Pancakes anyone?

Tonight I was talking with Tim, a friend of ours, who said he enjoyed following the blog.  I had mentioned to him that now that we are in the waiting period, there isn't much to report so our blog updates have been few.  And so really, while there is nothing new to report on the adoption process itself, this conversation gave birth to another idea.  Receiving.

Sometimes it's uncomfortable to receive.  Whether it be a compliment or a gift, I find that I'm not always a gracious receiver.  While the process of adopting a child has stretched both Todd and myself in many different ways, one way that has been the most challenging has been relinquishing control in order to receive.  When we sent out one of our earlier letters to friends and family we struggled with mentioning anything about donating towards the adoption.  We've never been in a situation where we've raised money for personal reasons.  Not that we don't love a good fundraiser.  Boy give us a cause, whether it be the summer camp we work at or the kids PTO and we're full throttle!  But things change when we become the recipients.

After thinking about this notion of receiving, it occurred to me that when we do not allow ourselves to receive, we deprive other people the opportunity of loving us.  We deprive them the opportunity of utilizing their God given gifts.  Those gifts might be financial or they might be an act of service.  However, regardless of what they bring to us, when we receive open-handedly, a divine connection is made.  A connection to me that was part of our original design.  Thinking further upon this thought, I was drawn to the story in the Bible of the woman who came to Jesus to wash His feet.  Clearly He didn't need her to wash His feet, He was the Son of God, yet He humbled Himself to receive.  He allowed this woman to pour out her love for Him by washing His feet with her very precious and expensive oil.  She gave selflessly and He received graciously.  A divine connection.

Our family has the good fortune of being a part of a community that wants to love on our family.  Some dear friends of mine have enlisted the manpower of the Lahser Boys Basketball Team to host a pancake breakfast as a fundraiser towards the Rescue of Jaline. Of course while both Todd and I were very touched by their kindness, it was also a bit awkward, especially for Todd to, again, be on the receiving end. I had to remind him that this is how our community is choosing to love and support our family.  We cannot deprive them the opportunity to share their God given talents or we all lose the chance of experiencing that divine connection.

So if you are free Saturday January 29th at 10:30 in the morning come on over to Lahser High School in Bloomfield Hills and share a pancake or two with us.  We love that so many of you have taken interest in our story. It's awesome that this journey God has taken our family on has piqued an awareness in so many on the injustice beyond our front doors, namely in Haiti.  We'd love to share the morning with you so we do hope you can make it out on the 29th.

And while I did win a pancake eating contest back in my youth when calories had no effect on my metabolism, I promise not to embarrass my kids or my husband by repeating the indulgence of my youth.

~Samantha