In answer to a question....

"How's it going?"

It seems an simple enough question - caring,innocent, forthright. But the layers that need peeled back to expose anything beyond cliche are difficult to navigate.

The basic answer... surprisingly great.

Our newest letter went out last week (if you aren't on our mailing list and want to be... please let me know!) describing some of our summer. It hasn't been easy. Filled with disappointment and confusion and loss. Not completely, don't get me wrong. We have also dug our feet in the sand and pet giant turtles and snuggled with far away family and shared picnics with people we love. But there has been a sense of struggle that continues it's way into the quiet moments. Moments when we have questioned ourselves and questioned God - wondering if we missed the plane (literally). We have - embarrassingly enough- fussed at God for setting us on this journey and then being "silent" when it gets hard.

Here is where I have a little secret for you...the loss of a big chunk of our stability has actually become the place where God gets to show up the most.

*Last week a friend dropped by the house and brought all the ingredients to make her favorite stew... quite by surprise. It has provided two days worth of fabulous meals for our family.

*Our kitchen is full of produce - with many thank yous and wonderment every time Holley shows up with a bag of apples or pears and shares her bounty with us.

*We have a friend who has been so generous to slip us gas cards - more than once. Seriously... why would someone go into a gas station and buy a gift card to tuck inside a handshake or the menu at Little Mexico? Do people like that really exist?

*Another friend called us on Saturday asking if she could take Madyline to the mall to buy her some great "teenage" clothes. How do you speak love into a 12 year old? Take her to Limited too to find things that look great on her - and tell her so.

*There is a YMCA camp just outside of town that has offered to let the kids come to daycamp a few times this month to join other homeschoolers, riding horses and learning about trees and survival skills - and zipping down wire ropes - at an 80% discount.

*We have seen God whisper into people's ears that, 10 months after I took their portraits, they need to order hundreds of dollars worth of enlargements. That, combined with others who have ordered prints this month and scheduled sesssions, will pay our bills for a few more weeks.

It's not just financial - we have felt loved and protected. We have seen the kids step up with each other in a love and grace that is brand new and strong. We have taken walks to Kava house in the middle of the day. I've been gifted with Annie Lennox's new cd - (ah - pure raw emotion- I really needed this). We have prayed with and been prayed for. We have gotten calls from you.

And with each moment we know that we are not alone. We know that God has been in this from the beginning, and just because his actions don't look like us getting on a plane quite yet... it doesn't mean he has given up on us - or that we should give up on His vision for our family.

I Know I didn't word this well... I"m not feeling particularly poetic today... one thing I have set aside in this 5/24 world (5 DiCoccos together 24 hours a day) is the time to journal and process through my thoughts well.... but I wanted to say this out loud. Because it is part of our story... and I wanted to you be here with us too. Because in so many ways... you already are.