Adopted by God

This weekend we participated in our Foster Pride training.  This is the training program for families that are interested in getting licensed for foster care or adoption.  We had a terrific group of families in our sessions...I think there were 40 to 50 people in attendance, so it was a pretty big group.  The agency had to change the location of the meeting in order to accomodate all the interested parties....this was extremely encouraging for me to see that so many people were interested in taking this challenge to love, care for, and nurture children.  So many of the couples/individuals in our group also indicated their faith as significantly important to their lives and to their decision to become foster or adoptive parents.

Here are a few things God has brought together in my mind over the weekend.  I have been reading Francine Rivers' book, Sons of Encouragement, and I think it is taking me over a year to finish it although I have loved it.  God has led me to read other books or parts of books through that time period as well.  As God would have it, I just picked the book back up and read the section of the book describing the life of Amos...leading into Hosea's ministry and, even though I love Francine Rivers as an author, I hated this story (Francine, if you are reading this, it is totally not your fault).  Do you ever hug a book?  Well, I know it sounds weird, but I sometimes hug my books when they give me a lesson of truth or some kind of wisdom.  I have often hugged the Bible and I remember hugging John Piper's book, Don't Waste Your Life, recently when God clearly spoke to my heart about adopting.  Anyway, I did not hug the Sons of Encouragement book after this story...I threw it to the ground and asked God why he would ask this man to do something so difficult.  Life was too hard for Amos, there was very little redemption, the people God placed on Amos' heart rejected him, scorned him and wished him dead because of the truth he spoke...and in the end....well, I guess I won't give that away in case you want to read it :-) The encouragement in that story just didn't speak to me the way I had wished it would at the time.

So, that was all fresh in my mind when I started taking the Foster Pride training on Friday.  That day was somewhat uncomfortable and discouraging (though, I am sure realistic) as the presenters discussed all kinds of behavioral issues, emotional problems, physical challenges...etc that can or will come into your home when you foster/adopt.  There is a compassionate part of me that wants to be open to anything, but there is a protective part of me that likes the status quo family Brad and I have worked to achieve so far.  So the presenters asked us to consider which behaviors we would be willing to accept...(really hard stuff)...and I struggled in thinking of saying yes to some of them...but, then I struggled with saying absolutely no to them too.  The session was very insightful and resourceful, but I realized Brad and I would need to spend some time in prayer to consider these issues.

Saturday morning I woke up to God clearly telling me, "remember, you are adopted"...it was as soon as my eyes opened and it was a pretty strong statement to my heart.  I started crying right away as He told me that truth and showed me why I had just read about all the struggles Amos went through in order to speak truth to God's wayward children.  He reminded me of the fact that I have been and still am sometimes, wayward, rebellious, disobedient, unwilling to listen out of my own stubborness...and basically, that He would not have marked a no by any of my behaviors in order to give me a second chance. OUCH!  That is humbling...I am still reeling from the effects of that truth hitting me.

So, with a new perspective- that of my own "adoption", I went on Saturday to the second part of our training and feel like I am better prepared for whatever behaviors we will encounter with the children God brings into our lives.

It is always amusing (like an inside joke between me and God) and so meaningful to me the times that God will turn the lesson to an application in our lives and, since I am married to a pastor, my life lessons often become illustrations for our church family.  After the last two days of adoption training, we found out on Sunday morning that our pastor was ill and would not be able to preach.  God would have to put something together for Brad to share and so we went with the topic of being adopted by God.  In the process of putting our thoughts together into a message we were looking at similarities between how the adoption process is similar to how the Bible describes our adoption as God's children .  We found an article giving eight similarites that were very touching and we felt would help us clearly communicate the message that was on our hearts from the weekend.  As we were printing it and reading through it we realized this Sunday was Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, coincidence?  NO WAY...after we printed the article we saw it had been written by John Piper..CRAZY! He was actually the author I mentioned earlier whose book Brad and I were reading when we felt like God was leading us to start the adoption process now.  Not to mention that every verse that had been chosen and song that we were planning on singing was perfect for this message...God was showing off even as we were scurrying around to get something together.  After Brad spoke he opened it up for a time of sharing and there were so many incredible testimonies shared of how people's lives have been touched and transformed by adoption.  God is in control.

It's finally winter in Michigan

Last weekend was the first time we really felt like winter began for us...finally we needed the shovels, snow blower, and snow angels were appearing in the yard.  One of my favorite things about winter is that we have a little white dog, (mini) Kooper...(speaking of angels, he is quite angelic, just ask some of our friends who have watched him for us while we have vacationed...haha!)  

Anyway, when we get a good amount of snow, he just hops around in it, buries his nose in it, and rolls in it...he absolutely loves the white stuff.  It is sometimes hard to get him to come back inside because he is having too much fun and then, once he does come back in, his fur is so full of little snowballs that he leaves puddles everywhere. 

I hope you will enjoy the pictures I am including with this blog...I particulary like the one of Kassi getting snowblown by Brad while she was trying to help him clear the driveway. 

Another part I truly enjoyed was taking these pictures from inside the house...haha! 

CONFESSION (because it is good for the soul),

I often conveniently declare myself the hot chocolatier so as to stay warm or give myself an excuse to go out to the front yard to start making my own snowball arsenal...whatever suits my fancy :-)  There are only so many years left before the kids figure out my strategies...new mischievious ideas are welcome...I will soon need to up my game.

Big Announcement

WE ARE EXPECTING!!!

To adopt, that is :-)  One of the things we have talked about since before we were married was that we would love to adopt someday.  We love kids and have always felt drawn towards doing something significant to serve God that also ministers to kids...and it is quite evident through scripture that He cares deeply for orphans and has commanded believers to do their part to care for them.  We came home from our conference in New York with full hearts, asking God what He desires for us and both of us felt as though He was telling us this year will be a year for something new.  We have prayed about it a lot and have sensed His leading in the direction of adoption.  The decision does not come without some apprehension about the adjustments this will mean for our family...especially our daughters....Brad...and me...and who knows how Kooper (our dog) will adjust..., but all kidding aside, there is a lot to consider and many more people involved in loving and nurturing any children we will welcome into our family and it is our prayer that all involved will come to love God's plan for us and through us and that this process will be blessed even though we have been warned that many frustrations and challenges may lie ahead of us.

We had our Orientation meeting today and will continue the process for training and the home study.  We are told it can take somewhere between 3-6 months to complete the process to be ready to adopt, plus it could take much more time to identify the child/children that would be a good match for our family.  It is our hope to adopt through the Foster Care system (appropriate, I know...all the punny people have been having a heyday with this one).  We have a passion to keep a sibling group together.  I have already been looking at the photolistings, but even doing that is emotional for me...when I actually think about it...it is quite overwhelming to see the faces of children (in Michigan alone) who are looking for a forever family. But, for me, the emotional part is good because it usually causes me to pray.  So far two sibling groups I have been interested in have been adopted...Brad keeps telling me to stop looking, but I am thinking it is working out pretty well for them for me to keep looking and praying....maybe if I decide I am interested in all of them; good people will adopt them :-)

Anyway, thanks for reading...if you are a believer, please pray for us as we continue through this process and seek God's plan for our Fosterrific family.