Sarcasm in the Sanctuary

Before reading this, make sure you go back one post and read how we first came to hear of Moldova. First of all Moldova is not to be confused with the fictional country of Genovia from the The Princess Diaries starring Anne Hathaway. I'm not saying someone has already asked this, but I'm not saying they haven't *cough*mom*cough* Moldova is a country sandwiched between the Ukraine and Romania. It is about the size of Maryland and 20 Moldovas could fit inside of the great state of Texas. Moldova declared independence from Russia in 1991, and has had economic trouble ever since.  Not only is Moldova the poorest country in Europe, it is also considered the number one supplier of the sex trade.  When I was researching Moldova, I couldn't find much, and everything that I did find was about sex trafficking. I knew sex trafficking was a very rampant thing, but I think it is one of those things that isn't real if you don't think about it- I mean, it can be ign...

The Monday before school started back I was in a meeting when I got a text from Alex, one of our students in the youth group. It was a group message with my husband, Kyle, and she said she wanted to ask us a favor. Her family is hosting a foreign exchange student from Germany and their student's friend had been placed in a bad home. She was being forced to clean up after them, babysit their kid, and they were being mean to her. She was uncomfortable in the home and wanted to know if we would be open to hosting her.  Kyle and I texted back and forth until we got home and could talk face to face. My immediate answer was "no". It would be so inconvenient for us. Honestly, I did not want to have wear pants around the house, shuttle her places, or cook for her- I mean I barely cook for us as it is! Kyle, being as level-headed as he is, said we needed to pray about it. Tuesday I was on the way to another meeting and Kyle and I were on the phone. We realized all the reasons...

The past week or so has been pretty tough on me- I cried more days than I didn't. We told our moms about adopting.  I was so worked up about it- I backed into the door of Kyle's truck. That's right. My first "wreck" in the 10 years I have been driving was 30 minutes before we were supposed to tell my mom about us adopting a child. I went and sat in the car and cried. These were tears of embarrassment and frustration. I have no idea why I was so nervous while we were telling my mom, but I made Kyle do the talking and I just sat and cried. Kyle asked why I was crying, but I didn't know why- and I couldn't stop either. These were tears of nervousness.  I guess I was just nervous about what my mom would say. I love her so much and need her on my side, the thought of her not standing behind me made me sick. But it was not that way at all. She was completely excited and on board. I cried some more. These were thankful tears. Kyle and I are startin...