As I opened blogger this evening I was greeted with data that indicated I have written a grand total of 1004 posts. Somehow I missed the 1000 Post mile marker, so celebrating now seems a bit belated and pointless. Sometime today, my Hit Counter turned 260,000 hits too.
Five years of our life as a family together is shared on these virtual pages. I have written to my family here, recorded our history here, lived our life here on these pages. One thousand love notes, tens of thousands of opinions, beliefs and ideas reside here. Our metamorphosis from a family of 4 to a family of 7 happened right here before the world's eyes. I went from a frazzled working mommy, to a still frazzled homeschooling mama. I traveled a faith journey that continues today and has often been written about in a variety of ways here. I am wiser, older (notice the "wiser" comes first! Hahaha!), more capable, more sensitive, more flexible, more questioning, more forgiving, more certain of some things and less of others.
Those of you who have been along for the ride since those early days know our family more intimately than you may some members of your own. You have probably shaken your head in amazement at ideas read here that you view as sheer lunacy. Some of you know us in person, others only know us as a URL. These were the first photos of "home rehab" we ever posted, way back then when we were waiting for our beloved "Tokie/Kenny" to arrive:
Contrasted with yesterday's post, they seem so tiny, don't they? Here are photos of all the kids when they were younger, the photos of our children adopted at older ages were posted and carried in wallets for years as we awaited their arrival:
My favorite group photo of the kids was taken last year at the Grand Canyon, quickly snapped and such relaxed and genuine smiles. This limited edition collection of God's children bound together by nothing more than the single thread of love:
Love sounds easy, it is simplified and memorialized in ways far grander than this blog. But love is not easy, and there is not an abundance of it in our world. There are too many of us who are orphans of a different sort, whose lives are lived in silent sorrow. We live lives of apparent great abundance, but what is that abundance worth if we walk through this world in spiritual and emotional poverty.
What is this blog about? It's about love being hard work...and well worth it. It is about relationship, connection and the little moments that touch our hearts.
It is about tears shared at a volleyball game, friend at your side cheering on your child whose success at FINALLY getting the ball over the net while serving feels like he just climbed Mount Everest.
It is about your daughter of a year and a half telling you she'd rather not play another sport for awhile because she has missed too much family time, and that is more important.
It is about working together, playing together, and loving together.
It is about God's presence, always.
It is about rejection and acceptance, about renewal and reward.
It is about trust and tentative steps in relationship with one another.
It is about offering ourselves up to be used in whatever way God chooses.
It is about family campouts on bedroom floors, surgeries and recoveries, Legos and dissecting ducks.
It is about commitment.
It is about one main thing: Love Wins.
Will this blog continue into adulthood for our children? I have no idea. I hope so, for I'd like to think I'll have the desire to keep writing and recording their childhood for them, keeping up the family scrapbook, so to speak. It sure won't happen in hard copy form so I guess I'd better keep it up. It was hard to imagine five years ago posting pictures of graduations and marriages, but five years later it now seems not all that far off. The time passes at the speed of life...calling upon us and challenging us to be present and aware every moment, before it is all over.
But if we've done it right, if we have parented well, it won't really ever be "all over". It will merely be a shift in relationship rather than a door slamming shut. Time will tell, but I'll say this, I hope we do it right, for I have a feeling these kids will be people I will really want to spend time with as adults.
So thank you for reading, and if you have followed since the beginning let me say I can't believe you have read 1000 posts anymore than I can believe I have written 1000 posts!
Here's to five more years and another 1000 posts filled with adventure, learning, struggle, discovery and life. May the love of the LaJoy's continue to weave us ever closer to one another. May God be ever present, may our family be used individually and collectively to touch the lives of others. May we one day years down the road be even closer as a family than we are at this moment. That would equal success in my book.
Five years of our life as a family together is shared on these virtual pages. I have written to my family here, recorded our history here, lived our life here on these pages. One thousand love notes, tens of thousands of opinions, beliefs and ideas reside here. Our metamorphosis from a family of 4 to a family of 7 happened right here before the world's eyes. I went from a frazzled working mommy, to a still frazzled homeschooling mama. I traveled a faith journey that continues today and has often been written about in a variety of ways here. I am wiser, older (notice the "wiser" comes first! Hahaha!), more capable, more sensitive, more flexible, more questioning, more forgiving, more certain of some things and less of others.
Those of you who have been along for the ride since those early days know our family more intimately than you may some members of your own. You have probably shaken your head in amazement at ideas read here that you view as sheer lunacy. Some of you know us in person, others only know us as a URL. These were the first photos of "home rehab" we ever posted, way back then when we were waiting for our beloved "Tokie/Kenny" to arrive:
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| Joshie at 4 years old |
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| Matthew at 8 years old, the age Josh is now! |
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| Oh how I loved our daughters, years before they were legally ours. |
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| Taken on my one visit to them in Kazakhstan. |
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| Joshie as he was finally beginning to come out of the depths of attachment disorder. |
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| Our first moments with Kenny, posted here on the blog hours after meeting him. The bond began in those first moments continues, as three brothers are inseparable today. |
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| Our first decent photo of Kenny, hung on our fridge for months and carried in my purse to show off our new son to all who would bother to listen. Who could ever have passed up that smile? |
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| My favorite picture of all time of Matthew...the most loving, sweet little baby a Mama ever held, turned into the biggest gargantuan of a 12 year old who is STILL the sweetest a Mama ever held! |
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| This is the Real McCoy...oh, I mean the Real LaJoys! |
What is this blog about? It's about love being hard work...and well worth it. It is about relationship, connection and the little moments that touch our hearts.
It is about tears shared at a volleyball game, friend at your side cheering on your child whose success at FINALLY getting the ball over the net while serving feels like he just climbed Mount Everest.
It is about your daughter of a year and a half telling you she'd rather not play another sport for awhile because she has missed too much family time, and that is more important.
It is about working together, playing together, and loving together.
It is about God's presence, always.
It is about rejection and acceptance, about renewal and reward.
It is about trust and tentative steps in relationship with one another.
It is about offering ourselves up to be used in whatever way God chooses.
It is about family campouts on bedroom floors, surgeries and recoveries, Legos and dissecting ducks.
It is about commitment.
It is about one main thing: Love Wins.
Will this blog continue into adulthood for our children? I have no idea. I hope so, for I'd like to think I'll have the desire to keep writing and recording their childhood for them, keeping up the family scrapbook, so to speak. It sure won't happen in hard copy form so I guess I'd better keep it up. It was hard to imagine five years ago posting pictures of graduations and marriages, but five years later it now seems not all that far off. The time passes at the speed of life...calling upon us and challenging us to be present and aware every moment, before it is all over.
But if we've done it right, if we have parented well, it won't really ever be "all over". It will merely be a shift in relationship rather than a door slamming shut. Time will tell, but I'll say this, I hope we do it right, for I have a feeling these kids will be people I will really want to spend time with as adults.
So thank you for reading, and if you have followed since the beginning let me say I can't believe you have read 1000 posts anymore than I can believe I have written 1000 posts!
Here's to five more years and another 1000 posts filled with adventure, learning, struggle, discovery and life. May the love of the LaJoy's continue to weave us ever closer to one another. May God be ever present, may our family be used individually and collectively to touch the lives of others. May we one day years down the road be even closer as a family than we are at this moment. That would equal success in my book.
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