With the many opportunities we’ve been given for close relationships and great love, we will also, inevitably, experience great loss.

The same is true for all of us who buy into the idea that life is better lived together. We will lose the ones we love, and somehow, still be better just by having journeyed with them for part of this life.

Last week, I had the privilege of getting away on a solo retreat. I stayed at a friend’s cabin not too far away with a commitment to slow down and create space for silent reflection & prayer.

There’s this thing I started learning when we were foster parents. It was this weird way of living that required us to be fully present and invested in our girls, fully loving and devoted, fully committed to their growth and their schooling and their best interests, while also knowing that they might not stay.

It was September. We had gotten the chance to tell Pastor Josh a little bit about our discernment process, something we really wanted to do before we moved forward…

It was mid-June. I was sitting outside reading a book and watching the girls swim in our pool, my absolute favorite way to spend a summer afternoon…