October 13th - THE JOURNEY

Quote for the week: “It is good to have an end to the journey, but it is the journey that matters in the end.” - Ursula K. L Guin.

I came across the above quote in some reading over the weekend and will make it my mantra for the week. We have to remind ourselves when we can not see how things will all work out that while the end result will be wonderful and spectacular, but what matters just as much is the journey that got us there. The journey is where we truly grow as people - develop character as you say. I remember always here that this trial or difficulty will you build character, but never fully understood the magnitude of this phrase until experiencing a long journey without knowing when the end will come. It is so easy for me to get wrapped up in wanting to know the end date and how it will turn out, but I am trying hard to just focus on the journey - experiences and people we meet along the way. We have very dear friends in Pennsylvania that used to lived a couple houses down from us and coincidentally (or not) was the Senior Pastor at the church we were attending at that time. (Quick story: A few years, we were going to the first neighborhood social (first for us and the newly developed neighborhood) in Pennsylvania and our neighbor (Senior Pastor) said to his wife prior to walking over to the gathering that he was going to really “downplay” or not mention that he was Pastor and just get to know his neighbors as a fellow neighbor rather than getting dubbed as the “Pastor” right off. No sooner had we a group of us started off across the street introducing ourselves did Malcolm turn to our friend and say “Your voice sounds so familiar”. Now, this church was very large so, it was not strange that we did not recognize him right off. Our friend just replied “really” or something of this nature. Malcolm persisted, “I know that voice”. Well, within in seconds, Malcolm had blown his “cover”. We still laugh about that to this day.). Back to my point, our good friend always said to us that we need to make sure that we do not miss the life lessons along the way - our journey. I try to really focus on this piece of advice when I get frustrated with what might seem like slow progress. (Speaking of slow progress, we had another long run in preparation for the Richmond Marathon in November this past weekend. All I can say is that slow progress up the long hills was the name of the game. At times, I felt like I was running place and wondering if I can even moved an inch. Luckily, I have an awesome coach at the top of the hill cheering me on and telling me not to let the people coming up behind me to beat me up the hill. - Thanks Nutty L!).

I wanted to update everyone on the little girl that I asked for prayers for during my last blog posting. The agency sent out an update last Friday and said that someone from the birthmother’s family decided to keep her. This change in events is a blessing and all in God’s plan. The medical outcome at this point is inconclusive. The potential damage to her brain will not be fully known until years from now most likely. I still continue to pray for complete healing for this precious girl.

In closing for now, we want to be able to pray and keep each of you - our friends and family- in our thoughts throughout our journey and beyond. Therefore, we would love for you to email us with any prayer requests you may have. We would be honored to put you on our prayer list. We feel so blessed to have each of you involved and supporting us in our journey and want to be able to be involved in your journeys, as well. Eventually, I will learn how you can post confidential comments on the blog, but for now, please email us at lovingparents@live.com with your requests.

We hope everyone has a wonderful week! Thank your for your continued support and friendship!

Love,
Christy and Malcolm