Number Our Days

We counted the days until we left to come to Nepal. As the departure date drew closer, the emotions heightened. Numbering those days brought anticipation and excitement as we prepared, and everyone wondered what this adventure would bring. What would we experience that is new? What would we eat that is weird? Will the kids at Trust Home be excited for our family to be living with them for 7 weeks? And so much more. That same anticipation was there when we boarded the plane, and was still there during our 7 hour layover in Doha. Everyone was filled with wonder.

We have now been here for 24 days. We are pretty much settled in now. Not all the streets look alike as they did when we first arrived, and we know the way to the market. We are used to dodging cows in the streets, and the deafening horns on the big trucks just as they pass by don’t make us nearly wet ourselves anymore. We are pros at laundry-by-hand (not even close actually), and can cook a mean dinner using just a propane burner. We are covered in bug bites and have nearly forgotten what AC feels like.





We leave to go home in 24 days. That sank in this morning. We shared this with our children at breakfast, and talked about making these days really count. Putting a number on the days that are left brought about a much different emotion than the first time we counted the days. While we are looking forward to seeing our family and friends, and we are all anticipating eating things we miss from home, like a big cheeseburger or a yummy salad or salsa or Chick-Fil-A (ok, I should stop now as my mouth is watering), the reality is that we are sad to leave.

Everyday is hard and amazing all at the same time. It is a moment by moment dependency on God, and definitely is not fun when our independency creeps in. One of the things we have learned by being here together, is that families need more shared spiritual experiences that help them grow together. As a result of this shared experience, we pray we will never be the same! All of us. Closer together. Closer to the heart of God.


Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”


This journey has taught us to be present in every moment. Realize how important today is. Numbering our days should not merely make us look forward to what is coming, but to live in the moment, here and now.

Make it count. Don’t miss it. Enjoy the process.

Leaning in

As parents, we are always teaching our kids life lessons and hoping they will get it. The icing comes when through their life, we learn lessons from them. It’s a beautiful thing.

Marlin has been fully a part of our family for four years. He legally became Marlin Travale Jones-Foster on April 1 of this year. When he first walked into my third grade classroom in 2001, something happened in my heart for this kid. There was some kind of connection that really has no words. He came over and spent time with our family, and after a couple of years we lost touch. Seven years later, we were reunited (I’ll save that incredible story for another post).

So as Marlin started to become part of our family more and more, we would always pray that he would long to know what it means to follow Jesus. At first, he just slept through church (he basically slept through life), and as he slept, we just prayed that somehow God would help him see his need for a Savior. Then, slowly, he started to wake up from that sleep. He started listening. He started engaging. He started asking questions. And in 2012 Marlin made a life-altering decision to surrender his will to live for Christ. It was hard and amazing all at the same time. He started learning what it meant to say no to his old life and yes to what God wants for him, even when it doesn’t make sense.


So when we said we were coming to Nepal for the summer as a family, he said yes to coming also. We talked and prayed about what this experience would be like for him. We talked about a more simple way of life. We talked of everything that would be new and different. We talked about leaning in. And he responded with a resounding YES! He may have wanted to change his mind when we boarded his first ever plane (a 14 hour plane ride). In his words, “I’m about to poop my pants right now.”

We came here to build into the older kids at the home. To disciple them. To help them know how to live out their walk with Christ in a land where barely anyone follows Jesus. If you know anything about this culture, this task is so much easier said than done. Transparency with emotion takes time. We have come here many times with teams, and spent a few days at a time getting to know the children here, building trust and relationship.

So remember that when I tell you this:

We have been here for 16 days. Marlin has already spent hours swapping stories with the older boys here. He and one boy both came from homes with alcoholic fathers. They talked about how hard that was, and instantly God drew their hearts together. Marlin is leaning in.


Actually all of our children, each in their own unique way, are leaning in. Todd and I started this journey with a jog. The kids, all five of them, took off with a sprint. They don’t let the language barrier stop them.  They are getting in there with the kids. Eating with them, playing with them, serving them, loving them, getting to know them. Today Madi left, all by herself, to go to the market with some of the kids. It was completely unknown what she would be walking into. They are hot and tired and sun burnt (really, really badly). There are bugs and cold showers, and different food and did I mention bugs? Huge bugs.

It’s a beautiful thing that our children are teaching us to keep leaning in. When it is hard and we are tired. Lean in. When it feels lifeless. Lean in. When it is uncomfortable and unknown. Lean in. Just keep leaning in. Marlin. Madi. Lily. Parker. Dylan. You guys let God teach us through you. Thanks kids!

Enjoy the Process

I am sitting in a waiting room. I keep looking at the door for my friend to walk through and announce the birth of their first baby. Aren’t we almost always waiting for something? A stoplight to change. A grocery store line to fade.  A special day to arrive. A storm to pass. A promise to be kept. I sit and wait for that door to open. The anticipation and excitement are great. The waiting... not so much.

Waiting it hard. It just is. I remember a card we once received from an aunt with just three words written in it - Enjoy the process. In the waiting, in the meantime, enjoy the process. Easier said than done.

We have been waiting, my husband and I, for the chance to serve with our family cross-culturally for an extended period of time. This waiting has been 15 years. Fifteen years of learning to enjoy the process! In those 15 years, God has put together what we call our family. Five incredible kiddos through both birth and adoption. Healing and freedom from my past. An unexplainably fun marriage. Opportunities to give away what we have been given. And so much more. All in the waiting.




We haven’t always waited well. Sometimes it has looked like this: You know, when you are in the line at the store, and you are in a hurry. You get the cashier that moves at a snail’s pace. Every. Time.

You keep checking the time on your phone, making it obvious that you would like this process to be moving along more quickly. You know perfectly well that your outward expression of anxiety will not miraculously cause her to go from tortoise to hare. Yet you still dance around, and become more agitated, hoping she will get a sudden burst of energy and decide today is the day to conquer the world! You finally make it through the line, load up, and get in your car exhausted from waiting. You think to yourself, “I didn’t make it through any faster. I could have done that experience a lot differently.” You are exhausted from that waiting instead of filled up from enjoying the process. Yep, that pretty well sums up some of our waiting. We tried to point it out to God that we are ready and willing to go. We tried to make it happen faster. But God wants us to enjoy the process He has us in NOW.

Well, the waiting for this part of our story is over. We leave on June 7^th to embark on a wild 7-week adventure to Nepal. All 7 of us. We are excited to introduce our children to this culture, to the land we have traveled to over and over again, to simplicity of life, and to serving selflessly alongside some of the most beautiful people in the most fascinating part of the world.

So come along on this part of our journey, through the waiting room, and adventure with us.