The email from Lindsey asking if I’d go to Bolivia. The speed and ease with which my husband would say yes. The joy it would bring me to go to extremes to get my passport in time (including driving four hours to a passport agency to have it processed in 24 hours). The willingness of…

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The Gypsy Mama’s writing prompt for today’s Five Minute Friday is Joy. Five minutes, no editing. Here goes. *** The last thing I feel right now is joy. I’m frustrated because we, I mean I, screwed up our budget, and I’m stressed about it. I’m angry, honestly, with my failure. Which makes me extra-short with…

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Did you know that older children, especially boys, wait longer for sponsors? A couple of weeks ago, I met boys who had been on the waiting list for sponsors for six years. It broke my heart. Apparently, even in our compassion, we’re suckers for cute and little. I get it – I think puppies and…

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He’s surrounded by dozens of cars, at least half of which are from the movies “Cars” and “Cars 2.” Yet, at least once a day he asks me if we can go the store with toys. Whenever I round the kids up to run errands, he asks, “Are there toys there? Can I get a…

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The sky is a shade lighter than black as I slowly sit up in bed and feel around for the one button that will turn off the alarm. My bladder is full and I thank God for another month no baby presses on it. (Our youngest baby is sleeping in the room next door, about…

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We lost her before we lost her. The evening the doctors told us that her heart was so deformed, we lost our healthy baby. We received in her place a very different baby, a difficult one, a scary one, a beautiful and infinitely precious one, but we had lost our healthy baby. And the losses…

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