Introducing Svante the Svede!

I am currently sipping a celebratory iced raspberry mocha at my favorite coffee shop, and do you know why? Because I am now the proud parent of Svante the Svedish veelchair! He is new and hip and rambunctious, with a spicy hint of mischief and adventure, like his momma. :)

I had originally planned to name him James Bond - not for the dashing action-packed 007, but for the stout wheelchair man who first took measurements and detailed notes to create him way back in January. I also considered a green-based name like Kermit, because I ordered a green frame. But today the green frame proved to be really too dark and subtle to be worthy of an iconic green name, and James Bond was absent in the delivery room, and I learned he actually had very little to do with its development.

Do you know who was responsible for the development and deep green-ness? The Swedes! And so, since the Swedes get overlooked and underappreciated so much, I decided to pay tribute to their excellence in wheelchair building by giving my chair a Swedish name. "Svante" is a common Swedish boy name, and it means "holy." I had not planned on my first adopted international child to be green and have four wheels, nor for him to be from extreme Northern Europe, but of course, God's plans are often not my own!

Svante and I are entering a new and exciting season of my life, with less focus on busy-ness and more focus on deeper relationships. I'm stepping away from the programs that have structured my life so well, moving into a new house in a new neighborhood to be in community with some brothers and sisters and be closer and more accessible to the kids I love so much. More on that piece later, but I am praying that our ministry can look more like an open door, an open Bible, open ears, and open hearts. I want my house to be a drop-in place where people always feel welcomed and safe, where they can talk and learn and snack and play and rest as needed. I want my life and relationships to be all about Jesus and his love, grace, peace, and power. Here is the prayer from Ephesians 3 that Svante and I have chosen to strive to live out fully in the next weeks and months:

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

So Svante and I humbly ask for your prayers as we strive to pace ourselves to the rhythm of God's grace, and follow closely in his footsteps.