eyes that tell a story....

So I've already told you about how excited we are to be involved with sponsoring a child from the Kebebtsehay Orphanage in Addis Abba, Ethiopia. Well excited, may be a tad bit of an understatement.

We are a part of a sponsorship group that mostly came together through blogs to sponsor this group of children. So many wanted to be involved that our group now sponsors 3 orphanages, all of which are in Ethiopia. There are still spots available for sponsorship in the 3rd orphanage so if you are interested please send Amy an email. I'm sure she will be more than happy to help you get involved! :)

So recently, we got the information on the child we would sponsor. We had been been praying for him/her since we joined the sponsorship group, but to get to connect our prayers with this sweet face was incredible. We aren't allowed to share her name, but I wanted you to see her picture.

Her eyes tell a story, and I think it's one that needs to be shared.

This is "H". She is 3, and she is already in kindergarten! What I wouldn't give to sweep this baby up and hold her for hours. Matt and I are going to do our best to love her the way she deserves to be loved. We are far away, but I hope someday she understands how precious she is to us. These sweet eyes have seen and been through a lot in their 3 years, and I hope that having us (and the One we serve) in her corner will help somehow.

If you think of it pray for "H", and pray that the Lord would help us to be just what she needs as she grows up, whatever that may be.

Cardboard and Jesus

One of my friends sent this to me in an email, and I've probably watched it 10 times. Cry every single time. There is something about how simple and raw it is. You can tell that there is still pain associated with the situations, but that Jesus has healed and is still healing them. I can't stop thinking about what my cardboard testimony would look like. I often under estimate the healing that He can bring. Good stuff people, good stuff.




Have you ever heard of this? Seen it done before? I wonder why something so simple is so powerful? I think sometimes we make things harder than they should be. Thoughts or opinions?

Anniversary Trip

So Matt and I's anniversary is coming up in July and we are trying to figure out a fun way to celebrate it. We decided we would like to go somewhere fun just the 2 of us for 3 days or so, but then the hard part comes of trying to decide where.

First, lets talk about our anniversary trips in the past....

Honeymoon- Cabin in Colorado Springs, white water rafting, hiking, etc. It was totally perfect.

1st year- Grand Lake- We rented a cabin that was grosser than you can imagine (think mold and bugs in the shower) and couldn't even get in the water for some reason which I can't remember. We tried to hike but we couldn't. It was pretty much a TOTAL bust!

2nd year- Nada- We were saving money for this awesome couple's fun destination wedding in Montana.

So what should we do for year 3? We have tossed around the idea of a long weekend in Vegas. I think we kinda decided that trip would be more fun with a larger group, so maybe we can talk the gang into that one in the near future.

We also thought about San Antonio to see the Alamo and shop, but that's like 9 hours or something crazy if we drive, and we've been told we would need a car, so flying isn't really an option. We even tossed around the idea of Memphis, Branson, and some closer (aka cheaper) places.

So what do you think? Any advice or ideas on how/where to celebrate 3 years of marital bliss with this handsome man???

Go with the flow???

So lately in the Bolz household most things have centered around this question. Should we try to plan or just go with the flow???

It seems like at this point in our lives everything is so up in the air, and trying to sort all of it out and figure out what would be the best often seems near impossible. Things like houses, babies, jobs, ministry decisions, and even small things like vehicles and golf carts. It just totally seems never ending right now.

It's so interesting to talk to people about being a planner or not. I tend toward the planning end of the spectrum, which is often a dangerous thing. I have stuff all planned out, and of course things change and the Lord has a different plan for us! I work to be better at trusting and being patient, it definitely does not come easy for me. Matt is definitely better at it, and doesn't tend to get impatient.

I often think about the fact that if I'm constantly planning for the future, I'm going to miss the amazing things that the Lord is doing right now....today.

So, how does it work in your or your family's life? Plan or go with the flow?

Dunsky.....

I am done with school.....almost.

I passed the last part of the required tests for me to be awarded my Masters Degree. The only thing that stands between me and my degree is one statistics test. So just take a guess at what my motivation is to prepare for that thing....yeah, non-existent!

So this last part of my exam was an oral defense. I had to go in and sit down and then 3 professors began asking me questions regarding information I had learned in the program. I had to answer questions, and give a defense of my test scores. I did pretty well on the test, so that part wasn't too stressful, but still nerve racking at the least. After all 3 of them had asked me several questions, my statistics professor who was on my committee said they had just one last thing for me to complete. He wrote out a complicated statistics problem, handed it to me and asked me to work through and solve it. My heart dropped.... I looked up at him and he had a huge grin on his face. He told me he was only joking, and then I started nervous giggling. I'm sure it was lovely.... He is one of my favorite professors, and we've always had a good relationship full of joking around and teasing. It was totally par for the course, but in my emotional state it was nearly disastrous!

They then asked me to step outside so that they could calculate my scores. After 5 minutes or so, they asked to come back in and then congratulated me!

I'm so relieved and so grateful that it's all coming to an end. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and thoughts getting through this rough time finishing up school!

March Madness

So, March Madness is here once again. Both the hubby and I love this time of year, and look forward to filling out our bracket and joining pools with our friends. We fill them out and hang them on our wall in the living room.

The great part about this whole process, is how we fill out our brackets. We both watch quite a bit of college basketball. When we find a game on TV that we're interested in, we rarely chose to watch anything else. The difference is in the way that my hubby and I watch this said basketball game. Matt is glued to the game, zoned in, quoting stats, and talking abput how so and so totally did/did not fill so and so's shoes from last year's team, while I nod and say uh huh a lot so that he still thinks I'm actually listening and paying attention. Did you follow that??? He's totally into it, remembers players from years ago, knows who is coming up in recruiting classes, etc. When I watch the same basketball game, I normally have my laptop crammed in front of my face reading the Pioneer Woman's latest blog or some other adoption blog I am addicted to. I keep up with the score, and randomly ask Matt what happened when he yells something like..."You've got to be kidding me!" at the TV. I really do enjoy it, just in my own way. I have a hard time just sitting and watching TV, I'm addicted to multi-tasking.

So a week before the brackets are due Matt starts doing research, looking up stats on line, and analyzing which team will "have the advantage because of their unpenetrable zone defense". The day before our bracket is due, Matt prints one out for me and we sit down together to fill mine out. The only research I do is asking Matt random questions about colors and mascots. Since I do watch basketball, some I pick based upon an actual real sports related opionion, but those that I don't know about, I just use other very important information like whether or not I've ever been to that state or University before, or if I know anybody that went to school there.

Part of our conversation this year went like this....Me: "Isn't Maryland's mascot the turtles or something? I like turtles, I always get out and move them on the country road when I see them. I don't want people to run over them, they are so cute. I think they are going to win!" Matt:"Not exactly dear, but turtle is close I guess....do you realize how much of an underdog they are, and what their outside shooting skills are?" Me: "No, but they are still going to win!" Matt: Rolls his eyes and writes down my pick.

Guess who's undefeated in the Bolz Family Bracket Challenge?????? ME!!! I've beat him every single year. It's looking good this year too.

Oh and P.S.- Maryland did win! :)

Do you participate in March Madness? How do you fill out your brackets, scientific research like me or some other way? :) How is your bracket doing so far?

I passed!!!

So my scores came in the mail this week and I passed my test!!!!!

Matt walks in with the mail on Friday and I see him just throw it down on the kitchen counter, so I assume that he's already looked and my scores must not be in there.

We go about life for the afternoon just paying bills, hanging out, playing with Bear, etc. I go into the kitchen and pick up the stack of mail and go through it to see if there is anything eventful, and what do I find but an envelope from my college. All at one time, I start yelling something that is totally incomprehensible about Matt not telling me my scores were here, that my life is over if I didn't pass, and that I am too nervous to open the envelope. Matt jumps up and runs into the kitchen to see what all the shrieking is about, with a look on his face that I can't even begin to explain. It was part sheer terror and part confusion about why his wife had completely lost her mind and started speaking in an unknown tongue!

After more shrieking on my part, and more blank stares on Matt's part he finally figured out that I couldn't open it and he took it from me and ripped it open. He mistakenly thought that he was suppose to actually read it (imagine that since I had just shrieked about how I was to nervous to open it), so I snatched it out of his hands and randomly begin running around the living room while I was reading the results. Yeah, it was as ridiculous as it sounds.

So, I passed 9 out of the 10 areas on the exam, and just have to get through an oral exam in front of a panel and then I will be home free. So anyway, thanks to everyone who said a prayer for me, I really appreciate it!!