So . . . while I have this quiet little moment (which will probably only last about a moment), I want to update you on some important things. (Biggest news at the end — but it’s not another adoption!)

First of all, you may have noticed that the name of our blog has changed. There’s a reason for this. The music industry is a beast! As we’ve been working like crazy to get final licensing/permission details in place for the quotes used in our book, we’ve received quite an education. One thing we’ve learned is that the music industry is complicated and somewhat greedy. It  wasn’t particularly expensive to get permission to use the quotes from songs, but the royalties game was just way more burdensome than we could manage with our busy life. In the end, we chose to replace all song lyrics with quotes that were either public domain or much easier to obtain permission for. And because the link to this blog is included in our book and was named after (and the tagline quoted) a popular song, we decided to just rename it and choose a new quote for our tagline to avoid any possible complications down the road.

On that note, welcome to our same-blog-with-a-different-name-and-look website, “Where Love Learns Its Lessons”. The new address is wherelovelearnsitslessons.com, but the old link (myfrontporchlookingin.com) will also just redirect readers to this new site.

Next, we want to share that our manuscript has completed the editing process! We were so very excited to get this news, to see that the editor actually had relatively few suggested changes, and to read his very encouraging note, an excerpt of which I’ve included here.

“Greetings from your editor! I thoroughly enjoyed — and cried a few places, and metaphorically bit my nails — editing your book. . . . You have a great writing ‘voice’ and a clean, coherent, easily read style, and I can’t imagine anyone not enjoying reading this book and coming away with a strong nudge, if not a clear call, to DO something, somehow. I hope this book is a huge boost to your ministry, and I wish you all the best.”

As of  yesterday afternoon, the revisions we chose to accept have been incorporated, our own final editing changes have been made, and the manuscript has been resubmitted. The next step will be actual publication, and for now, it still looks like we’re on target for a December 1, 2015 date. We’ll keep you posted. If you’re on Facebook, you can pop onto our new “Swaying in the Treetops” FB page for this, “Like” that page, and then you’ll be able follow the process through the regular posts there.

Just an update on a couple of things listed in my last post:

• We did manage to, one more time, survive the seasonal clothes switch out. Many, many of the hand-me-downs we had on-hand fit the next round of recipients, and just when we were tempted to despair over the question of how to provide the new items the children needed, God moved a friend’s heart to bless us abundantly. This friend had no idea that we were praying for this need, but through this gift, we were able to take care of all of the children’s clothing needs for the coming season.

One teensy little snapshot of what every waking minute of our life looked like for a week and a half.

• Jaden’s surgery on his spine went very well. He is almost fully recovered now, and his surgeon said that his rods won’t need to be lengthened again until a year from now. This was great news!
• Medical issues with the kids continue to, and will always, be a part of our everyday lives. We have managed to knock out a number of the appointments that were hanging over us, but we still have more coming in the weeks and months ahead. Nathan continues to struggle so much with pain. We have seen another specialist, had more testing done, and pow-wowed with his prosthetist a couple more times. And still there are no answers as to why his leg can’t tolerate a prosthesis. We have an appointment with another specialist in Indianapolis on November 2. We would so appreciate your prayers about this. The severe back and hip pain are secondary to the problem with his prosthesis, and have developed as a result of his having to use crutches constantly now. Our prosthetist suggested that we try a rolling knee walker so that Nathan’s weight would at least be distributed to both sides of his body. We will pick that up in the morning and are really praying that this will at least help with the back pain. We felt that the family badly needed a runaway-from-life day this past week, so we took an afternoon and went to a park and just played. Nathan, who used to always be right in the middle of everything on a day like this, was only able to stay stretched out on his stomach. This the only position that makes his pain tolerable. We are praying intensely for relief for our son.

Murray was super excited about going to the park with his kids

Soccer, football, Frisbee — such a fun afternoon

Nolan’s mastering the Frisbee throw

Carlin teaching Colin (who is blind) how to throw a Frisbee

Poor Nathan’s afternoon at the park. At least this awesome fall weather outdoors was better than our family room floor.

• Nolan is continuing to do so great! He is so full of joy and so much a normal part of our family. We have had some periods of regression, especially during weeks when Scott and I have had to be absent so much for the kids’ appointments, but he rallies and recovers quickly when we help him regain his balance. We are so thankful every day for the gift of this son.

The last of the news for this time is that we are taking a major (MAJOR) road trip. As you may already know, my brother was killed years ago in a Coast Guard shipwreck in Tampa Bay — the worst peacetime accident in Coast Guard history. The Coast Guard has decided to award to him and a fellow shipmate who also died that night, the Meritorius Service Medal for their bravery. We’ve been told that other men survived because of the actions of my brother and this other crew member. Since both boys hailed from Birmingham, AL, the ceremony will be held there and will be on October 24. It just so happens that my mother’s 80th birthday is on October 23.

So we will be taking the entire family — 35 of us including kids, kids-in-law, grandkids — to Birmingham for these special dates. While on the road, we will also be doing a couple of pre-Orphan Sunday presentations.

The planning and packing and preparation for this trip have been pretty much indescribable. The past few weeks have brought us into new realms of overwhelmedness (I don’t care that this isn’t a real word), and it has been a bit like living through a major hurricane day after day (hence the title of this post.) But thanks to so much help from my teens and our oldest daughter, I think we just might actually make it. And it has helped so much to feel such certainty that God has orchestrated this opportunity, and provided all that was needed to make it possible.

We will try to update while on the road, but that may not happen because of Internet issues and our packed schedule. When we return, we will be jumping back into a week full of more appointments, and then some Orphan Sunday presentations here in town. I’ll end this post with our speaking schedule for those who are interested in trying to attend one of these. We have been asked if these are open to the public. Definitely yes!! We don’t particularly love public speaking, but we do love sharing the passion of our hearts and telling the stories of God’s faithfulness! We would love to see any of you on one of the dates below.

As always, thank you for your love and prayers for our family and for the work of The Shepherd’s Crook Orphan Ministry. Here are the details for upcoming presentations.

Grace Community Church
Sunday, October 25
6:30pm-8:30pm
2165 Old Springville Road Birmingham, AL 35215

Kingdom Life Fellowship
Wednesday, October 28
6:30pm-8:30pm
7252 Governors West Huntsville, AL 35806

North Cincinnati Community Church
Sunday, November 08
9:00am-10:15am
&
10:30am-11:45
6170 Irwin-Simpson Road 45040
(We think we will be presenting in both of these services, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet.)

Living Hope PCA
(Greg and Kristie Godwin presenting on behalf of TSC)
Sunday, November 15
10:00am-11:00am
6711 Morris Rd Hamilton, OH 45011