The boys and grandpa drew this on the driveway for us all to come home to yesterday.
OK…so perhaps I need to back up and explain a little bit.

We’ve been on this journey to foster and then adopt for around 5 years now. At least that’s when we started the training.
We drug our feet a little bit in the beginning and were finally fully certified nearly 2 years ago.
In the past couple of years we’ve submitted our home study for a number of kids, but nothing has come of those. We are working through an agency that works with multiple counties and my heart was kind of set on having a daughter.
Truth be told, while I know others have had longer journeys, I was beginning to lose hope and get comfortable with the size of our family.

Then we got a phone call last Monday.
Sunday afternoon we drove several hours away to spend the week helping with a healthy transition.
And yesterday, less than 2 weeks since we got that phone call, we came home with a 2 year old little girl.

There is so much to share.
There is also so much I can’t share.
You won’t see pictures because we’re still fostering and we can’t make those public.
Same goes for her name. Unless you are part of our everyday lives and spend time with us or you are family. But she’ll be “Little Sister” for now on social media.

It’s uncanny how quickly it all happened and how well we already feel like she fits into our family.
She started calling us mommy and daddy Monday morning. The morning after we met her.
The boys have been amazing with her. Caleb has been such a tender protector/nurturer. Micah plays with her and enjoyed dancing in the back seat with her on the drive home. (Grandpa came out to help with them and bring them out to join us part way through the week. Before they came they made the chalk sign in the picture.)

This is such a wild adventure we are on.
Holy crap. It’s been 5 years since we had a 2 year old and I kinda forget how this stage works. I’ve been quickly reminded how much work it is. We have diapers again!!
While she adjusts and our boys adjust, we will be laying low and cutting as much as we can out of our lives. This will be hard for me, but important. We’re kind of a busy family so the reality is we won’t disappear, but we will be saying no a bit more and helping her get used to us cause she comes first for a while.

And finally, we have high hopes that we will be her forever family as we look at the situation. But it’s a long road ahead and we know that anything could happen. No matter what, in the meantime, we are going to make her our own and love her fully.
No matter what.

There’s a quick mind dump and update for y’all.
Again, so much in our heads and so much happening that I look forward to sharing with you as we are able.
In the meantime, prayers are welcomed.
Thanks for sharing the journey.
Here we go.

I popped open a zipper and found this in there:

A baby shower thrown by 3 of our closest friends when Caleb was pregnant 8 years ago.

Right around the corner is Jenny Platt’s birthday.
She’s being celebrated by her friends and family leading up to that.  Don’t read anything into the numbers, of course.

So this is a quick post to let not only Jenny, but everyone else as well to know how awesome Jenny is and how much she has meant in our lives.
I like to think that we still have that invitation because we never quite wanted to throw it away because of what a meaningful gesture it was to us.
And Jenny has always been amazing at that. At celebrating and blessing others selflessly and all out.

She spearheaded this awesome party with Bridget and Stephanie.
When I left Revolution and Southern California, she was the one who organized a going away party at Fuddruckers where people gave us letters about how our ministry had blessed them.  It meant so much.
Many a night were spent on visits back to Long Beach staying up late in the Platt’s living room discussing life and solving the worlds problems.
I think of Jenny every time there’s a season finale for Survivor as we spent more than a couple with them.
And of course, then there was the time a few years ago that she crashed at our Santa Cruz home while we were out of town. We hung out with them their first night and then had to go.  When we got home there was a card where their family and the Lasch’s had put all the things they thanked us for.  And of course I had to laugh when I saw “liberal babble” in Jenny’s writing.

All that to say, Jenny is one of the most fun and selfless friends we’ve ever known.  Her and Darrenn are part of our support teams for Missio Dei Community and I am so blessed that we still get to do ministry with them from a distance.
Jenny – thanks for being and amazing friend and person.  I can’t wait to see all the people you bless and the way our friendships continue to grow in the future. ANd a blogpost can’t come close to conveying the mark you’ve left on mine and my family’s lives.  Thank you for being you.
I hope you feel really loved and really special during your 40 days and beyond.
Happy early birthday.

As most of you know, my mom passed away 4 years ago.  Obviously, it was a rough season.
With that came some money she left behind as an inheritance for us.  A huge blessing wrapped in an unsettling blow.
As we budgeted and sought to be wise with what we had received, we intentionally set aside some of that money and said, “Let’s do something special for our 10 year anniversary that we never could have dreamed of doing otherwise.  My mom would like that.”
Honestly, she would.  I’m not just saying that.  She’s probably a happier about that than the parts we gave to church and non-profits.

Truth be told, I really wanted to take Rachel to New Zealand. By far my favorite place I’ve ever been.  But the timing didn’t work out with seasons, jobs, and flight costs.
So as we searched for other options, Rachel came across the idea of Mombasa, Kenya.
Neither of us had ever been to Africa.  So the idea of experiencing something new together sounded appealing.
However, we had always dreamed of visiting Africa for the sake of humanitarian efforts and Christ centered missions opportunities.
By the way, part of what we tithed from my mom we also set aside for the purpose of short term missions. We really believe in them, both for the sake of the good they can do and the life-changing power they have for those who go.  Pretty sure that’s deserving of a post all of it’s own.

So we said, “Hey, let’s invite our faith community to join us on our anniversary trip!”
OK, maybe we didn’t wuite present it like that.  That’s just kind of awkward.
but we did figure we could have them join us for part and mix “business” with “pleasure” considering we were flying over.

So after all is said and done, the result has been the experience of a lifetime while my sister and her husband split kid watching duties for us with Rachel’s parents.  We have had the opportunity to relax, experience insurmountable beauty, already be challenged by the confrontation of the reality of poverty and developing countries, and breath, centering ourselves on Christ together as we get away.
And in a couple of days we get to greet 4 of our best friends to share that leg of the journey with.

So there ya go.  Now you know.
(I guess that was a little Uganda backstory too.  But there’s a little bit more to that one.)
Really hoping to find the time to share some pictures and videos here when I find the time.  Maybe before we leave.  Maybe not til after we get back.
And to follow the missions part of our trip, click here for our Missio Dei Community Uganda blog.
Thanks for sharing the journey virtually.

At Ali Barbour’s Cave Restaurant (#19 on this list)

As breathtakingly beautiful as Africa is, it pales in comparison to the radiance of this woman’s smile.
Kinda Cheesy? Yup.
Make you wanna throw up in your mouth a little bit? Probably.
Deal with it.
What can I say…
I’m still madly in love with her 10 years later.

We look so happy.  And all looks so good in life.
So many of you “liked” it.
Now let me tell you how that day actually shaped up.

It was already a crazy morning getting the house ready to go since we were renting out our house while we were gone to pay for our camping trip.  Which requires lots of cleaning.
I got the car packed up, and already leaving late I went to hook up the tent trailer.
After a couple starts and stops of the engine as I got the hitch lined up, I went to start it up again.

Yup.  Dead battery.
I called our neighbors and friends, Kurt & Melinda, looking for jumper cables.
They didn’t have any.
As I was about to head to Target, I found out we had some in the trunk.

So we finally got on the road an hour and a half later than we’d hoped.
We stopped in Fresno to hang out with great friends from the Revolution days and Missio Dei ministry partners, Jared & Kimmie.
Always great seeing them and luckily they were cool with a late lunch.

We finally got back on the road around 4pm thinking we were around 45 minutes away.
Nope.  Try like 2 hours.  #fail.
We were almost there, about 75% of the way up the windy hill to get up to the campsite when apparently Bolt’s dramamine had expired.
Our carsick sensitive dog puked all over the van.
I thought about snapping a picture. I shoulda. But I haven’t blogged in how long? Whooda thunk?

After getting that cleaned up, we went the next 10-15 minutes and finally arrived at the campsite.
The rules said not to transport firewood because of invasive bugs.  So we figured we’d buy some from the camp host at the site.
We were literally the ONLY people at the entire campground.  Not even a host there.

By now it was getting dark, it was cold, and it was wet.
We were missing things right and left it seems like, but eventually found everything we needed.
Plenty of things were challenging, but we took it all in stride and nothing was going to ruin our time away!
Rachel: Since we don’t have anything for a fire and it’s almost bedtime anyway, how about we just have some hot chocolate and cookies and play a game of Uno before bed.
Me: We’re going to give the kids a cup of hot water with chocolate right before bed?
(Yes, that is what we call foreshadowing.)

So we played a game, got the kids in pajamas, teeth brushed, went potty, and off to bed.
Cue Micah, 1am.
Peed through his pajamas, through the sleeping bag, and onto the tent trailer cushion.
After getting him all set, I got in back into the sleeping bag, and couldn’t help but laugh out loud a little.

In his narrative theology book, Death By Living, as he’s talking about the importance of living stories, ND Wilson recounts an experience flying to London only to get off the plane and having his 2 sons throwing up all the way up the jetway, him holding one in his arms, dragging the other, and laughing the whole way.  Couldn’t help but think about that. (Good book, worth the read, by the way.)
He finishes the story with these thoughts:

“Lesson 1: When one begins to make claims about life and its storyness, one should be careful. Stories tend to follow, and stories involve unpleasantness. God calls bluffs, and makes narrative hypocrites of us all.
Lesson 2: When faced with unpleasantness (trouble) there are only two ultimate responses (with many variations). On the one hand, “The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” On the other, “Curse God and die.” Variations on the latter can include whining, moping, self-pity, apathy, or rage. Variations of the former can include laughter, song, retellings, and an energetic attack of obstacles.

If God gives you (or makes you) a joke, what are you meant to do in response? (Receive it. Laugh.)
If God gives you an obstacle, what are you meant to do in response? (Receive it. Climb it. Then laugh.)
If God gives you more profound hardship, what are you meant to do in response? (Receive it. Climb it. Then laugh. Exhibit A: His Son.)”

We ended up spending the next day driving into the nearest town to do laundry, grab lunch, and buy firewood.
It was a crazy day, but was a great time away as a family.
And we made some great memories on the trip there.
Well, memories anyway.
But the time there was great.
And the campsite was gorgeous…

 

The year is almost over and it’s been a good one!
I (Bobby) started the year with my second semester teaching music at Ceiba Middle School, continuing to lead and plant Missio Dei Community, and working with CYT Santa Cruz on the side, directing the musical Bye Bye Birdie.  Rachel finished off her first successful year working part time as an Education Specialist with Ocean Grove Charter School.  Of course, it wouldn’t be a Marchessault family year without some form of job change, so don’t expect this story to end that way!

Caleb got involved with karate at the Boys & Girls Club, not to mention some swimming as well, and  Micah had a good time for his first year going to pre-school a few times a week.

As most of you know, 3 years ago we set out on a venture to start a new church community in Santa Cruz, Missio Dei Community.  That continues to be a great faith family for us who we’ve had a blast with this year.  Of course, starting something new like that isn’t without it’s ups and downs and adjusting expectations.  The spring and summer became a time for Rachel and I to wrestle with God a little and ask what this church was supposed to look like and what he wanted us doing.  It was a difficult time, but we came away from it all very clear about and excited about doing ministry in the community of Santa Cruz, a place and a people we have fallen in love with.

Our summer was spent taking a lot of time in Southern California (& a short stint in Portland) meeting with ministry partners and raising support.  While we set to that, Micah and Caleb got to spend a bunch of time staying with Grandma & Grandpa in Big Bear.  Rachel and I had the privilege of getting to see so many great people and catching up with so much friends and family, and under no uncertain terms did we get to go to Disneyland without our kids. (What they don’t know won’t hurt them.)

Caleb finally lost his first tooth somewhere along the way and is now tearing it up in first grade.  His loves to read and we’ve been super proud of how well he’s been doing it.  Both the boys played soccer and I got the chance to coach Micah’s soccer team.  Yeah, get your laughs in now.  You probably know how much of a soccer fan I am, which just shows how much I love my kids.  We also had such a great experience with Marina last year that we opened our home for a month in the fall to Martin, a college student from Denmark.

We became aunt & uncle again recently when Rachel’s brother, Joel, had his 2nd son.  Yup.  That makes the count between our 2 families…boys: 7, girls: 0.  Rachel is now working full time with Ocean Grove and I’m no longer at Ceiba, instead working part time focusing more fully on building Missio Dei Community and spending some more time with the boys.   We’re closing out the year with myself in a musical up here, and all of us looking forward to a nice Christmas as a family in our own home.

It’s been a year of change, but not quite as drastic as some past years.  As we look back, we are so thankful for all the people God has put in our lives.  This summer was a great time of being reminded of all the significant people we’ve been blessed with.  Thank you for being a part of our family and we hope everyone reading this has a blessed holiday season with friends and family.
2014, here we come!!

Merry Christmas y’all!

Bobby, Rachel, Caleb, & Micah

I was never a huge fan of the rodent, but I found myself pretty bummed about it.
Worse though was  seeing Caleb take it hard.
Of our 2 boys, he’s definitely the more emotional one.
And tonight he laid in bed for a while bawling because he was sad about Ham.
Didn’t help that he saw Ham not lookin so good at the end.
Poor kid.

I might actually miss waking up to squeaking in the middle of the night.
Well, maybe not, but we’ll miss ya Ham!

Believe it or not, I just saw Nacho Libre for the first time las week.
But I digress…

I was 22 when I was baptised at Knott Avenue Christian Church.
I had been baptised as an infant in a Catholic church.
So when I got a card saying congrats, my mom informed me it was a waste of time cause I was already covered.  But hey, double dipping never really hurt anyone, right?

Actually, as I read scripture, I came to understand baptism as something significant to do by my own choice.
I had been a follower of Jesus for a little while, then. I was in a season where I was learning what it meant to really let God be in charge of my life.  I saw that baptism was something that Jesus instructed people to do and even modeled himself before he started his ministry.  Baptism is a powerful picture of identifying with Christ’s death and resurrection.  And while many see it as a cool symbol, I also can’t help personally but believe that there is more to it as well.  I think there is a mystical nature to the practice where Christ is present and uses it to reinforce and bring about transformation in our hearts and lives.
All that to say, I think baptism, while it doesn’t “save” you, is a pretty significant event.
Hey, technically I guess based on our church affiliation now I’m a Baptist, so might as well go with it.

So when my sister told me she had decided she was going to get baptised, there’s no way I wasn’t gonna drive down to San Diego to be there for it.
She’s been a Christ follower for a long time now.  So while it might not signify some huge decision or life-changing event, I think it’s significant. It definitely communicates something about God’s continual work in her life.
Rachel had to work so the boys and I packed up the car and headed south to Chula Vista.
We surprised my sister and possibly added some more stress to her life considering my aunt and uncle were staying at the house, too.

Saturday evening at the beach was the baptism.
Here’s a few shots of her getting dunked.

 

 

 

I had a great time BBQing with her church out on the beach.
And it was awesome to see multiple people baptised out in the (chilly) ocean that evening.
Such a fun, powerful, and creative way to celebrate how God is working in people’s lives.

Caleb having asked about baptism in the past, I was hoping for some good conversation with the boys about it, too.
On the way home I asked Caleb if he saw the baptisms.
“They were boring. They just put people under water.”
Oh well. Maybe later.
Proud of my family and how my sister and her family are so committed to following Jesus in their lives.
It was well worth the 8 hour drives there and back.

“Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with…”
Mark 10:39

“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
Romans 6:4

I think Rachel is making him a Blogger account as I type this.

Dear Caleb,

I’m writing this to you the day after Thanksgiving.
You probably won’t remember a lot about last night.  I’ll probably forget details over the years, so here’s something for you to read years from now to hear the story, and something to help friends and family share in your journey today.

Last night, we read the story about John baptizing Jesus, which led to you asking lots of questions about baptism; what it means, why we do it, whether or not we have to do it.  And of course that you aren’t sure you want to do it, probably cause of your aversion to ever getting any water on your face.  As a dad it is so awesome to hear you ask questions and have these discussions.
Of course that led to talking about the step before baptism, which is choosing on our own to trust and follow Jesus.

Baptism and Lordship is hard enough to explain to an adult.
I’ve always been unsure how to approach my kid choosing to follow Jesus, baptism, all that stuff.  I want to be sure you can really understand it before you make those decisions.
So we talked about what it means to trust Jesus.  I asked if it was something you might want to do someday.
“Um, I could probably do that tonight, or tomorrow, or next week…pray to God.  That doesn’t sound too hard.”
So, I asked if it was something you wanted to try doing tonight.
“Well, it is past our bedtime, so maybe I should do it tomorrow.  Be sure to remind me, OK dad?”
I said that was a good idea.  Take time to think about it more and we could talk more tomorrow.
After I prayed for you and Micah before bed, you said you wanted to pray tonight.
So I invited mom to come upstairs.
We asked you what it was that you understood.  You went on to tell us that you believe in God, that Jesus is God, and that he died to take away your sins.  And that you want to trust him and follow him.

From there I asked if you wanted me to pray and you could repeat after me.
That got a sideways thumb slightly turned down. Translation: kinda OK, but kinda not.
So I asked if you wanted to pray yourself and I could help you if you got stuck or wanted.
Your thumb went slightly upward.
So you laid your head on your pillow and clasped your hands together.
Mom and I were both sitting in silence, waiting for you to start talking.
Then I look down at you with your eyes closed, quite intent, and your lips slightly moving, and I realized you were talking to God all on your own.
Then you looked up cause you were done.
I asked if you prayed to God on your own.
You pointed to your head with a big smile and said, “Yup! In here!”

It’s interesting for mom and I to process faith and all.
Truth be told, we’re not so sure there’s a whole lot different than yesterday at this time.  Really, you already have been understanding who Jesus is and believing in him.  You probably aren’t any more “spiritual” than you were before.
But there’s a significance in voicing that understanding and making a decision…even at 6 years old.

You have a long spiritual journey ahead of you.
Right now, you haven’t had much to challenge your faith.  Those times will come.  You will doubt what you’ve learned.  And that’s OK.  You will go through difficult seasons.  You will have to confront and wrestle with real issues and questions of faith.
Your faith will be strengthened at times.  You will continue to see God do things that you know can only be him.  You will see his faithfulness to your family and to you.
The good stuff, the bad stuff, these are all things that will really make your faith your own over time.  And as much as I want control over what that will look like, only God can fully participate in that journey with you.
But wherever your path takes you over the next 60 years, we’re grateful that you can always look back to Thanksgiving, 2012, as perhaps the first significant milestone in figuring out who God is, and how you become the bold leader that I believe He has called you to one day become.
While I’m not sure it greatly changes your relationship to Jesus since yesterday, it is significant in beginning to walk with Christ.
Thanks for sharing that with dad.
It’s something I’ve looked forward to since before you were born.
And I can’t wait to be a part of helping you process faith for many years to come.

-dad