Family Updates
My heart ached as I looked into Elise's tear-stained face. In that moment she looked younger, her wet cheeks somehow accentuating her freckles. And yet, her beauty also struck me. She is becoming a young lady, growing up. Who knew it would be so hard. Granted, what Elise
Family Updates
Please enjoy these snapshots of everyday life here at the Lein house.
Emma's Story
At the beginning of this month, I was not sure how smoothly the month would end. I was feeling homesick, wishing for Emma's photo album which got left in the States, and wishing I could visit her gravesite. Last week I had the opportunity to share a testimony
Family Updates
I'm sorry it has been so long since I've posted. Life has been full lately, which is a good thing, but not always conducive to sitting down and writing a blog post. :) So, today I thought I'd share some pictures from our most recent
Personal Growth
Before I get into this post, let me add a quick disclaimer and explanation. We don't do Santa Claus in our family and never have. This is most likely due to the fact that neither John nor I grew up with the tradition and so don't
Family Updates
This post was written before Christmas on the day we set up and decorated the tree. But I was waiting for the pictures to add and then waiting for a missing camera to show up and then waiting just became the thing to do. Anyway, better late than never. Every
Personal Growth
You know how they say that you never realize how selfish you are until you become a parent. When I hear that I assume that somehow parenting is thought to somehow "cure" you of that selfishness. But it doesn't. Parenting innately causes you to see your
Family Updates
I'm taking the advantage that I am needing to take it easy today as I fight a bad head cold to do another post about our summer adventures. These are obviously a whole lot more exciting in person, but hopefully it is still nice to see and read
Family Updates
OK, it's taken me a little longer to get around to this than I had planned, but here is part one of our summer adventures with family. My mom and sister Liza arrived a couple weeks after Dietrich was born, which meant I was recovered enough to be
Family Updates
So, Dietrich is almost 2 months old now and I haven't written a thing about him on here. Sorry about that. I really thought I would have tons of time to write and reflect during these first few weeks. After all, I'm forced to sit still
Family Updates
My mind has been a little consumed with baby prep here, and I've been terribly neglectful of the blog. And now that I am getting around to writing a post, you will just have to put up with another baby post since that is what is on my
Family Updates
I'm sorry that I haven't been great at updating the blog lately. The last two weeks have been Spring Break for the kids. Even John finished up his language class and had a break before officially starting work with TeachBeyond. So we spent the time mostly