God-Jam Style

We've all seen the music video of the Korean guy horsey-dancing and passionately singing his song "Gangnam Style." Harold and Kehlen do a pretty good impersonation, although they are much better looking I must admit. It's not every day that a Korean song becomes an all-time hit, which makes our kimchi-loving family stands taller when that song comes on. I'm wondering when "Menno Style" will hit the charts?! "Hey, saxy tonte..." But I digress. Oba!

Something new hit the charts in the Park home these past two weeks of me being home, and I must say it has become a hit. On our daily schedule, one favorite activity is posted "Worship Jam." I grab my guitar; Kehlen and Mikhala haul out their bin of instruments and we go nuts singing and dancing different songs for our Creator. "I think God must be pretty happy about that one!" Kehlen exclaims, out of breath, after an adrenaline pumping dance and clatter to the song 'Hallelujah'. "Let's do it again!"  

Mikhala, who is relegated to bells, continues in her off-beat percussion while Kehlen attempts (and I do say attempts) some kung-fu-hip-hop-break-dancing assortment.

Oh boy, and now for Twinkle Star... this time Mikhala belts out a heart-felt rendition of her favorite song, which we quickly deemed as worship because God made stars too. ABC's was a stretch, but we figured God uses letters to speak to us through the Bible.

In the end, does it matter?  God simply smiles at anything that reflects his goodness, which is all around us if we look for it. A joyful noise is beautiful in the ears of the beholder. He is our audience of One.

Oh, and just to keep it real... a whining or fighting noise is not so beautiful in the ears of their mother! This is also my reality at times. But in light of eternity, this season of life is my unique "Worship Jam" as a parent in preparation of the full concert in Heaven. Bring it on!

Baby Steps, Leaps of Faith

I know, I know... a true blogger must be one with writing frequent posts. Baby steps, sorry, I'll get there  :)

Actually, since my last post I have been taking huge leaps - leaps of faith, leaps of transition, leaps of new opportunities.

After a three week train vacation to BC to be with family in January (which was awesome!), I quickly immersed right back into a full 2 final weeks of work full of succession planning, a graduation for one of our programs, presenting at a two day seminar, cleaning up my office, meetings, emails, and tying up a few loose ends.

I realize that after 7 years in an ever evolving position, a job is never done, always on a continuum. What's done is done, what is not done has yet to be realized by those taking on this leadership. One might think that giving up "my baby" from palliative care to thriving future would be hard, but I couldn't be more at peace if I tried. God lead me into the mess, lead me through the trenches, lead me through to enjoy great progress. In it all, God has proven his faithfulness and continues to prove it as I move on. He continues to use the people in place there now, but I know my role there in leadership is done. Now my leap of faith to voluntary unemployment, or should I say, free labour, has just begun.

Well, today I don't do the morning-family-scramble-out-the-door routine, I don't have a meeting, nor do I answer the phone "Good Morning, Salvation Army, Wendi speaking..."

Ahhhh, these days, I let the kids sleep in while I soak in some morning devotions, I play with my kids, we make a new schedule for the day that entails outdoor play in the snow, making lunch together, make play dough creations, and imagine, I even do a few basic chores around the house before midnight (which used to be prime time to catch up with household stuff). I'm really getting into this new shtick  But just in case any uber-moms are getting excited that "I've crossed over", I haven't totally converted. Perhaps baby steps to uber-mom-ness? or perhaps I will just dance to the beat of my own drum? While I have embraced my era of driving a mini-van and going to family garage sales to find deals on kids stuff, I am now feeling the itch to get back into doing house renovations and have a few big things up my sleeve in regards to how I am hoping to participate in Harold's research project. I have now started taking Zumba Fitness, which is a lot of fun; am attending a family fitness program with my kids, and Kehlen and I will be starting Korean School / Taekwondo together this Saturday. My aim isn't to become super busy, but be active, live purposefully and embrace this short season of time that I have.

So regarding adoption... The anticipation is growing with time, and so far everything is lining up to move forward. No hitches.... yet :) We prepared a huge stack of documents through December and had it mailed in to our social worker the day we left for BC in early January. Wow, after working through the lengthy obligatory biography exercise (23 pages single spaced size 10 font later!) I feel I know my self better than ever before, lol. Actually, why didn't the government require me to do this when I was expecting our first biological child?! It would have done me good. Once all our references are in, we are next in line to have our home study, likely in a month's time. We know there are sibling groups available for adoption, but are awaiting the process of completing our dossier to get to the referral stage. Meanwhile we are making contact with referring agencies who work in that country to decide on the agency best fit. And we continue to pray for God's provision. On human terms, the process and associated costs could seem daunting, although God would never have put this on our hearts if he did not also have a plan to provide. God is good.