Busy as a Bee

Not much exciting to write except that everything is in the details when it comes to adopting. I've been plugging away and have everything either accomplished or scheduled including getting Tyler's room ready to share, fingerprinting appt, CPR/First Aid Training, TB tests, health and fire inspections, and there's got to be more that I'm just not remembering at 11:45 tonight...whew! I'm trying to have all 'our' part done before Allison's big day. Then the ball will be in Pathways and CPS's court and we will just wait. Many are asking how soon we might have a child. It will depend on what God has in store for us. Some get placed quickly and others may take a while. We have several criteria which will narrow down our placement considerably. We're asking for a boy between 2 or 3 and 5 years. (I say we start at 2, John says 3 b/c he is avoiding diapers entering into our house again like the plague!) So, since we're only able to take one child and we're specific on the sex, age, and we will also only take a child who is thought to be of 'legal risk'. This means they will most likely or have already have had their parents terminate their rights. We will attend our LAST training class with the agency on Monday. I'm getting so hopeful! Here's a poem I found and also a picture of Tyler's room that is ready to receive our new son. A side note is that Liz Tuttle loaned me the cowboy bedding about a year ago when Tyler latched on the cowboys as his latest 'craze'. When she gave it to me I noticed there were two complete sets of bedding. I didn't think anything of it and stored the other set in the attic. That is until NOW when I realized there was a divine purpose for it afterall. Again, everything is in the details!

The Gift of Life
I didn't give you the gift of life,
But in my heart I know.
The love I feel is deep and real,
As if it had been so.

For us to have each other
Is like a dream come true!
No, I didn't give you
The gift of life,
Life gave me the gift of you.

A Place of Refuge

One of my favorite worship songs (of the 90's--yes, one of those keyboard praise songs) was Strong Tower. Some of the lyrics were, "The name of the Lord is, a Strong Tower. The righteous run into it and they are saved." I picture a big tall lighthouse sort of structure or shelter (images of the Dharma stations off of LOST are coming to mind--ha!) I imagine running and rushing into the shelter (much like they did on the show) and being safe and secure and in a place where healing can begin (or where Dr. Jack can fix me up!).

In our foster/adopt class last Monday we discussed all the trauma, heartbreak and hurts that the foster kids will have experienced when we welcome them into our homes. The presenter asked, "What is the most important thing you can do when these children enter your homes?" Many people answered, "Talk to them." She said, "What if they don't want to talk?". Others said, "Give them a hug." She said, "What if they push you away because touch triggers memories of abuse?." Others gave different answers and she came back to us explaining that the biggest need we can meet in their lives is simply to provide them a safe place. That's it....a safe place. Food. Shelter. Clothing. A bed. A routine. I'm reminded of the scene in The Blind Side when the mom gives Big Mike a bedroom of his very own. He runs his hand over the futon in his new room and says, "This is mine? Mom: Yes, sir. Michael: I never had one before. Mom: What—a room to yourself? Michael: A bed.

Many of these children haven't even slept in a bed on a regular basis. We were told a story of one family whose foster children cried and fussed every night when being put in their brand new cutsie Lightning McQueen beds. The parents couldn't understand until they found the children sneaking into their room and sleeping on the hardwood floors at the foot of their bed instead. They had never slept in a bed and they yearned to be in the safety of their new parents presence.

When I am asked, "What is your passion?", this passage from Isaiah always comes to mind (and now we're memorizing it in the Beth Moore Breaking Free study I'm doing this summer).

"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor." Isaiah 61:1-3

At the class we also did several exercizes where we had to share some of the traumas and hurts that we had personally experienced in childhood and beyond. It reminded me that even though most of us haven't personally been abandoned or abused (or maybe some of us have), God yearns to bind up our wounds and provide a safe place for us to heal as well.

God sent His Son to bind those tender wounds. Sometimes we try everything to heal ourselves except surrendering and asking for His help. Yet God yearns for us to run to His Strong Tower, into the place of safety of His Presence and allow Him to put the pieces of our hearts back together again.

God has done this numerous times in my life and now I am honored to help others in their process of healing whether it be in peer relationships or with my own children (and child to come).

"The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble." Psalm 9:9

The Sixth Chair

I'm really excited to get this blog started and most of all, I have had this story burning within me for over a year now and I'm bursting at the seams to share it. Now is the time!

For nearly four years our family of five has sat at our round breakfast table with six chairs, one usually being empty. I look at that sixth chair with hope and anticipation for who God would have to fill it. At first I was convinced it would be a fourth biological child. After a failed pregnancy attempt, I wasn't quite sure what God's plans were. About six months later our dear friend Allison lost her mother. She and her mom had already been a part of our family but after Patt's death, we offered for Allison to live with us. When explaining this to a friend in an email, my friend reminded me of the sixth chair at our table. She said, "You see, God did have a plan for that sixth chair!". Allison has been a joy and delight to our family. I had also always desired to pass on the blessing that many other families had shared with me when I found myself lonely and without a family before I married John. God fulfilled this desire in me by allowing us to return this blessing to Allison.

"God sets the lonely in families." Psalm 68:6

Now our dear Allison is about to begin a new family of her own through marriage to an incredible man with a Godly family. (Although she and Trevor had BETTER plan on spending at least one major holiday with us each year) God has opened up the sixth chair at our table once more.

About sixth months ago God began to stir in John and my hearts an awareness of the need in the church to be more deliberate in caring for widows and orphans. "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

For the next 3 weeks I was an emotional wreck. God spoke into my heart and assured me that our sixth chair did have a divine purpose and that I didn't misunderstand God's desire to give us another child to fill that chair. What I was reminded of was that "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts....This is for the Lord's renown" Isaiah 55:8-9 (&13). We believe that God does have a child for us that simply was not born of my womb. We have the divine opportunity to bring rescue, hope, and blessing to a life that might otherwise be filled with loss and hardship. We are now in the process of being trained and certified to adopt through the foster care system. We are in a state of complete trust for God to bring this child into our home in His timing. Would you join with us in prayer as we wait?

Psalm 128:1-6 ESV
Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life!

Our Family including Trevor and Allison