There's just so much to be thankful for!! I'm now, officially, a stay-at-home mom. Hooray! I'm still not used to the idea. It's amazing how weird it feels, after that's all I've wanted for forever. So, first of all, I'm thankful for early retirement :)
Most of all... I'm so incredibly thankful and blessed to have my Tinkerbell. She is my friend, my fellow housekeeper/babysitter, incredible big sister, and amazing daughter. How blessed are we to have her? My cup overflows. She's watching all four kids right now (and did I mention she's incredibly brave?).
For Jonathan and Juli... for having open hearts for new brothers and sisters.
And, finally, for our two new little ones. They've been with us a week today, and it's been pretty wild. Suffice it to say that they've had it rough for quite a while, but we are making progress. The oldest is 2 1/2. She is completely Miss Independent, so for here we'll call her Indie. She has really bonded with all the ladies of the family. Still working on JP and poor little outnumbered Jonathan. The little one is a very complex little creature. Sassy she is, so Sassy we'll call her. She can be vulnerable, sweet and funny, or just downright mad. I fear her fiery orange hair may indicate an infamous Irish temper. Yikes!
And so, God has fulfilled his promise, and ultimate thanks be to him!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Summer guests
Hello Bloggy Land!!
Well, it looks like we will temporarily be a family of 7, at least for the summer. Last week, we were called about a placement of two little girls, ages 1 and 2. We knew absolutely nothing about these little ones, except that they might need a home. So, today we found out that we will be providing that home, but only for 6 to 8 weeks. We will enjoy this while it lasts!
Thank you for your prayers, and I'll update soon!
Well, it looks like we will temporarily be a family of 7, at least for the summer. Last week, we were called about a placement of two little girls, ages 1 and 2. We knew absolutely nothing about these little ones, except that they might need a home. So, today we found out that we will be providing that home, but only for 6 to 8 weeks. We will enjoy this while it lasts!
Thank you for your prayers, and I'll update soon!
Friday, May 15, 2009
God, you are hilarious!
So, if you've been reading my blog, you know how hard I've struggled with the idea of taking another foster care placement. I've spent several weeks trying to find direction. This morning, I decided to read through my blog entries. I thought it would be enlightening to experience this journey we've been on all over again. And it was! I remembered that we've been called to do this, and that this is a ministry for us. I began to get excited at the prospect again...
... just in time for me to get an Email. We were offered another placement!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited!!! More to come soon!
... just in time for me to get an Email. We were offered another placement!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited!!! More to come soon!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Thankful Thursday!!
I lot of my "bloggy friends" do Thankful Thursday, so count me in! Hey, at least there is a good chance that I'll blog once a week. See? I'm thankful for Thankful Thursday because that means I remember to blog once a week. WOOOOHOOO!!
I'm thankful for a kind, loving, constant Father who cares about my smallest problem. I am so thankful that he loves me and sent his son to die for me. I am so incredibly glad that He has watched over me all the years that I didn't even care about Him. And speaking of which, I'm incredibly glad for his grace and mercy.
And, today, I am thankful for my two beautiful biological children that God has given me, and the beautiful foster daughter that He sent me.
I'm thankful for a kind, loving, constant Father who cares about my smallest problem. I am so thankful that he loves me and sent his son to die for me. I am so incredibly glad that He has watched over me all the years that I didn't even care about Him. And speaking of which, I'm incredibly glad for his grace and mercy.
And, today, I am thankful for my two beautiful biological children that God has given me, and the beautiful foster daughter that He sent me.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Foster Care, International Adoption, Lurkers... and most importantly GOD!!
This year has been such a roller coaster for us. It's been about a year since we got the call to foster 3 children. It was totally out of the blue; we hadn't even finished our paperwork! We went from expecting small children to wanting a teenager. We finally, finally got a permanent placement, only to have our little "laundry room barbeque" and be displaced for several weeks. Luckily, we still got our girl. And now, here I am, almost a year later, and I'm sure of one thing. God's been in it all.
Here's the thing, though... I think God's been at it a while. I remember knowing a girl who was adopted from Korea growing up, and I thought that it was the *coolest* thing ever! She was so beautiful, and I saw how wonderful it was for her. Of course, it never occurred to me that I could adopt a child from another country. I watched my aunt as she went through a few foster children. I thought, "Now THIS ... I can do." My parents had two foster placements. One left after 24 hours, and the other was removed from our home because he had become too violent. So, I thought... "eeeh.... I don't know about this after all." And then I filed it all away.
Fast forward a few years. I went to a conservative Christian college with a very high international population. We were required to attend 25 chapel services per semester. I was running behind (ha... imagine that) for the semester, so I attended the International Fair for chapel credit. I think that God put me there for a reason, guys. This guy handed me a flyer as I was walking by the booth. It was about the plight of little girls in China, and about an adoption program that paired waiting families with waiting little girls. I was heartbroken, and I felt in my heart that I would adopt one day. I always assumed that it would be from China, but I couldn't have known what God would have in store for me.
The next year, I had a final break with the man I thought I was going to marry. One of our biggest disagreements was that he didn't want children at all. He thought we could "work something out"... maybe have one or even stretch it to two. BUT... I had a secret. I never told anyone. I wanted a big family. I mean, a *big* family. My dad was one of nine, and I secretly wanted to be a part of a family like that. I was an only child, so I wasn't going to have 8 siblings... but I could be the mom of many... right? But, my family put so much pressure on me to succeed in life-- get a good job and do them proud, you know? I just couldn't tell them them the wish that lurked somewhere deep in there, because they would never understand. There even came a point where I refused to hold new babies, and stopped interacting with children at all. I was so desperately afraid that I would never have a baby of my own to hold.
Then God led me to JP. That's another story all in itself, but I convinced him that we wanted kids really early on. I just knew we weren't going to be able to have any children. God surprised me with Jonathan. It took us a year to conceive him, and I see the hand of God in the timing, since I graduated college just a couple of weeks before giving birth. Less than a year later, I got pregnant with Juli. We expected it to take a year or more, but this time I think I got pregnant right away. This one, however, was not a smooth pregancy. Three months in, I had to have an ovary and a tube removed. We were just so glad that she survived it all! The doctor's assured me that I would not have trouble having another baby whenever I wished to. Ha.
It took a couple of years before the longing for another child started to grow within me. It was more difficult, though, because JP and I were having some pretty consistent marital problems. My "feeling" I had as a young adult that I would be infertile came to pass. Not a feeling at all, I think, but a warning. God blessed us so much with these two biological children, but I wanted more! I had so many people tell me that I should feel lucky to have these two, particularly because they were the "perfect set"-- boy and girl. I just couldn't help wanting another.
It was around this time that I began to believe and trust in God in a *real* way. God healed my marraige. Looking back a couple of years, I don't even recognize the people that we were. My husband is one of my greatest gifts, and I'm so grateful for God's work in our life! Still, the desire for children remained. One day I happened to tune in to Adoption Stories on Discovery Health. I really began to love that show! And one day, I saw a story about a young couple who adopted a little boy from India. He looked just like Jonathan... and I saw all of those babies in their cramped little cribs in the tiny little room they called an orphanage... and my heart just broke. I remembered the flier that someone had given me so many years before, and God placed in my heart a deep love for orphans.
At first I thought we'd eventually adopt internationally -- like, WAY in the future. But then I found that I had to do something now. Our journey through the foster care system is detailed in various posts over the last year, and now I am the mother of three -- at least, temporarily.
I still have the desire for MORE!! I feel like God has placed this desire in my heart, I just don't know how he plans to meet this need of mine. I have been introduced lately to a promise:
Psalms 113:9
HE settles the barren woman in her home as the happy mother of children.
I know he will fulfill his promises. Now, we're just wondering.. How?
Here's the thing, though... I think God's been at it a while. I remember knowing a girl who was adopted from Korea growing up, and I thought that it was the *coolest* thing ever! She was so beautiful, and I saw how wonderful it was for her. Of course, it never occurred to me that I could adopt a child from another country. I watched my aunt as she went through a few foster children. I thought, "Now THIS ... I can do." My parents had two foster placements. One left after 24 hours, and the other was removed from our home because he had become too violent. So, I thought... "eeeh.... I don't know about this after all." And then I filed it all away.
Fast forward a few years. I went to a conservative Christian college with a very high international population. We were required to attend 25 chapel services per semester. I was running behind (ha... imagine that) for the semester, so I attended the International Fair for chapel credit. I think that God put me there for a reason, guys. This guy handed me a flyer as I was walking by the booth. It was about the plight of little girls in China, and about an adoption program that paired waiting families with waiting little girls. I was heartbroken, and I felt in my heart that I would adopt one day. I always assumed that it would be from China, but I couldn't have known what God would have in store for me.
The next year, I had a final break with the man I thought I was going to marry. One of our biggest disagreements was that he didn't want children at all. He thought we could "work something out"... maybe have one or even stretch it to two. BUT... I had a secret. I never told anyone. I wanted a big family. I mean, a *big* family. My dad was one of nine, and I secretly wanted to be a part of a family like that. I was an only child, so I wasn't going to have 8 siblings... but I could be the mom of many... right? But, my family put so much pressure on me to succeed in life-- get a good job and do them proud, you know? I just couldn't tell them them the wish that lurked somewhere deep in there, because they would never understand. There even came a point where I refused to hold new babies, and stopped interacting with children at all. I was so desperately afraid that I would never have a baby of my own to hold.
Then God led me to JP. That's another story all in itself, but I convinced him that we wanted kids really early on. I just knew we weren't going to be able to have any children. God surprised me with Jonathan. It took us a year to conceive him, and I see the hand of God in the timing, since I graduated college just a couple of weeks before giving birth. Less than a year later, I got pregnant with Juli. We expected it to take a year or more, but this time I think I got pregnant right away. This one, however, was not a smooth pregancy. Three months in, I had to have an ovary and a tube removed. We were just so glad that she survived it all! The doctor's assured me that I would not have trouble having another baby whenever I wished to. Ha.
It took a couple of years before the longing for another child started to grow within me. It was more difficult, though, because JP and I were having some pretty consistent marital problems. My "feeling" I had as a young adult that I would be infertile came to pass. Not a feeling at all, I think, but a warning. God blessed us so much with these two biological children, but I wanted more! I had so many people tell me that I should feel lucky to have these two, particularly because they were the "perfect set"-- boy and girl. I just couldn't help wanting another.
It was around this time that I began to believe and trust in God in a *real* way. God healed my marraige. Looking back a couple of years, I don't even recognize the people that we were. My husband is one of my greatest gifts, and I'm so grateful for God's work in our life! Still, the desire for children remained. One day I happened to tune in to Adoption Stories on Discovery Health. I really began to love that show! And one day, I saw a story about a young couple who adopted a little boy from India. He looked just like Jonathan... and I saw all of those babies in their cramped little cribs in the tiny little room they called an orphanage... and my heart just broke. I remembered the flier that someone had given me so many years before, and God placed in my heart a deep love for orphans.
At first I thought we'd eventually adopt internationally -- like, WAY in the future. But then I found that I had to do something now. Our journey through the foster care system is detailed in various posts over the last year, and now I am the mother of three -- at least, temporarily.
I still have the desire for MORE!! I feel like God has placed this desire in my heart, I just don't know how he plans to meet this need of mine. I have been introduced lately to a promise:
Psalms 113:9
HE settles the barren woman in her home as the happy mother of children.
I know he will fulfill his promises. Now, we're just wondering.. How?
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
For the people who say, "Why don't you adopt from America?"
People don't want to adopt from kids in the foster system because it is WAY TOO HARD!! I've had some really frustrating days with the system in the last year, but this week it's been ... overload. Take for example, Tinkerbell's social worker put her through the wringer yesterday, only to end up exactly where we started. He is rude and mean to her, and he's extremely vague with us. He drives me nuts!!!
Then, we ran into some people that were in PATH class with us. They had a placement for 20 months. They were certain that these kids' parents were going to have their rights terminated. And at the last second, Dad gets custody and they had about 2 hours to have the kids ready to go. Infuriating.
The reason that any sane person doesn't want to adopt from the foster care system is because at any second you could loose a child to someone who you *know* will abuse them. You will never get any thanks from the workers. You will be made to enforce rules that you don't believe in. You will watch workers treat the kids like crap, and then you will be yelled at for the slightest technical infraction.
But, it's probably still worth it. After all, the kids shouldn't pay for the faults of the system, and yet that's what happens every single day. I know that we wouldn't trade Tinkerbell for anything.
So, do we pray for another placement? Do we *want* another placement?
Then, we ran into some people that were in PATH class with us. They had a placement for 20 months. They were certain that these kids' parents were going to have their rights terminated. And at the last second, Dad gets custody and they had about 2 hours to have the kids ready to go. Infuriating.
The reason that any sane person doesn't want to adopt from the foster care system is because at any second you could loose a child to someone who you *know* will abuse them. You will never get any thanks from the workers. You will be made to enforce rules that you don't believe in. You will watch workers treat the kids like crap, and then you will be yelled at for the slightest technical infraction.
But, it's probably still worth it. After all, the kids shouldn't pay for the faults of the system, and yet that's what happens every single day. I know that we wouldn't trade Tinkerbell for anything.
So, do we pray for another placement? Do we *want* another placement?
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