We did it! We did it! We did it! All 3 of those “We did it’s” count because here’s what we did:

1. We packed up an entire house, moved, and unpacked it all over again...

2. WHILE Chris worked 18 hour days to get things in order for church online, and I was kickstarting our new virtual Help Club Bible study…

3. WHILE Benjamin and I had COVID.

“You can’t give God your heart and keep your body for yourself” Elisabeth Elliott

A friend recently asked me, “If your children were taking care of themselves the way you do, would you be happy?” Mic drop. How would you answer that, mama? Ten years ago, my answer would have been very different than it is today!

Happy New Year from the Ladd family! News seems more extreme than ever on the global scale. Thanks for taking a moment to zoom in to our little corner of the world. We have much to share with you, and we can do it with pictures and bullet points! Here’s some noteworthy news from us. HINT: Hang in till the end or skip ahead: The last part is the best!

‘Tis the season for celebration! Greetings from the Ladd house! We are hanging Christmas lights and learning the names of Jesus. (Also learning what sound turkeys and elephants make.) We haven't bought a single Christmas gift, but we are marking milestones like it’s our day job over here. We are very aware of Christ in the center of our lives right now and are soaking that in.

Thank you for praying for us after I wrote this blog. I didn’t leave Home Affairs that day with the miracle piece of paper I was hoping for, but I did leave with a miraculous peace. Here’s a quick article I wrote for the Help Club for Moms about it. Three days later, I’m still consumed by joy and peace. It just took one exhausted encounter with God, and I truly feel like I’ve been forever changed.

Take that, devil.

This was not the miracle story I intended to share with you today. (Another great reason to extend miracle week!) But there’s a real-time reason I chose this story to share with you - and even post it a day early. This is a testimony and an invitation. Both of our boys need birth certificates still. This has many implications on our everyday lives, as well as the big picture….

We’re reaching back into the archives today! I originally published this story on November 5, 2012. This Thanksgiving season and this talk about giving made me think of it again.

There’s just nothing like watching a miracle unfold in your very own hands. The awe, wonder and supernatural power of a miracle breaks off chains, swings locked doors wide open, and makes the impossible possible in your life. If you happen to be low on faith or hope this holiday season, borrow some of mine. These aren’t empty calories. They are real, filling, and there are plenty of leftovers! Enjoy the read!

This Thanksgiving was different because this year is different - and so are we.. Like our celebration, our relationships went deeper rather than wider this year.

The photos say it all. What you won’t find pictures of is a Thanksgiving Minute-to-Win-It competition and a toddler turkey relay (because of the sheer madness in the moment). ‘Tis the season to do the things you’ve never had time for before and to go all-in to create memories for time you won’t ever get back. And can we all take just a minute to celebrate how beautiful the toddler turkey artwork is? Great photo booth backdrop!ings you’ve never had time for before and to go all-in to create memories for time you won’t ever get back.

I set up a studio on my bathroom floor last night- the only space in my house available to film a live teaching! I strategically positioned myself to keep the toilet and missing drawer knobs off-camera, and I spoke to moms around the world about the miracles I have seen.

I’m the queen of efficiency. It’s a blessing and a curse. Everybody at my house knows if you can’t keep up with Mom, you might just get run over. (Including Benjamin’s ball..)

Days are calculated to the minute. Months are planned in advance. I rarely do one thing at a time. Lifa enters the kitchen like a soldier marching in to receive orders, and Chris stays out.

It’s Thanksgiving in America today. Wherever you live, I hope you give thanks. It changed my life, redeemed my hope, and infused my home with joy. Life may be hard today, but God sets the table for you in the presence of your enemies. (Psalm 23.) Find one thing to be thankful for today. And watch this video!

Thanksgiving was our first holiday as a married couple. At least it was to me. It is not a recognized holiday in South Africa, and Chris could easily unrecognize every holiday! He was under great stress from work when I mentioned its approach. (I still haven’t mastered the art of timing important conversations!) He was overwhelmed already, and hastily responded, “I don’t want to deal with it!” I cried over a bowl of leftover chili on the 4th Thursday of November that year. (Not our newlywed moment.)

We’ve got a major pandemic on our hands over here, guys. I think it’s more contagious than COVID. It’s “the problem” pandemic. My home was recently caught it, and it drove me bananas.

A VERY widely accepted sentence starter in Cape Town is, “*The problem is…”* You hear it everywhere you go. Lifa unknowingly started engaging conversations as a platform for his problems.

I stopped eating sugar three years ago. Yet I keep making those dadgum No Bake Cookies every year as though they are the recipe for joy. The great news about 2020 is that we get a fresh start on EVERYTHING. We get to re-think how we do things and why because every.single.thing. is different.

It is harder than ever to make a decision in this age of unlimited access. Ideas and opinions fly from every direction, a thousand miles a minute. It’s not just family and friends putting in their two cents anymore. It’s the whole wide world. I can EASILY spend all the time I have to play looking up the best activity for kids. I spend all the time I have to read or write looking up helpful resources I’ll never utilize…

We all know 2020 has been a very different kind of year. As I think ahead toward this holiday season, I see that I am different too. In a year of forced isolation, I have nurtured a stronger faith, healthier marriage and wider community than I could have imagined. 2020 pulled out the weeds, slowed down the traffic, and kept us home to do the hard work. We get a fresh start for the holidays. All the old rules and old ways are out the window!

When I was a freshly-degreed young woman, testing the waters of adulthood, I looked life straight in the eye. I knew where I wanted to go, how to get there, and nothing would stop me. I did not, however, factor in life. People, circumstances, sin, suffering, and all of my ickly-prickly shortcomings.

I recently went to a mall to pick up a gift for a friend. I had a toddler strapped to my body, a mask on my face, and bags in each hand. I glanced at a window display of women’s clothing and thought, “That is a store for grown-ups.”

It can be draining to be the safe one, the one who always gets the worst of someone. To keep giving them your time, care, compassion, kindness and love, when they’ve spent all of theirs elsewhere. Your kids. Your spouse. Your whoever. The people that feel safe with you often give their best to the world and bring home what’s leftover. But you know what? I don’t want my boys to bring their emergencies and intimate needs to the world.

I’m still thinking of GoGo’s life and the way it changed the trajectory of mine. (See GoGo’s tribute here.)

Every day you can turn on the news and see how one person changed another person’s life with evil. It’s the people not featured... the moms and dads and teachers and gogos... who choose good that are changing the world for better.

You were the first GoGo I knew, so I called you “GoGo” like it was your name... so everybody else did too. It took me years to find out your actual name.

You took me into your home and loved me like I was yours long before we knew how to verbally communicate with each other. You took Lifa into your home and loved him before I did.