Tag: fostering grace
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Knotholes
I’m told that knots are formed in trees when there is a branch that has to be or happens to be broken off or trimmed away. It is, in essence, a scar of something that was supposed to be healthy that was lost. Maybe it was removed because it wasn’t healthy. Maybe it was removed…
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Warps & Twists
Like the bend of the tree from which it was cut is written in the fibers of this lumber, the hard things in our stories are written in our bodies and brains and beliefs… and they can suddenly show up in our behaviors.
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Lessons from The Table (Introduction)
.I’ve been building a table.This series is simply a set of reflections from this journey—particularly in regard to the context of the table itself.
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It Doesn’t Just Melt
The residual trauma inherent with kids from hard places is… ugly. It often gets shoved into a sort of emotional closet on which the door doesn’t quite shut. And it spills out in some scary ways from time to time. And much like the huge, ugly piles of snow and ice… it doesn’t just melt.
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Behavior Is Language
From our earliest moments of life outside the womb, our only means of expression—of communicating some need we feel—is simply to cry. Our brain doesn’t yet recognize words and formulate sentences. We depend entirely on the only language we have, the language of behavior.
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Fancy That
When we approach our interactions with people with curiosity, seeking to learn more about their experience and perspective, we can begin to test our assumptions and more effectively meet them where they are.
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Both/And
This day—this beautiful day is a microcosm of the “both/and” nature of this work of adoption. It is filled with BOTH beauty AND sorrow. It is BOTH joyful AND tragic. It is BOTH a celebration AND a grieving moment.
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Leftoverture
It’s this sort of strange ballet, at once joyous and tragic, sorrowful and celebratory, sweet and very deeply sour.
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Progress Over Perfection
My buddy Mike talks a lot about getting 1% better every day. It’s the deliberate striving to improve by even the smallest degree in order to continue to grow, continue to learn, continue to reach forward in becoming the person we know we can and should be.
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Our Mission Refined
I’m excited to share with our friends, supporters, and encouragers our new and (I believe) greatly improved mission statement.
Fostering Grace 