A Miracle on Flight 253

I plan to do a post about Christmas but haven't quite gotten around to downloading the software to my new camera (thanks hubby!) in order to post a few pictures. In the meantime, I wanted to post about the Keepmans, a local Wisconsin family aboard the Northwest Airlines Flight 253 that was nearly bombed on Christmas Day.

My reason for sharing this story is two-fold. First, the family was probably more composed on and after that horrific flight than I would ever be. Their bravery alone is worth sharing. Second, the family had two VERY special children traveling with them.... two sweet Ethiopian orphans, traveling to their new home in Wisconsin with their forever family. We all know my passion and love of everything Africa and adoption but this story tugged a little harder at my heart strings. These beautiful children were completely oblvious to what was happening aboard that airplane because of the sheer excitement of coming home to America with their new family. I thank God for their innocence and know that he was truly watching over the Keepman family, and the other 270 passengers, abroad that flight. Afterall, why would God do something so great as rescue two children from life as an orphan to only let something so terrible happen to them on their way home? He certainly is the maker of Christmas miracles!

You can read the complete story here.

What makes me even more excited is that the family is returning to Ethiopia in a few weeks to bring home their THIRD adopted child! They have no qualms about flying, even after what happened to them, because they have faith and trust in God's plan for them. I only hope that I can have this much strength and courage someday. And who knows, maybe someday when our adopted child(ren) are home, they'll get to meet their fellow Ethiopians-turned-Wisconsite :)

'Tis the Season

The Christmas festivities have officially begun! This weekend we spent time getting ready to host Christmas and did some early celebrating with friends.

On Saturday morning, I baked cookies with my mom. Now that we're married and I'm off on my own, I figured it was time I learned how to make some of the cookies I enjoyed growing up. My mom was glad to have the help this year, too! We made lots of chocolate, peanut butter, and sugar cookies. On Sunday afternoon, our favorite kids - Emily, Katie, Carly, and Dylan - came over to help frost and decorate all the sugar cookies. It was certainly nice to have lots of helpers... and they were quite entertaining, too. I'm not sure if they did more decorating or eating :) Here's some of the finished cookies:



We also went to two Christmas parties this weekend with Dave's friends. The first was an ugly sweater party. Last year we didn't dress up and paid the price in heckling so this year, with many thanks to my great grandma's closet, we came dressed in two very ugly Christmas sweaters. Dave whined for a good amount of time about not only the fact that his sweater was ugly, but that it was a woman's sweater. At least I got him to agree to one picture.



On a non-Christmas note, we celebrated my great grandma's 88'th birthday on Sunday! I feel so lucky to have grown up with all of my great grandparents but great grandma Kulczyski is the only one still alive. She's had some minor health setbacks in the past month but she's still her happy, feisty self. When we asked her what she wanted for her birthday she replied with, "A new husband, please". She'll never lose that sense of humor, that's for sure! Here's a picture of the birthday girl and her three great-granddaughters.



We also had a great sermon on Sunday morning at church to help us prepare our hearts for the TRUE reason we celebrate Christmas...Jesus' birth. I've been feeling rather annoyed and a little angry this year with the way in which our culture views Christmas. I was finishing up my Christmas shopping on Saturday, along with nearly everyone else, and couldn't help but notice how mean and rude people were to one another. The stores were advertising having the "perfect gifts" and people were rushing between aisles, filling their carts with stuff. It was a good reminder Sunday morning of the true meaning of Christmas and the real reason for celebrating. What a perfect way to start the week leading up to the celebration of His birth!

My Husband

What can I say other than I have the most amazing husband in the world. For so many reasons, he is simply the best. My life has been incredibly blessed by him being a part of it but since we got married in August, I've realized that with him as my husband, life only continues to get better. I let him know every day how much I love him and how thankful I am that he's in my life... but last night, something happened that made me love him just a little bit more (I know, how is that even possible?).

I came home from teaching my children's grief group and was incredibly exhausted. I was looking forward to coming in, putting on my PJ's, and snuggling with him on the couch until I was fast asleep. When I walked in the door, I saw Dave on the computer. I went over to give him a hug to find that he was looking at one of the adoption blogs I had bookmarked. Now, let's be clear here - Dave doesn't really understand this whole blogging thing and he's never the one to initiate conversations about adoption. We've talked about adopting and about my heart for orphans. We know that in the future (or as Dave likes to say, "three or four years from now") we will start the adoption process to bring our child/ren home from Africa. But I never thought I would see him looking at an adoption blog, EVER. Not only was he looking at the blog but from the computers' little speakers came the most beautiful Christian music. Now, he may have just been visiting the blog because he knew that some of his favorite Christian songs were on the blog's playlist, but I'd like to think God planted a little seed in his heart and mind and that's why he was looking at that blog (a girl can hope, right?).

I may remind him every day of God's call to adoption in our lives... remind him every day that all I really want for Christmas is to welcome an orphan into our family... remind him that adopting a child is no different than having a biological child. But last night, he reminded me that God's plan is bigger than me, more than something I can control. He reminded me that I need to become better at waiting (don't we all??). He reminded me why I love him so very much.

We've been in the process of searching for a "home church" since before we got married. One of my criterion for our new church is that they understand the call of God to care for orphans and are open to starting an orphan ministry. After visiting several local churches once, we settled on one church that we would worship at during the Lenten season. We never thought this journey to find that "perfect" church would be so difficult but it has proven emotionally, spiritually, and physically exhausting. One thing I do know is that this journey is helping to bring us both closer together in our faith and as husband and wife.

So Dave, if you ever actually read this blog, know that I love you. And that I'll bookmark some more adoption blogs for you to read when I'm not around :)

On the day he became my husband...

Attention All Coffee Lovers!!

I've been a coffee drinker since the day I set foot on Marquette's campus... three cups every morning, a little sugar, and a little milk. Coffee has been my morning routine ever since. I've never had a favorite brand or flavor. If it had caffeine, I drank it! I'm trying to ween myself from coffee and switch to tea for many reasons but I still do love a good cup of coffee once in a while. The best coffee I have ever tasted has come from Africa. Not only does the coffee taste good but when purchased, it DOES good. One organization selling this type of coffee is Just Love Coffee.

Just Love Coffee was founded this year by a man with a love of coffee, a heart for adoption, and an understanding of the workings of Ethiopia's coffee farmers. Rob Webb, founder of Just Love, realized the poor living conditions, working conditions, and minimal wages of the coffee farmers of Ethiopia - the birthplace of the famous cup of java itself! He was inspired to take action, creating Just Love as a a roasting ground for fair trade speciality coffees in which the farmers profit and orphans are helped. Coffee purchased through Just Love also helps families adopting children from Ethiopia and around the world raise funds towards their adoption costs. Plus, the coffee tastes GREAT! Who wouldn't want to wake up every morning to a cup of delicious coffee that not only tastes good, but that is DOING good.

My friend Leigh and her husband are adopting two children from Ethiopia and have recently opened their own Just Love Coffee shop! It would be great if you could purchase a bag or two of coffee to help with their adoption costs and help the farmers of rural Ethiopia continue to brew the one thing so many Americans cannot live without each morning. You can visit Leigh's blog to learn more information about their adoption journey.

Visit Just Love Coffee to order your coffee today!!

And yes, someday when Dave and I begin fundraising for our own adoption, we will likely be asking you to buy coffee again :)

Girls Night

I had the girls over for a little girls night dinner on Wednesday. It was so much fun! I've been friends with the same group of girls in kindergarten and I am so blessed that they are still a part of my life. We enjoyed some wine, good food, and lots of laughs! Then we made Dave do a photoshoot for us... we wanted at least one good picture. After about a million shots that looked like corny Christmas card pictures, we finally took a good one! Love you girls.... you're the best friends a girl could ask for :)

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the Irish house! This is our first year celebrating Christmas as husband and wife and the first year celebrating Christmas in our new house. Not only that, we have the honor of hosting the Christmas day celebration for my entire mom's side of the family (what have I gotten myself into?!) So, to prepare, we began decorating a little early this year.

We officially put up our big tree on Thanksgiving and had so much fun decorating it together. We had a mix of ornaments this year that we have accumulated throughout the years. I tend to prefer silver ornaments and found a lot of cute word ornaments that say things like "Blessed", "Hope", and "Joy". I should have taken a close-up picture but we did add some twig & berry garland to the tree which worked really well to fill in the spaces we didn't have ornaments. We can't find a tree-topper that will actually stay on the top of the tree. We are noticing that our tree is quite flimsy. Might be time for a new one next year! Here are some decorating shots and the finished product:







I love that we have a house this year to decorate. Ever since the first Christmas Pottery Barn catalogue arrived at my doorstep I have been thinking about how I would decorate. I had been saving all of our wedding gift cards to PB for that moment. I did manage to spend them all in one online shopping spree but realized that so many of the ideas I liked in the catalogue could be replicated for wayyyyy less. So, I took my trusty Christmas decorating guide to Michael's and alas, our home became a Christmas wonderland! I really should have taken more close-up pictures of the mantle but I decorated with a lot of candles, berries, twigs, and miniature bells. Thank you PB for all your inspiration!





We put our main Christmas tree in our sunken living room/library area this year so that we didn't have to move around any of our furniture in our living room. Plus, that room has carpet which makes for more cozy gift opening and family gathering on Christmas morning. Since we spend most of our time in the family room, we decided to put a baby 4-foot tree in that room. Of course, the theme of that room is deep plumb and the tree was no exception to that. We found purple and gold ornaments to match the room to create the perfect miniature tree.



I'm bound to decorate more, especially considering a new pottery barn catalogue arrived in the mail yesterday :) But for now, there's a little taste of the Irish house this Christmas!

World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day, a day that I hate to say even exists. I hate that this day exists because it means that a cure has not yet been found...it means that people will continue to become infected and people will continue to die.

My first experience with HIV/AIDS was when I was in Africa in 2006. I spent some time at St. Lucia, an AIDS hospice in Tanzania. I held the hands of children infected with HIV. I loved on the children at the Nkoaranga Orphan Center who were left as orphans because of AIDS. This was my first experience with this deadly disease... and it certainly wasn't my last. This experience sparked a curiosity within me. Was this a disease that affected people in the U.S.? Where I lived? Was there a cure for this horrible disease? Did people even care about all the infected people and orphans here and thousands of miles away?

My curiosity and need for answers led me to choose an undergraduate internship with the Center for AIDS Intervention Research at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Here, I worked on a specialized HIV/AIDS prevention project that taught me more than I ever could have anticipated. I learned that people in the U.S. are in fact infected with HIV/AIDS and continue to be infected at alarming rates. I learned that while most people in my community have access to prevention programs as well as treatment, including anti-retrovirals, most people in developing parts of the world are not as fortunate. I learned that while there is no cure YET (and I say yet because I believe there will be one day soon) there are people who spend every day trying to find one. Most importantly, I learned that people do care about those infected with HIV/AIDS.... but sometimes they don't know how to show that they care because of the fear and lack of knowledge about the disease.

I could list a bunch of facts about how many people in the world are infected with HIV or the number of orphans due to AIDS. I could tell you the ways you contract HIV (and no, you cannot get it from touching an infected individual) and all about treatment. But I won't. Because today is about raising awareness that this terrible disease exists. It is about finding a cure. It a day dedicated to honoring the lives lost and the children left as orphans because of this disease.

I encourage you to do some research today - to learn the facts. Knowing the facts is what helps protect yourself and others. Knowing the facts is what helps eliminate the prejudice and stereotypes associated with HIV/AIDS. Today I remember all the children who have died from this disease and those left orphaned because of it. Today I remember all the patients I sat with here in Milwaukee as they were told they tested HIV-positive. Today I remember all the conversations I had with young and old people alike about how to protect themselves from contracting HIV/AIDS.

Today is World AIDS Day and I hate that this day even exists.

Visit www.aids.gov for more information on HIV/AIDS.

A Beautiful Ending to Fall

We survived Thanksgiving! We had a wondeful time celebrating with our family. We enjoyed our first meal with my family at my grandma's house and then headed to Sheboygan to spend some time with Dave's family and enoy some pie. We did a little shoping on the famous Black Friday although we slept in first... no way was I getting up at 4am to stand in line in the cold!

Speaking of cold, I've neglected to post about fall in Wisconsin this year... and how incredibly beautiful it has been! We've had unseasonably warm weather so to celebrate we decided to go hiking at the Lions Den a few weeks back. The trees had already peeked by that point but it was still beautiful. We spent some time hiking down to the beach from the bluff. The lake was beautiful with the sun just beaming! Truly a beautiful fall day in Wisconsin! Here are some pictures from the hike.







Well, the warm weather is quickly fading and the snow is undoubtedly approaching quicker than we'd like. But at least Christmas is right around the corner :)

Remembering to be Thankful

With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, I thought I would spend some time reflecting on what I am thankful for. You hear people say all the time (myself included) that they are thankful for things… but are those the things they are really the most thankful for? It surprised me when I really sat down and thought about the things I am most thankful for.

So, in honor or Thanksgiving, I have created a list of the top ten things I am thankful for at this time in my life. Here they are in no particular order:

1.My Family and Friends

I love my family very much and am always reminded during the holidays how lucky I am to be a part of such a big, extended family. My parents are incredibly supportive, encouraging, and loving…they’ve helped me become the woman that I am today. I am fortunate to have grown up with nearly all my grandparents and great-grandparents… with lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins. My friends are like family to me, too. I am thankful for the group of girls I have been friends with since kindergarten…and for all the friends I made during college. My life wouldn’t be complete without this extended network of supportive people who feel more like family to me than friends.

2.My Husband

I really hit the jackpot with having David as my husband. He truly is my better half most of the time and we make a great team. He gets me; he understands what makes me ME and he loves me unconditionally. I love his passion for life and his enthusiasm to start a family… he’ll make a great father someday. This year I am especially thankful to have him in my life as my HUSBAND.

3.My Education

Education is something I have never taken for granted but recently, it has become something I have become even more thankful for. My parents instilled in me at an early age the value and excitement of learning. I always loved school and always felt driven to continue to learn, even now that my formal education is completed. I am thankful my parents worked so hard to help me pay for college. I am thankful I had the opportunity to complete my Master’s degree. I will always continue to learn… whether I pursue my PhD or not. Education opens the door to opportunities and I am thankful for that.

4.Basic Necessities (Food, water, clothing, shelter)

Sometimes I complain about this one… a lot. I’ll admit it. There are days when I complain about my house not being perfect or completely finished. There are days when I complain there is nothing to eat or dinner doesn’t turn out good enough. Of course I never have the right shoes to go with my outfit. I complain, just like the average woman. But I am thankful, truly and completely thankful that I even have any of these things. I have seen parts of the world, including here in Milwaukee, where people don’t have these things. Where women and children go weeks without food; where clean water doesn’t exist; or where new clothes consist of hand-me-downs from Goodwill. This Thanksgiving, I am reminding myself to be thankful for the basic necessities in life and to complain a little less about these things not always being “perfect”.

5.The Way Africa Changed Me

This is something I am especially thankful for. Before I left on my first mission trip, someone told me “to be prepared to be ruined”. I had no idea what they meant…until I experienced Africa. All of its beauty, grace, despair, poverty, ignorance, injustice, cruelty, hunger, disease… after experiencing all of that, my life as I had known it was in fact “ruined”. This could be an entire other posting in itself so I will just say, I am thankful that I had the opportunity, the privilege, to visit a place that so many others will never see. I am thankful for my opportunities to share this experience with others and to bring awareness to others. Once you experience Africa you will never be the same… I promise you that much.

6. My Faith

My faith is what makes me get up each morning… it’s what follows me throughout the day, with everything I do. I having a loving Father who gave up his life so that I could live and that is a beautiful thing. I am incredibly blessed and probably don’t give enough gratitude to God for that. I am a Christian woman who tries to live the faith I’ve been taught and learned to trust.

7. My Health

I am SO thankful to be healthy. I see newly diagnosed cancer patients every day, some of them as young as me. I sometimes wonder why they got sick and I didn’t. I watch as my own grandmother battles cancer. I am surrounded by cancer and let me tell you, it really does stink! I am SO thankful that I have health insurance, a primary physician, and access to any and all medical treatment I would need in the event I do get sick. Every day I meet a new reminder of my own good health and every day I find another reason to be thankful for it.

8. My Job

I am incredibly thankful that I found a job prior to finishing graduate school in May. I am thankful that I work for a non-profit organization and that I get to spend every day helping someone. I get to spend each day helping to make the life of someone facing a cancer diagnosis a little bit better. I may have stressful days, moments where I don’t think I can do it any longer, or days when I just complain about work like the average person… but when I stop and think, I am thankful to have a job, especially one that makes the lives of others better.

9. My Future

I have more reasons than not to trust that God has a big, bright future planned for me! How can I not be thankful for that? I know that Dave and I will have a big family of our own someday filled with lots of love. I know that we’ll have opportunities to travel and see the world together. I know that I will find a purpose for my life greater than anything I could even imagine. Just knowing that I HAVE a future is enough to make me smile.

10. Volunteer Opportunities

I always tell people, if I didn’t have to work a day for the rest of my life, I would spend it volunteering and doing the things I love. Nothing makes my heart happier than doing something, selflessly for someone else. I am so thankful that I realized my passion for caring for orphans and vulnerable children at such an early age. I am thankful for the people I have met during my volunteer opportunities. I can’t wait to teach my children about the importance of serving others someday and volunteering as a family.

There you have it…the things that I feel most thankful for this year. Of course I need to remind myself of these things more than just on Thanksgiving. There will always be days when I am most thankful for my cup of morning coffee, or for Sunday night TV, or for a new pair of shoes… but today I am most thankful for the bigger things in life.

I hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving holiday filled with lots of food, fun, family, and thankfulness!

Drawn From Water

Today I came across a new organization that I have to share. I realize not too many people even read this blog yet but I am hoping someday, someone will look back on this posting and be just as moved as I am by the work this organization is doing. Since November is adoption awareness month and home to Orphan Sunday, I found this posting fitting.

Drawn From Water is an organization that started earlier this year in rural south-western Ethiopia. The organization runs an orphanage for children of the Karo tribe, a tribe that lives in fear of evil spirits and superstitions. In the Karo tribe, children who are believed to be cursed or otherwise imperfect are deemed "Mingi". The presence of these children on the tribe's land is perceived to be a curse. As a result, the children are drowned in the river. In January, 2009, a group of mission workers rescued five of these Mingi children. An orphanage was formally established and today, there are ten children whose lives have been saved thanks to Drawn From Water. You can read more about the organization and the meaning behind its name on the Drawn From website, www.drawnfromwater.org.

My purpose in posting this is that others will pray for the children of the Karo tribe, support the work being done by Drawn From Water, and share the information with others. The organization has two great videos that are very inspiring... I'm posting them here. The first is the story of how the organization was founded; the second is about the orphans. After watching the videos my heart was heavy but yet I was full of hope because 10 children's lives were saved.

Drawn from Water from Drawn From Water on Vimeo.

Drawn From Water, Adopt from Drawn From Water on Vimeo.

Orphan Sunday

Today is Orphan Sunday... a day dedicated to remembering, serving, loving, and praying for the world's orphans. Those who know me would agree that every day is Orphan Sunday for me. Orphan care is an issue that I became passionate about during my mission work abroad in Africa and Central America. But not everybody has had personal experiences with orphans and not everyone will. Irregardless, today is about honoring God's word and command to us as Christians to care for orphans. My favorite bible verse is this:

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." -James 1:27

There are more than 147 million orphans in the world. 44 million of those orphans live in the sub-saharan Africa region alone, the region that's home to Tanzania. Every 14 seconds another child is orphaned by AIDS. Every two seconds an orphan dies from malnutrition. Today I want you to think about what you'll do to alter these statistics. Will you pray? Will you give financially? Will you serve? Will you adopt? Will you love the world's orphans? How will you fulfill God's call to act?

Today I remember my time with the children at the Nkoaranga Orphan Center in Tanzania. My time spent caring for 30 of the world's orphans changed me. It opened my eyes to the realities of orphan life. It taught me what self-less, unconditional love felt like. It showed me that God really is the Father to all the children of the world. And most importantly, it gave me the chance to open the eyes and hearts of others. Someday I will welcome an orphan into my own family... for now, I will continue to support and love from afar and pray that God opens the hearts and minds of others to do the same.

It's Official...

... I've joined the blogging world! For the past several months, I have developed a new hobby of reading other people's blogs. I've mostly been following blogs of friends who are traveling abroad, friends moving away, or friends getting married. More recently, I've begun to click on links to other people's blogs - people I don't know. I'll read blogs about families doing mission work in Africa or families adopting from around the world. I'll read blogs about people doing medical missions or people doing ministry work in developing countries. I realized there are blogs for just about anything i'm interested in. The blogging world is actually quite fun (I can see Dave rolling his eyes as he reads that statement).

I had wanted to start a blog a while back to keep everyone up to date about our wedding planning. Dave thought it silly. He didn't want strangers reading our blog. He didn't think we'd have family or friends who would be interested in that. Well, now that we're married our life is certainly more interesting... right? We certainly have more to write about now...right? Well, maybe not. But I realize that as my friends continue to move further away, as my family spreads out across the country and even abroad, blogging is a great way to keep everyone filled in on our adventures as newlyweds.

So, whether Dave likes it or not, we're blogging. And by we, I mean, I'M blogging. We hope you'll enjoy following our new adventure as husband and wife :)