Hi.

Been wondering what we've been doing the last couple of months? No? Well I feel like telling anyway.

I am gearing up to write our 19th Annual Christmas Letter. Woo Hoo! Big deal? It is to us. We have a notebook filled with all the past Fitzpatrick Christmas Letters. And every year, we like to read them aloud and remember GREAT things that God has done. It is always so neat to go back and read what was forefront in our minds--Newsletter-worthy--for the last 18 years of Fitzpatrick Christmas Letters.

Bob always says that Christmas letters are for gals. He likes them short and direct. So I am so thankful that God has narrowed my focus down to ONE WORD for this year's letter. Bob will be so proud. You will have to wait for your Christmas Letter to see what it is.
For a decade, I have repeated this statement to whoever would listen: "We are the Fitzpatricks. And we stick together, no matter what." I have alway prayed that my kids will be best friends and they would always stand by one another, through thick and thin.

I feel like the Lord has given us a new family mission: "We are the Fitzpatricks. We are about loving orphans. Just like Our Father."

It started in May when our new friends the Bolt Family invited us to join them in the journey of a lifetime--to China. All seven of us. To love little kids without a family. In a country where adoption is not culturally received. And there are more than 20 million (UNICEF stats) children living in institutions. Not families.

Unwanted.

Unloved.

The least.

The last.

The lost.

My heart nearly feels crushed just typing those staggering words.

God broke my heart this year. He is still putting it back together. I have no idea what He is doing or where He is leading the Fitzpatrick Family. But I feel certain it is towards little ones without a family. Our prayer on Orphan Sunday (only we prayed on Monday instead cause we are individualists!), surrounded by others from our church and community who have hearts for orphans, was this:

Lord, we don't know what you are doing or what you will ask. But we want to say "yes" to whatever it is. You are so good and trustworthy. We are still a little fearful and a little confused about it all...but we don't want to be. Since we are walking by faith and not by sight, please strengthen our faith. We want to obey. No matter what. We know you love little children. Please let us love them as You do. Amen.

2010 found us in places we never imagined. China. Mexico. Broken. Awed. Overwhelmed. Overjoyed. Humbled. United. Serving our Savior--ALL together. The 4 year old and the 40 year old. And all of us in between. United with one vision, with one heart. His heart (James 1:27). It has been the most amazing thing our family has ever experienced. Unity. Serving together. Weeping together. Praying together. Laughing together. Working together.

We don't want it to stop there. We have asked Him to make us about His business. Not our own. We don't want a Fitzpatrick Family mission--we want His. None of us are exactly sure what that will look like yet, but we know it will be good. Because He is.

It has been almost 5 months since we returned from China. I am still processing, pondering our time there. I have not even developed our photos yet. Or finished up my journal with some tidy, poignant memoir of all He showed me. Mostly because I am still seeking His will, His direction, from here. I am still broken by what I saw in those faces, of the children we loved this summer. I am still awed at the joy in their shining faces. I can't figure it all out. I don't know what to do or how to start or if it is even possible to DO ANYTHING for such a plight--143 million children who need help. But I am not giving up, or standing by, or doing nothing ANYMORE.

He is speaking to my heart. To our hearts, here in the Fitzpatrick Home.

We are listening.
We are waiting.

2010 has been an amazing journey. And we are just getting started. Thanks for traveling with us this far. We can't wait to see where He leads us.