Keith and Jenn plus ten....I mean six.

It's 5:00 a.m. and I am surrounded by unpacked clothes because I cannot seem to find a home for them in any of our five suitcases. We are beginning our travels back to Italy today and yet I find myself editing and posting these photos instead of tying up the loose ends (I mean PILES) of packing.

I met Jenn on a Wednesday night at church. We had just moved back to Indy from Chicago and for some out-of-character reason, when I saw her and three of her kids walking by, I grabbed her attention and told her that our kids looked to be the same ages. I have no idea how it went from there, but I DO know that they are some of our greatest friends.

They and their six kids are moving to Bosnia this year. We are dreaming of spending Christmas together on the other side of the world. I feel humbled, blessed, and happy to know these people and to consider them family.

Love you: Jenn, Keith, Delaney, Berkely, Cordelia, Wolfie, Thornton, and Almanzo. Is that it??? :)

Little People, Big Style.

If this isn't the most stylish, fun family you have seen in awhile, then...well, just take a look.

I normally don't post so many photos, but they are just so ridiculously cute! So much love in these seven Tisdales!

Beauty from Ashes

I'm always humbled when we visit our friends in Cincinnati. They all live quite intentionally in neighborhoods ridden with crime and drugs, believing meanwhile God has called them to redeem the brokenness that surrounds them. Every time I visit these dear friends, I do so with excitement over all that God is doing and a sort of heaviness at all of the sadness they are faced with daily as it pertains to watching six year-olds look after their one year-old sisters and brothers at the park, walking by drug deals, receiving cat-calls and pleas for money from drunk men, and the list goes on.

And yet, there is so much beauty. Old buildings being rehabbed. Colorful murals on old brick walls. People with homemade wine and gingerbread, offering up their songs on the banjo, sung by children, to neighbors in order to celebrate Jesus' birth. Old diners that still play "I Love Lucy" all day long. Diversity. Passion. And yes, that list goes on too.