Different Trips to the Same Place

Deciding to have a baby is like planning a trip to Australia. You’ve heard it’s a wonderful place. You’ve read many guidebooks and feel certain you’re ready to go. Everyone you know has traveled there by plane. They say it can be a turbulent flight with occasional rough landings, but you can look forward to being pampered on the trip.

So you go to the airport and ask the ticket agent for a ticket to Australia. All around you, excited people are boarding planes for Australia. It seems there is no seat for you; you’ll have to wait for the next flight. Impatient, but anticipating a wonderful trip, you wait-and wait- and wait.

Flights to Australia continue to come and go. People say silly things like, “Relax. You’ll get on a flight soon.” Other people actually get on a plane and then cancel their trip, to which you cry, “It’s not fair”.

After a long time the ticket agent tells you, “I’m sorry, we’re not going to be able to get you on a plane to Australia. Perhaps you should think about going by boat.”

“By Boat!” you say, “Going by boat will take a very long time and costs a great deal of money. I really had my heart set on going by plane.” So you go home and think about not going to Australia at all. You wonder if Australia will be as beautiful if you approach it by sea rather than air. But you have long dreamed of this wonderful place, and finally you decide to travel by boat.

It is a long trip, many months over many rough seas. No one pampers you. You wonder if you will ever see Australia. Meanwhile, your friends have flown back and forth to Australia two or three times, marveling about each trip.

Then one glorious day, the boat docks in Australia. It is more exquisite that you ever imagined, and the beauty is magnified by your long days at sea. You have made many wonderful friends during your voyage, and you find yourself comparing stories with others who also traveled by sea rather than by air.

People continue to fly to Australia as often as they like, but you are able to travel only once, perhaps twice. Some say things like, “Oh be glad you didn’t fly. My flight was horrible, traveling by sea is so easy.”

You will always wonder what it would have been like to fly to Australia. Still, you know God blessed you with a special appreciation of Australia, and the beauty of Australia is not in the way you get there, but in the place itself.

-Author Unknown


I have come across this story on several adoption sites and blogs that I read. It is SUCH a perfect metaphor for this journey we are on. Currently, we are waiting at the airport, getting ready to head to the port to take a boat. And, I can assure you, we are not getting pampered. Sometimes the waiting results in more decision making...which boat do we take? One offers a quicker start to the trip, but the other offers a little more peace of mind and a little cheaper price for the fare. We are stuck. And I hate being stuck. But I also know that our God is in control, He has our trip planned. There is something about having a plan that helps me be at peace with whatever I am facing. This trip, adoption, has many bumps along the way. No one rubs your belly, tells you that you are glowing, asks how you're doing in your paper pregnancy, sends you expectant parent cards, or dreams about your little one with you. For the time you are waiting indefinitely, you may be alone, depending on who you choose to share your journey with. I think this lack of support can also make the boat ride a little less appealing than the plane ride. No one likes to be lonely at sea! But, I do believe we will get to Australia. I do think I will look back at our bumpy, LONG trip on the sea and be so grateful for all it brought us. Holding that in mind, and with our strong faith in His plan, I may be able to survive the ride without jumping overboard out of frustration, anger and sadness! For now, I guess I will continue to watch others fly back and forth to Australia over and over again, and hope and pray that our day to board the boat and finally set foot in Australia will come...and soon! I know the beauty will be literally breathtaking.

Farrell Family Guidelines

I am so blessed to have one of those friends that radiates everything I strive to be. She is an incredible God-fearing mother, wife, daughter and friend, and I truly love being around her. God placed her in my life for a reason, and I am forever grateful for our friendship. She sent me an email today about making family guidelines. This is something the Duggar's practice in their home...and while I have mixed feelings about the fact that they are expecting #20...they are a beautiful family, with wonderful morals and values, and they clearly live for the Lord.
I loved this idea, so much that I wanted to post our family guidelines here, to make me more accountable! Thank you my sweet friend, you always add J.O.Y. and encouragement to my life!

1. Always use soft words, even when you don’t feel well. 


2. Always display kind actions and joyful attitudes, even if you have been mistreated. Have the right response by quickly forgiving others in your heart even before they ask.


3. Always be enthusiastic and look for opportunities to praise others' character.


4. Always deflect praise and be grateful to God and others for the ways they have benefited your life.


5. Always use manners and be respectful of others and their belongings.


6. Always do what is right, even when others may not, or when no one is looking.


7.Thank God for how He made you, for what He has given you and everything He allows you to go through (Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose)

8. Don’t mock or put others down. Develop compassion and pray for others.


9. Never argue, complain, or blame. Quickly admit when you have done wrong and ask for forgiveness (even if you were only 10% at fault). Don't wait till you’re caught. Be sure your sins will find you out. He who covers his sin will not prosper, but he that confesses and forsakes it shall find mercy.


10. Have a tough accountability/prayer partner to daily share your heart with and to keep you in line. The power of sin is in secrecy. 


11. Be attentive and look for ways to serve others with sincere motives and no thought of self-gain.


12. Think pure thoughts (Philippians 4:8 Whatever is true, right, noble, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy, think about such things Romans 13:14 Clothe yourself with the Lord JC, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of sinful nature).

13. Always give a good report of others. Don't gossip! (Use Matthew 18.)


14. Never raise a hand to hit.


15. Never raise a foot to kick.


16. Never raise an object to throw.


17. Never raise a voice to yell.


18. Never raise an eye to scowl.


19. Use one toy/activity at a time. Share! 


20. Do your best to keep your surroundings neat, clean and organized.


21. Never let the sun go down on your wrath. 
(Don’t go to bed angry or guilty)


22. Amendment J.O.Y. Put Jesus first, Others second, Yourself last.