zach n kali

This year has been a whirlwind. Over the past four years, our family has been trying to leave Los Angeles.  We've craved open spaces and a slower pace or life. We prayed for jobs and open doors.  When our knocks weren't answered, we stepped out  in faith to continue fostering. We brought home our baby Samuel for six weeks before he went home to a relative.  Sharing tears with a stranger was holy experience as I handed him over to his aunt.  A few weeks later we brought home our little firecracker at two days old from a hospital in LA.  Reunification seemed highly unlikely, with adoption on the fast track.   Fast forward a very very long three and a half years (which will one day have their own story told), and within three days, we had an adoption finalization and a job offer out of state.  June 2021 and the doors were finally opening. We found a home in a beautiful neighborhood and closed on it within a month.  God made it abundantly cl...

You know how, when you get the common cold, it's super annoying, and you feel crummy, but life still has to go on, and everyone gets them, so you can't really even complain?  Yeah, that's what killed my mom.   My mom died from the common cold.  The obnoxious annoying runny nose and cough that most of us easily work through, quickly recover from, and usually beat multiple times a year. It took one cold in the year 2019 to begin the rapid timeline of my mom's passing.  One cold that, for her MS-weakened body, quickly turned into pneumonia, which again, is something that we healthy people regularly recover from. But for my mom's immunocompromised body, it was too much. On January 8th, 2019, Jesus brought his good and faithful servant home, handed over to Him by her husband and children.  She was only 59. I know many people aren't afraid of COVID-19.  I know many people think that those staying home are just living in fear. I know many people have the atti...

I NEED TO PEE NOW KID SUDDENLY NEEDS TO PEE SO I HOLD MY PEE

  Despising any kind of stereotype, I swore I would absolutely not be a casualty of the Christian college's "Ring by Spring" stereotype. Which meant I inevitably was. I met Zach during the first semester of our freshman year. Because I had made it my MO to say yes to everything, I ended up helping a friend with his student film - a musical based on Queen's Loverboy, something which Zach had literally been dragged to help with as well. After a final late night practice at the end of the semester, a group of us ended up at the beach where he and I talked for hours. I didn't see him again until 6 weeks later when the Spring semester started. My course-load was much heavier and I quit my friend's film project. Turns out Zach quit the same night I did and called a few days later asking me out. Our first date made an impression to say the least. He met me in the dorm lobby where, upon seeing me, he turned on his heel and said over his shoulder, "I'm park...

     Most people enter college with a sense of excitement and anticipation. While I definitely had those feelings, they were accompanied by a deep sense of disappointment that I wasn't at my preferred school. By the end of the first week, the Lord softened my heart and I felt a deep sense of peace as I walked around campus. I could palpably feel the Spirit. I began to be stretched in ways I never thought possible. Naturally shy, I quickly realized that I needed to get out of my comfort zone and open myself up to strangers. For the first time in my life I didn't have friends placed in front of me as I had while attending a small youth group or school. I was terrified of being away from my family, but because I was willing to open myself up to a new community I wasn't lonely. I made it my mission to say "yes" to anything I was asked to do or join, so long as it didn't conflict with my values. Because of this, I made dear friends, played sardines all over campus,...

     With a new attitude and new opportunities, I began high school. High school provided me with all the activities and creative outlets I had longed for - friends, theater, choir, a small band, missions trips, worship team, and student government. I began to flourish and the main person behind this was my mom. D espite the physical limitations caused by MS, my mom was incredibly involved in every area of my life. Regardless of how tired she was, my mom never complained and showed up at every choir concert, every play performance, every fundraiser, every basketball game, often recording for my dad or other parents. The school should have a plaque in her honor. Each late night after practice or rehearsal when we got home after dinner time, she sat with us while we ate and listened as we recounted the banalities of our day. Each morning began with her softly knocking on our doors and ended with her screaming at my brother that he would once again be late for school i...

Moving to Chicago opened doors that I didn't know existed.  I discovered youth group, cheerleading, class electives, student government, and, because of my very passionate music teacher, the Beatles. Though there were typical junior high struggles, I developed a core group of friends and developed a passion for being deeply involved in the things I loved.   In 1999, with my Dad's coursework complete, we moved back to Austria.  I was devastated. My hormonal, Jr. High soul felt crushed. My parents were taking me from everyone and everything I loved. The school I would be attending for 8th grade was a small private Christian school, with less than 200 students, Kindergarten through Seniors.  There would be 18 students in my class.  No band, no sports, no student government  Our church didn't have a youth group. By the end of the year I had sunk into a deep depression. I was angry that my parents' ministry was ruining my life.  I didn't understand why...