Tol House Ten
Okay. This post is a complete cop-out. Let me just ‘fess up to that from the start. But neither Brian or I have had much time to blog lately, and I felt the need to put something on here. So this is the dealio: I’m making a list of our ten favorite blog posts from the past year.
I know, I know. You want fresh content. The normal wit, humor, and wisdom you’ve come to expect here at the Tol House Blog. And you’re going to get it–it’s just recycled. See? We’re earth-friendly. Going green on the blog.
So save the planet and read an old post. Or just leave a rude comment about our lack of original material. Either way, we hope you’ll be entertained. Here they are, in no particular order:
1. Farewell, Tom - most commented story of 2008: a real-life story of drama, heartache, and the QB that got away…
2. Growing Pains - a recent favorite, just because I love the way God teaches me things through everyday life
3. Colorado Stories: The Wake-up Call - ah, sweet Colorado memories…
4. Ethiopia Facts: Wildlife - this post attracted a comment from an Ethiopian living in London!
5. Watch Out, Man, or the Fuzz is Gonna Getch’a - summer memories of Holland’s finest
6. Dreaming - I love this one for the videos of precious kids at the end.
7. Quirked - because what’s better than a little odd self-revelation on your blog?
8. Security Breach - strange, but true!
9. Colorado Stories: Oscar - entertainment courtesy of the Colorado wildlife
10. Colorado Wisdom - yeah, we milked the Colorado trip for some of our best blog material of the year…
10b. Seismic Shift - okay, I’m cheating on the top ten, but I want to throw this post on, just for the picture of Noah. 
And because he’s so stinkin’ cute, here are some of our favorite videos of Noah:
2. Master of Cupcake Destruction
If all else fails, maybe you’ll be entertained by this rare post from Mocha the Cat:
EDGE-y Wisdom
I guess my posts have gotten a little too reflective and serious lately. Brian has commented that I need to lighten up a bit, for fear that our faithful blog readers will fall asleep while reading. (Okay, so he didn’t say the sleep part, but I think it was implied.) Well, always wanting to be a faithful wife, I have decided to attempt a more light-hearted post. And where do I turn when I when I need funny material?
Well, I’m a youth group leader. Enough said.
Brian and I have been helping out with EDGE–the youth program at our church–for almost a year now. This stint began with a youth group trip to Colorado last summer. At that time, I shared a post about the top ten things I learned from a week with teens in Colorado. It was mind-blowing, really.You should read it.
So just imagine how much wisdom I’ve gleaned in the months since. Without further ado, I present “The Top Ten Things I Have Learned As An EDGE Group Leader:”
1. Seeing teenage males in their mother’s Christmas sweaters is the stuff horror films are made of. Sure, it guarantees them a win in the Ugly Sweeater Contest. But it can also haunt dreams.
2. For some reason, the concept of throwing pie in my face is a very strong motivator for many members of this group.
3. During youth group retreats, its important to withhold Mountain Dew from certain female members of our group after 9 pm. Unless, of course, you really enjoy hearing conversations about the science of coughing at 5 AM in the morning. Or you like functioning on 1.5 hours of sleep.
4. If you leave a message on a teenager’s home phone, you’ll be lucky to get a response within a month. If you write on their Facebook Wall, you will likely hear from them within minutes. And I suppose if I actually texted them on their cell phones, I would enter a whole new realm of warp-speed response. But you have to put your foot down somewhere.
5. Surprisingly, guys don’t do much trash-talking when playing fantasy football. (Well, unless you lose your starting QB in the first game…but that’s another story.) I say, what’s the fun of playing in a league if you can’t casually remind the other players when, say, you happen to annihilate their team by more than 40 points. (Yes, I’m talking about Alden here.) Come to think of it, this might explain #2 above.
5. Mountain-top romances last a lot longer than you might think. They also require some unique retreat rules such as: 1.)no pillow sharing allowed, and 2.)no, we are not going to let the guys and girls sleep side-by-side in Meeting Room #2.
6. Apparently, there is barbed wire at the top of the Ladder of Love. (Don’t worry, you get a key to remove the wire when you get married.) When dating in high school, it’s better to just carry a step stool.
7. The youth have led me to some arithmetic principles I was not aware of before. As in, “a girl must be at least 3/5 hotness in order for a guy to ask her out,” and “I’d rather be 7/3 funny than 3/5 hot.” (Is this part of that “new math” I’ve heard about?)
8. Lest you think all we discuss at youth group is dating/sex/love, let me just say that I’ve learned a surprising amount of color theory as well. For example, black is not in our youth pastor’s color palette. Apparently orange is a girly color for a video camera. And being nick-named “grandma” makes me feel blue.
9. If any female members of our group mysteriously disappear, I will look for them wherever the Grand Rapids Griffins happen to be playing. But really: Hockey players, girls? You know they don’t have teeth, right?
10. Being an EDGE leader is eerily similar to my high school experience: I often hang out with a large herd of teenagers, I consume large quantities of caffeine (although I’ve switched from Mt. Dew to coffee), and I’m constantly harrassed, picked on, and teased. At least there’s no homework or tests . . .
As you can see, helping out with EDGE has warped molded me in many ways.
But seriously, God has blessed me through these experiences. It’s such a privilege to know these teens and to watch them grow in God. And of course, to share lots of life and laughter along the way.
The Wait
It’s a rainy and quiet Saturday afternoon, which has put me in a reflective mood. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this adoption journey we’re on. And in particular, this time of waiting and wondering that we’re in.
Everyone in the world of adoption is familiar with “The Wait.” It’s that lag time between handing all your paperwork in and the day you are matched with a child. I remember back to last summer, when we were scurrying about gathering various documents and notary signatures, when we heard one person comment: “Just enjoy this phase where you can actually DO something. Because pretty soon all you can do is sit and wait.
Well, we are smack dab in the midle of the wait right now. This week, it will have been seven months since all our paperwork headed to Ethiopia. Seven months! And I have very mixed feelings about this time. There are many moments of impatience, of course. Sometimes I wonder if we’d be better off doing a domestic adoption, or if we should have changed our age requirements, or if . . . well, there’s lots of “ifs” to wonder about when you’re wishing for a speedier adoption process! Yet time and again, God reassures me that we are on the right path, even though it is a longer wait than we’d like.
Mixed in with the impatience are moments of wonder. I wonder if our baby has been born yet, or if she’s still in her mommy’s round belly. I wonder what kind of family she will come from–what kind of difficult circumstances will lead her to an orphanage. I wonder if there’s another mother on the other side of the world, right now, worrying and fearing about the future of her child. And I pray that God will give her peace about His plan. I wonder what this child will look like. What personality she’ll have. What hopes and dreams and purposes and plans God will wrap into this little person.
It’s strange how these feelings of impatience, wonder, anticipation all mingle in with my everyday life. We are “expecting,” but in such an unconventional way. There’s no constant physical reminder, like the kicks and rolls I used to feel when I was pregnant with Noah. Yet it is a constant thought on my heart. I’ve heard people talk about children of adoption being “grown in their mother’s heart” instead of grown in her stomach. And there’s such truth there. Thoughts of this sweet child poke at my heart each day.
So I keep waiting. Trying to remain faithful to God’s timeline. Trying to find the grace and the growth during this sometimes frustrating wait.
And you know what? God is so good to fill the wait with good things and good purposes. I have an energetic son to keep me on my toes. Dear friends and family who fill my life with laughter and support. A church that feels like a true spiritual home. Wonderful teens God has called me to disciple and love. People and possibilities for starting an orphan ministry at my church. Opportunities to grow and develop my writing career.
I am grateful for these “distractions” from the wait. But also grateful that they are not mere distractions, but an important part of the journey I’m on. We had quite a “wait” before Noah was born too, and I know that as those days and months went by, God was molding me, transforming me into a different kind of person than I would have been without the wait.
When I grow frustrated with this wait, I try to remember that God’s hands are still here, shaping me and our family through this long process. And so I guess more than anything today, I’m just grateful for a God who walks with us. Who never gives up on us. And who works all things for our good. Even the wait…
Noah and the Monkey
Some things are better left unexplained:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_NfcIA6LL4&rel=0]