  We moved our little family of four to the Sacramento Valley to finish their high school years.  We moved into a 1000-square-foot apartment that was three doors down from my oldest friend.  She was fostering a five-month-old and we took over as her child-care providers.  

We lived between the two apartment units in a state of grace for nearly a year.  My friend welcomed another foster son who was 16.  Then she took in the baby’s mom.  Her heart was big.  But things took an appalling turn and so many hearts were shredded into tatters. 

As horrendous as the experience was, all four of us knew that we would do it again if it meant a child was safe for at least the time she spent in our home.  So, we dove in and became foster parents again.  We went through a depressing combination of waiting and heartache, including a mind-boggling three-month stint with twin toddlers.

Meanwhile, both kids graduated high school. I got my BA in Education. My daughter got certified in Animal Training and Enrichment. My son graduated from WGU in the spring of 2020.  2020!  We don’t need to revisit that, do we? 

We got to work with Afghan refugees in a program that took a few forms as it pivoted around the California Covid lockdowns. My son and I ended up going into the home of one family with five boys to provide tutoring and friendship.  My daughter and I delivered gifts, and she recorded my reading books to them in over 200 videos! 

Amid that, I got a job running the birth-through-Kinder program at our church. I had the unique experience of starting a Sunday School program including recruiting and training 75 volunteers at a megachurch. 

We made it through all of that with a small group made of people most precious, most noble, and most loving. I felt like I had front-row seats to God’s provision and grace watching these amazing people.

And my hero retired!  There was no way we could afford California, so off we went!  In the fall of 2021, we landed in Iowa!  I love it here.  We happen to live in the most urban part of the entire state, and I would prefer to live in a more quintessentially Iowa part of Iowa, but here we are.

I got my degree in—get this: Master of Science in Learning Experience Design and Educational Technology. Yep, I did!  I got a marvelous job at a little Lutheran preschool.  Best. Job. Ever! 

All of that fails to compare with the biggest news.  Are you ready?