Who needs sleep?

This week will be a long one with little sleep. Only two days in and I can tell already. Paige has come down with an awful cold. The kind that you can see how yucky she feels just looking into her big blue eyes. Poor kid! I suppose a cold would not be all that bad for a mildly dramatic child, but as I have mentioned, Paige is the Drama Queen. Which means every wipe of her nose or tickle of her throat must be acknowledged and loved on by all in her presence. It also means that when she coughs at 2am, she expects company!

On a typical night I would attend to my ill child and quickly return to bed for the next round of much needed sleep. This week has been different. For those who aren't local, I'll fill you in. As part of raising more funding for the new Bethany Christian Services office in Rochester, we (the advisory board) are hosting a Mark Schultz concert on Friday. Very exciting, right? Yes it is. The twist comes when you find out that I was asked to introduce Bethany along with sharing my own adoption journey as the opening to the concert. Again, very exciting, right? I thought so a few months ago. The largest group I have spoken in front of was about 650. I got word today that, as of last night, we had sold just over 1,000 tickets. That means, all of those people will be staring at me for the short time I am on stage. So, not only am I praying every moment that the Lord will give me the words and share what He desires to touch hearts, but I am becoming more and more aware of my nervousness around the number of eyes that will be on me. I am not doing this for myself, but for the glord of the Lord! I have always hoped that my story would eventually bless and help others in some way. Needless to say, at 2:30am today after returning to bed, my mind was racing with all of these details. So, when I finally fell asleep again around 4 and my alarm for work went off at 5, coffee couldn't quite touch it! So, please pray along with me that I would speak clearly and from my heart, that people will be receptive, that all the crazy details involved in concert planning fall into place and that the entire evening is centered on worshiping the amazing God who has chosen to adopt each of us into His family.