Friday, March 29, 2013

Our Journey into Foster Care

A few nights ago we sat in our PATH classes and listened to the horrors of children in foster care.  How and why they end up in custody. Never, never is it their fault, although they think it is.  Survival behaviors....that is how they function when they come into foster care. They are fighting to survive even as young as 4 or 5 years old. Once again my eyes are being opened in a new way as to how broken world is. How did this happen...why did this happen to children in our own country? It's days like this that I long for Jesus to come back....to make all things new. So the children and babies in our own country and countries all around the world will know the love of their heavenly Father. The day when there will be no more abuse of any kind, no more nights with no food, no more nights not knowing where they will sleep, no more fear, no more days living without a mommy or a daddy, no more days of despair, and no more survival behaviors because they will know LOVE, finally when Jesus comes back.

Until that day we are left here....to do His work for the fatherless. Steve and I both KNOW even though we might want to run the other direction because this is sad...this is scary and this journey is full of unknowns, we have been called down this road. As we sit learning how "treat" the sexually abused child we both wonder how can we take care of these broken children?  Maybe this really isn't what God would have us do, but we know that isn't truth because we know the truth... "So it is a sin for the person who knows to do what is good and doesn't do it" James 4:17.  Once again God has opened our eyes to something ugly...something we don't want to see...something we don't want to have invade our thoughts all day, every day. But it's too late....now we know and now we must act because if we don't who will?

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

My Plans

Almost 3 years ago God began opening my eyes to the orphan crisis.  I "wore the t-shirt" never thinking I would actually "step into" the world of adoption...orphan care...foster care etc.  I was happy to wear the t-shirt in hopes of raising awareness.  I had no idea what God had in mind....I had no idea that my life would soon be changed forever.

If you have read my previous posts you would know how our involvement of inner-city ministry would lead to adoption for our family. God then used adoption to open my eyes to the vast global orphan crisis.  Every day I learn more of what God expects of all of us in caring for the fatherless. And every day I learn more and more about what my Father expects of me and how I fall short especially when I get so busy focusing on MY PLAN instead of stopping to listen to what He is telling me. Maybe because it has been my experience when I really listen it's scary and hard, it's never easy.  It means I have to give something up...like my time...my money...my vacation...my life...whatever it is I think is mine. When in reality nothing is mine.
Before our adoption of Joshua was final I felt God pressing on us to adopt again. In my mind I didn't want Joshua to grow up alone....his siblings are older 23, 21, 19, and 16. So the feeling to adopt again fit perfectly into the plan I thought God had for our family.  So I began to go forward with MY plan as soon as Joshua's adoption was final.  I went from international adoption to then feeling like we were supposed to adopt domestically. I contacted our social worker and began the process of another homestudy...I also looked into foster care classes...maybe we could adopt from foster care? So I signed us up for our PATH classes (foster care classes). We were well on our way with MY PLAN...or so I thought.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Camp: A Movie Review

 I had the opportunity to preview the movie coming out this spring "Camp".  It is a movie about giving hope and healing to foster children in the United States by sending them to camp for 1 week every summer. This movie is based on true events from Royal Family Kids Camp. Royal Family Kids is a 501(c)(3) non-profit which is the nations leading network of camps for abused, neglected and abandoned children. They encourage churches to sponsor camps for children in need in their own communities.