Year in Review: Part One

Here is a look back at a crazy year in family life and ministry:

JANUARY: We came back from East coast looking ahead to what the new year had in store. We attended a small training session at the end of the month about adoption law with a lawyer we ended up hiring later in the year. Our relationship with our first agency began to sour in January and I began to connect with other families going through the process on their blogs.

FEBRUARY: I attended a leadership retreat in the Gorge and realized that our summer camps are making major cutbacks. Our youth group continued to take down tasks on the LIST. We rode the tram and played MINUTE TO WIN IT. I had a women try to pray over my bad cholesterol at a youth pastor's luncheon. There was also a snowy forecast for Portland that turned into nothing. Rob Bell released LOVE WINS and the theology world was turned upside down.

MARCH: We participated in the 30 Hour Famine and I was too sick to finish the Famine for the first time in thirteen years. We watched with horror as the tsunami and major earthquake devastated Japan. We had our first adoption inquiry since December. Maureen injured her head during a youth group game. After some serious blood loss and a trip to the emergency room, she ended up with nine stitches. My car had a check engine light turn on leading to a nightmare car situation costing us over $2,000. We tried to work with a birth mother in Tacoma who turned out to be a little off her rocker and she sent us on an emotional goose chase.