Long Time No Blog!

It's been a whole week since something happened on this blog! Each time I've attempted another blog post, I've ended up poring over pictures of my babies and getting no where on the writing end of things. A few items to discuss - 

1. Reading

This week I enjoyed some extra time to read. I read a bit in Haiti, and since getting home, I've started chipping away at my reading list at a faster rate. For those who are interested, below is a list of the books that I have read this school year or am in the middle of reading right now:

The Help

By Kathryn Stockett

Passion and Purity

By Elisabeth Elliot

Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality

By Wesley Hill

Cross-Cultural Connections: Stepping Out and Fitting in Around the World

By Duane Elmer

Peace Like a River

By Leif Enger

Enjoy the Silence

By Maggie and Duffy Robbins

Carried Safely Home: The Spiritual Legacy of an Adoptive Family

By My Mother (Kristin Swick Wong)

Mere Christianity

By C.S. Lewis

City of Bells

By Elizabeth Goudge

Life Together

By Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Finding Calcutta

By Mary Poplin

Mark: The Gospel of Passion

By Michael Card

Letters to Children

By C.S. Lewis

I've found all of these books to be most excellent! More extensive reviews available upon request. 

2. Chicago

Thursday and Friday we (myself, my mother, my brother) were in Chicago. The main purpose of this trip was to apply for a long term student visa at the French Consulate. The appointment went quickly and smoothly - so much so that it seems slightly ridiculous that we were required to make a trip all the way out to Chicago just so I could hand someone a stack of papers. 

Being in the city definitely had its overwhelming moments of, "America is big and rich and awful", but America also has it's elements of need and poverty, and we were blessed to use our resources, that really belong to God, to buy potstickers for a homeless man, and then a chicken pesto cheesy panini along with a big chocolate cupcake for a homeless mom and her two sons. Besides the French Consulate appointment and talking with the homeless in Chicago, we enjoyed seeing some wonderful friends, purchasing shoes to alleviate the pain induced by walking extensively in high heels, and going to the Lego Store.

Getting the visa may not have been too thrilling, but the build-up to it certainly had elements of intrigue. You go into the big shiny building, up the escalator, show your ID to the formidable security, receive a special pass which you use on the fancy metal gates that block access to the elevator (at that glorious moment in time where I swiped my special pass to open the gate, I definitely felt like a special agent), go up the elevators to the 37th floor, and follow the signs to a rather anticlimactically drab little room where all people desiring to get a visa in France must visit. You sit down and imagine the McCropders and their many children waiting in this exceedingly unexciting room, get up when your name is called, hand your papers to the lady behind the desk, and that's about the extent of what it took to get the visa.

The big shiny building with the French Consulate on floor 37...

Two siblings, reflected in a massive metal bean!

Lego Store madness!

3. Six Months

My baby turns six months old today. I think about this child constantly. I can't believe he's already half a year!!! When I met him, he was three months old and in my mind he's stayed that old. I wonder how big he is by now. If he has a volunteer or not. Who is forever family is and what they are doing today.