We first met in a Beijing hotel—every one of us jet-lagged, but thrilled nonetheless to be making this long-anticipated trip. I remember our first meeting as if it were yesterday. On that morning in March of 2012, Peter and I took our seats in a circle with a dozen-or-so other couples and a few of… Read More A Glorious Reunion: Why We Keep Coming Back
“Time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life.” –William Faulkner Our official wait for our daughter Amelia began on an island—the island of Great Chebeague, off the coast of Maine. In the summer of 2006, we mailed our… Read More Waiting on Island Time
On Tuesday we dropped everything at 3 p.m. We left Daryl’s math lesson, half-finished, on his desk. We set science to one side. And we took a trip—a pilgrimage, really—to the Spring Hill Mall. There’s nothing special about this particular shopping establishment—except for the fact that we were there when I received one of my… Read More For the Ones Who Wait
It’s your birthday—my darling daughter! Can it really be—that you’ve been spreading your unique version of joy on this planet for five whole years? I’ve known you for four and a half of those. But I have loved you for far longer than that. You were born in my heart many years before you… Read More For My Daughter on Her Birthday
Oh, how I have missed writing here in recent weeks! For the month of October, our time has been focused on launching our new book (20 Things We’d Tell Our Twentysomething Selves) and our new website (www.peterandkelli.com). We’ve been interviewed on a variety of radio shows and written guest columns for various websites and blogs. I look… Read More Sometimes the Adoption Process Feels Like This
Here I am, sitting on a pile of pillows in a bathtub at The DeSoto House Hotel, Galena, Illinois (circa. 1855). We’re in room 203, with its soaring ceiling and grand windows and slanted floors. It is 4:30 a.m. I’m sipping black decaf coffee that I made in the little hotel pot. And the rest… Read More The Worralls on Whole30
I’m ashamed to admit that, for many years, I felt unable to fully enter into the Christmas spirit until the very last minute. As a college professor, the first few weeks of December have long been filled with advising students and administering exams and grading. Giant stacks of grading. And because of my penchant for… Read More Advent
“Time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life.” –William Faulkner Our official wait for our daughter Amelia began on an island. The island of Great Chebeague, off the coast of Maine. In the summer of 2006 we mailed our… Read More Island Time
This precious kid turns six on Sunday. So today it seems fitting to share a bit of his God story with you. A longer version is also the next chapter in the This Odd House manuscript. And taken in that context, it represents a much-anticipated turning point. In January 2009, I wrote in my… Read More Daryl’s Story: When God Calls
OR “Sometimes the Adoption Process Can Feel Like This” “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed” (2 Corinthians 4:8). I grew up watching the Road Runner cartoons—the two-minute mini-episodes, in which the big-nosed, big-eared Wile E. Coyote obtains ridiculous gadgets from the mail-order company, the Acme Corporation. He uses these devices to… Read More When We Want