One year ago today...

It was February 3, 2015, and I had just returned from a week out of town. Chris, the nice and neutral Tennessee man, whom I had bonded with about life in South Africa and come to respect on a deep level, wanted “to talk”.

No, it did not play out like the romantic movie scene currently playing in your mind. And the only soundtrack was a 7-year old wild child, bouncing around in his underwear.

The only jitters or feelings came in the form of Chris feeling sick to his stomach as we sat on opposite couches, and he methodically reported everything he had come to say.

He said I was scary.

I was scary because I had all the qualities God had told him to choose in a wife, and I came with…. bonuses. You know, second grade, superhero-like bonuses, that he had never envisioned for his own life.

BONUS! Just in time for the awkward years!

That night, during what I like to call “The Business Meeting”, Chris Ladd told me everything God had spoken for his life, and I told him what God had spoken for mine. We laid it all out, matter-of-factly, on the proverbial truth table and decided we could do all of those things together. And it would be better together.

I looked at that Tennessee man sitting on the big couch, and I said, “I choose you.”

“If we’re going to do this, I’m going to choose you every single day. No deal breakers.”

And there it was. It all came down to a choice, followed by a few moments of mutual panic, an awkward side-hug, and a promise that, if I put anything on Facebook that night, he would definitely throw up on the way home.

One year ago tonight, I crawled into my bed and thought, “Oh crap. I love Chris Ladd.” Not because I liked him or felt whooshy when I was around him… because I didn’t yet.

Because I chose him. I chose to choose him every day.

And that is love - choosing every day.

Eight months after that business meeting, we had another meeting under a big tree, in front of our family and friends.

Today, we live together in South Africa, the epicenter of the world’s “Orphan Crisis.” We wake up every morning not knowing what South Africa has in store for us, yet already knowing  how we will choose to respond.

We will not cry about an orphan crisis. We will celebrate the Family of God.

My handsome husband captured this moment.
You can see his awesome photos on instagram: chrisleeladd

We will choose to speak and see things as they truly are. 
We just traveled for 3 days straight to get back to this home-spot on the map, yet we know the epicenter of the orphan crisis is not found on a map. It’s found in a heart. The real orphans are the ones who don’t know they have a Father, and the true crisis is an unclaimed inheritance, just waiting for the chosen to come and collect it.

Some of the kids here are orphans. 
And some don’t have parents.

It’s the same all over the world.

Some days we sit on tires under the tree and make sure the ones around us know about the Father that chose them with no deal-breakers and with all their bonuses.

We have all been chosen.

Some day, we will sit across from our Beloved, and He’ll lay it all out on the Truth table. He’ll remember the times you choices you made,  the times you looked someone square in the eye to tell them there was no deal breakers on love. He’ll call you by your name, and He’ll celebrate how you woke up each morning and decided to spend your eternal inheritance wildly, knowing there is enough for everyone.

On that day, your Beloved will say, “Well done, my good and faithful chosen one. Come in and share my happiness.” And a whole lot more people will be in there with you.

We are chosen. And then we choose each other.

It’s better together.