Suffer the Little Children

I am constantly blown away by those who can abandon the life they know and follow God. This faithfulness is such an admirable and humbling quality. As Christians this is what we should all seek to do, but do we? Are you willing to get out of the boat? What would it take for you follow God with reckless abandon? What are you being called to? I have to ask myself these same questions too.

I love following the lives of those doing the nitty gritty work. You know, those people who can live their lives without the luxuries we take for granted every day? Andy and Lisa Langdon are two of those people. I do not know them, but I like reading their blog, Suffer the Little Children. They have picked up their lives and moved their family to Malawi. They felt called to start a crisis nursery for infant orphans through Ministry of Hope. They have been there for a year and their blog is a testament of their faith. You can feel the heaviness on their hearts for these babies. They got out of the boat and followed God with reckless abandon.



These are the Langdon's with five of the babies in their care!

Posts from previous blog

I decided, don’t ask me why, to start using this blog instead of my old one. The following are the posts from my previous blog:


i carry your heart - Originally posted on 5/2/2007

It has been a LONG time since I have written in this blog. I have been very busy and would love to go on and on about the craziness that is my life, but I'll try to stay focused here.

It is very important to Michael and I that we have the majority of the money saved and/or raised for our adoption before we start this process. We don't want to start our homestudy until we are 100% sure that we have a way to pay for all of the expenses. Things have been pretty slow on the fundraising end. We are extremely grateful to those amazing people who have purchased items from Project 8256, but we are still are a long way from our goal.

We know in our hearts that God has a plan, but it is very hard to wait. We want to hold our child in our arms today. We don't want to wait. The wait hurts.

So, on to something more positive! Through this process, we have received some really encouraging words from people we don't even know. A very sweet lady just bought two copies of the print below. She said she is an adoptive mother and is buying the print to give her sons' birthmothers for Mother's Day. Doesn't that just melt your heart? I almost cried when I read her note. She was so supportive of what we are doing and she doesn't even know us. I am so thankful for people like her.

Available from Project 8256

The section of the poem in the above print is by the late E.E. Cummings. I think he captured love in it's purest form in this poem. Does loving someone mean you must carry their heart? You must carry their burden? Isn't that what Christ does? He carries our hearts. He carries our burdens. The other thing I like about E.E. Cummings was his desire to push the boundaries. He did not stick to the cookie cutter way of writing. I like to think that adoption pushes the boundaries. We are not building our family in the "traditional" way. Adoptive parents carry their children's heart in their heart. I cannot begin to imagine what it will be like to see our child for the very first time, but I am so excited to find out!

To my little babe somewhere in Ethiopia: I carry your heart. (I carry it in my heart)

The following is the entire poem:
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go, my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate, my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
~E.E. Cummings


A Little Trip To The Show-Me State - Originally posted on 3/27/07

Michael and I went to Missouri this past weekend to visit his brother and sister-and-law. We had a great time. Our nephew, Aidan, is now 18 months old. We had so much fun with him. He is so cute and extremely smart. I must admit, I’m a little obsessed. Here are just a few of the MANY pictures his Uncle Michael and Aunt Katie took of him!

Michael and Aidan

Sliding is so much FUN!

I know I can make this work

I love this pic

Thank You!!! - Originally posted on 3/21/2007

When Michael and I decided to adopt from Ethiopia I was nervous about telling others. I wondered what the reaction from those I loved would be. On one hand I wanted to tell everyone I knew, but on the other I wanted to keep it a secret. The first person I told was my sister and the first Michael told was his brother, Tim. They were both unbelievably supportive. It is because of their support that we felt confident to begin telling others. I hope my writing this does not make anyone feel we were at all ashamed or embarrassed to tell. We were so confident and excited about adopting, that we did not want the insensitive comments and lack of support to vanquish our desire.

I can officially say we have not been defeated. Instead, we have been so encouraged. Everyone has been extremely supportive. It has been a joy to tell our friends and literally be able to feel their excitement. The hearts of those who have supported us have been exposed.

As many of you know, Michael has six siblings and I have one. Our families are considerably different. After all, the dynamic of a family of nine is quite different than that of four! Although the environments in which we grew up differed, there is one significant similarity. Michael and I were both raised in Christian homes by parents who exposed us to the truth and the heart of God’s word. We were taught to be faithful and trust God. We are really having to rely on our faith right now.

I am not a person who functions well without a plan. I make lists for EVERYTHING. I often assign a timeline for tasks I must accomplish. I have been known, on numerous occasions, to assign specific time limits for each task I need to accomplish within a given day. Are you seeing how neurotic I am?!?!?! As much as I would love our adoption and fundraising to coincide with my very specific timeline, I know it will not. I am learning to be patient and put this in God’s hands. As perfect as my plans may be in my mind, they are nothing compared to the plans God has for me!

Once again, I just want to thank everyone for your support. Thank you for your prayers and well wishes. For those of you who have supported us financially by purchasing prints or greeting cards from Project 8256 (our etsy shop), THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!

Knock ‘em dead!!! - Originally posted on 3/12/2007

I decided today to write a little something about my cousins. I know this is supposed to be a blog about our adoption, but our family is a very important part of our adoption.

Everyone is molded and defined by many things. Whether we like it or not the family we grow up with has a huge influence on who we are as individuals. Having grown up with the most amazing family, both immediate and extended, I feel grateful for my family’s influence. I know I would not be the person I am today without the strong heritage of those who have come before me, as well as those who stand beside me.

So, back to my cousins…! My dad is an only child and my mom has one brother. My aunt and uncle have three children. They are the only cousins Amy and I have. Emily is 23 (almost!) and Michael and Matthew are 20. They are all three very different from one another, which I think is fantastic. In my opinion, they are all at a very good place in their lives right now. I get excited when I think about their future, because they are all three smart, articulate and compassionate people, who are bound to make their mark on this world (at least they better!).

Matthew, Katie (me), Michael, Emily and Amy

Emily and Amy

Emily and I

So, to Emily, Michael and Matthew…….thanks for being the goofy, unpredictable, supportive cousins that you are. Knock ‘em dead!!!

Simply The BEST!!! - Originally posted on 3/5/2007

I recently finished reading There is No Me Without You, by Melissa Fay Greene. I must say, this is one of the best pieces of literature I have ever read. This is one of those books that haunts you for days. It made me smile. It made me cry. It made me wonder where my place in this world is. What am I doing for those who truly have nothing? How will I respond to the AIDS crisis?

Melissa Fay Greene is now high on my list of favorite nonfiction writers. Her work reminds me of one of my favorite authors, Jonathan Kozol. They both write works that are honest and raw. They immerse themselves into the worlds where most of us have never been and tell stories we never knew existed.

YOU SHOULD REALLY READ THIS BOOK!!!!!

The Journey Begins! - Originally posted on 3/4/2007

So this is my blog! Exciting intro, I know. I have never blogged before, so this is all very new to me. My name is Katie, I’m 27 and have been married to Michael for almost 4 years. We are excited to announce that we are ADOPTING!!! That’s right, we’re adopting from Ethiopia. It is so exciting to write this.

This may come as a surprise for many of you who know us. I know people think we are “giving up”. For those of you who don’t know, we have had two miscarriages in the last year. The first one was late term and they had to induce labor. We did not decide to adopt out of fear of experiencing another loss. We have always talked about adopting internationally. We assumed we would do this after we had biological children. God had a different plan. We now know we are being led to adopt first. Our hope is to be able to build our family through both the miracle of adoption and the miracle of birth.

I will be using this blog as a way for our friends and family to follow our journey, so check back for updates. Thanks for visiting!