To celebrate Easter I thought I would share with all of you the lyrics to one of my favorite songs. These words are so powerful and really help convey the love of our Savior! I feel like the line that says "Jesus commands my destiny" is so incredibly applicable right now. I hope you enjoy reading this. Happy Easter! HE IS RISEN!!!
In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This
Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and
storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled,
when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of
Christ I stand
In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in
helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He
came to save
‘Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was
satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I
live
There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness
slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose
again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on
me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of
Christ
No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ
in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my
destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His
hand
‘til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll
stand
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
Just a little update...
Not much news here, we are just hanging in and seeing what happens! Our license is sitting here on my desk still, which is sort of ironic since just a month or so ago we were so anxious for it to be here. Now we are waiting to see how things play out. It's funny how life is like that sometimes. The things that we are most anxious about end up not being all that important. I guess we will see!
We are still waiting to see how this situation with family plays out. My heart breaks for this sweet child who has known so much turmoil in life so far. I already feel like a protective parent in a way, but I know that there really isn't much that we can do unless the birth parents agree to let us help. Please continue to pray about that situation. Especially about the meeting that will take place between us, the child and the birth parents. It's a complicated situation since Child Protective Services is not yet involved and so in a way we have to play the role of adoptive parent and social worker. I have to keep reminding myself that God has this child's best interests in mind, and He has control of the situation. That helps, but I'm still pretty anxious about having to sit down and talk with birth parents who may or may not be willing to give up their child!
Depending how things go during that meeting, we received an invitation to a "kids fest" in Seattle. According to the invitation, "Kids’ Fest is a great opportunity for waiting families to have a chance to meet local children who are waiting to be adopted in a fun, festive atmosphere. As families, you will be able to meet waiting children, connect with state social workers, and enjoy a party filled with prizes, games, and arts and crafts." It is for children who are in need of permanent, adoptive families can meet with parents looking to adopt. How awesome is that?!? I had no idea such things existed. So, if we are continuing to pursue adopting from foster care we will probably be attending this event next month. Wouldn't it be amazing if we met our future son or daughter there?
Well, I guess that's about all the news here for now. We are trying to have a nice, relaxing Easter weekend and then getting ready to travel to see both our families! It has been far too long since Ben has visited family, he will meet his niece for the first time and we will both get to meet one of our new nephews as well! We are thrilled to get to see everyone in OH and IL.
Love to you all, and thanks for all the prayers!
B, E & H
We are still waiting to see how this situation with family plays out. My heart breaks for this sweet child who has known so much turmoil in life so far. I already feel like a protective parent in a way, but I know that there really isn't much that we can do unless the birth parents agree to let us help. Please continue to pray about that situation. Especially about the meeting that will take place between us, the child and the birth parents. It's a complicated situation since Child Protective Services is not yet involved and so in a way we have to play the role of adoptive parent and social worker. I have to keep reminding myself that God has this child's best interests in mind, and He has control of the situation. That helps, but I'm still pretty anxious about having to sit down and talk with birth parents who may or may not be willing to give up their child!
Depending how things go during that meeting, we received an invitation to a "kids fest" in Seattle. According to the invitation, "Kids’ Fest is a great opportunity for waiting families to have a chance to meet local children who are waiting to be adopted in a fun, festive atmosphere. As families, you will be able to meet waiting children, connect with state social workers, and enjoy a party filled with prizes, games, and arts and crafts." It is for children who are in need of permanent, adoptive families can meet with parents looking to adopt. How awesome is that?!? I had no idea such things existed. So, if we are continuing to pursue adopting from foster care we will probably be attending this event next month. Wouldn't it be amazing if we met our future son or daughter there?
Well, I guess that's about all the news here for now. We are trying to have a nice, relaxing Easter weekend and then getting ready to travel to see both our families! It has been far too long since Ben has visited family, he will meet his niece for the first time and we will both get to meet one of our new nephews as well! We are thrilled to get to see everyone in OH and IL.
Love to you all, and thanks for all the prayers!
B, E & H
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
It's here!!!
Here's the catch though; we are still waiting to see what happens with this situation with family because of course, that would be our top priority. We also still have NO IDEA what is going on with Ben as far as work stuff goes, so getting our license is both exciting and scary! We have really thought about it and decided that for right now we are not going to actively pursue finding foster children, but if a social worker were to call us we would have to weigh each situation individually. I think that is all that we can do for now until we feel more confident about the outcome of this potential adoption and where we (or Ben!) will be in the future.
One thing you can be praying about is that we will be meeting with this child and his parents soon. We are travelling to see both our families (yay!) and so we will have the chance to meet with them and (hopefully) get a better understanding of the situation. Please pray that the meeting goes well and that we can all walk away from it with a better understanding of what is best for everyone involved. Another thing that we need prayer for will be for the timing and financial aspect of this if it goes through. Since we had been planning to do foster care there is a lot less financial commitment involved than with a private adoption. We know that if God is directing this He will oversee the finances and that we don't need to stress about it, but a little prayer certainly won't hurt!
Love you all, and thank you for your support! I really feel like I can't say that enough!!!
B, E & H
Drenched
Note: This is a rewrite since I deleted the original post on accident... sorry!!!
As I opened the page to begin this blog I was immediately struck by just how appropriate the title of my last post was! Indeed, a couple of weeks ago it was the calm before the storm. Today I just feel drenched.
I don't even know where to begin with some of this, and I hope that it will make sense as I put it down in words. I do want to preface this with a disclaimer: I don't want to give many details because the situation has not yet worked itself out and it is quite a delicate situation. So please excuse my vaugeness and try to understand that wherever there are human feelings involved it can be quite complicated. That said, for right now all I really want to say is that we have been in contact with a family member who has a young child in her care. The parents of the young child are no longer together, and right now it appears that neither parent is capable of handling some of the special needs that this child has. Ben and I would love nothing more than to be able to take this child into our family and care for him, but in order to do that we need both parents to relinquish rights so that we could adopt the child. We did look into different levels of guardianship, temporary custody, etc., but none of these would allow us to put the child on our insurance and get him the best possible care. It also would seem that a stable situation would be of great benefit, so that is one more reason that pursuing an adoption would be best for everyone. Please pray for all of us involved, especially this sweet child who needs a loving, stable home where he can thrive, but also for the parents. I can't even begin to imagine what they must be feeling right now.
Along with that situation, we are in a period of uncertainty concerning Ben's Army career. Not that he is considering leaving the military, just that we don't know if we will be moving, facing a deployment or staying happily right where we are! Of course, we would love to stay in WA forever and never have another deployment, but I'm pretty certain that Uncle Sam won't stand for that. So... we are anxiously awaiting any news about what the future holds for us there as well!
Please pray for us to know what to do in each of these situations. I am a "planner" and all of this uncertainty is hard for me! I know that God has it all under control, but boy am I anxious to see what is next.
Love you all!
B, E & H
As I opened the page to begin this blog I was immediately struck by just how appropriate the title of my last post was! Indeed, a couple of weeks ago it was the calm before the storm. Today I just feel drenched.
I don't even know where to begin with some of this, and I hope that it will make sense as I put it down in words. I do want to preface this with a disclaimer: I don't want to give many details because the situation has not yet worked itself out and it is quite a delicate situation. So please excuse my vaugeness and try to understand that wherever there are human feelings involved it can be quite complicated. That said, for right now all I really want to say is that we have been in contact with a family member who has a young child in her care. The parents of the young child are no longer together, and right now it appears that neither parent is capable of handling some of the special needs that this child has. Ben and I would love nothing more than to be able to take this child into our family and care for him, but in order to do that we need both parents to relinquish rights so that we could adopt the child. We did look into different levels of guardianship, temporary custody, etc., but none of these would allow us to put the child on our insurance and get him the best possible care. It also would seem that a stable situation would be of great benefit, so that is one more reason that pursuing an adoption would be best for everyone. Please pray for all of us involved, especially this sweet child who needs a loving, stable home where he can thrive, but also for the parents. I can't even begin to imagine what they must be feeling right now.
Along with that situation, we are in a period of uncertainty concerning Ben's Army career. Not that he is considering leaving the military, just that we don't know if we will be moving, facing a deployment or staying happily right where we are! Of course, we would love to stay in WA forever and never have another deployment, but I'm pretty certain that Uncle Sam won't stand for that. So... we are anxiously awaiting any news about what the future holds for us there as well!
Please pray for us to know what to do in each of these situations. I am a "planner" and all of this uncertainty is hard for me! I know that God has it all under control, but boy am I anxious to see what is next.
Love you all!
B, E & H
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Coffee
Some days just feel a little overwhelming. And some days you just need more COFFEE! Apparently today is one of those coffee days. I got on here to write a new post and let you all know what is going on, and instead I accidentally deleted my last post! ARGH. Of course I haven't been saving them anywhere else, so if anyone happens to know how to recover a deleted blog post I'd really appreciate it! I will try to recap the idea of it so that I have it back in sequence. And then I will write my new one that I was going to write. But, first I'm going to go downstairs and make good use of that french press sitting on my counter ;)
Love you!
B, E & H
Love you!
B, E & H
Friday, March 2, 2012
The Calm Before the Storm
Today is my day to sit back and just take it all in. Thanks to one of my amazing neighbors (and friend!) I am childless until this afternoon! I know I have probably said it before, but it's worth mentioning again. We have been BLESSED to have some of the most amazing neighbors. I honestly don't know what I would do without the ladies that live by me! We have playdates, kid swaps, coffee dates, crafting time... God truly knew what he was doing when he put us on our street!!! Anyway, all that to say that today I have about SIX HOURS to myself!!! Which is good because I feel like this is the calm before the storm.
This morning I called our agency to ask a quick question about some paperwork that they sent us (yes, the paperwork really is never ending!!!) and so I also asked about our license. She said that she was going to look it over today and as long as everything was there and it all looked good she would be sending it to the state this afternoon. Wow! I then asked her how long it would probably take for the license to arrive and she said that our region is typically pretty quick so she expected it to take just a couple of weeks. Oh, my! I'm excited. And scared. And nervous!
Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that we will have a placement any time soon, but it does mean that we could! I feel like no amount of preparation will ever really help us get ready for what may come, but I sure am going to try my best to prepare anyway. So today I am going to do a little cleaning, some organizing, a lot of praying, a bit of paperwork, hopefully find a moment for a little fun stuff and make a few phone calls along the way.
Please understand if Ben and I are a little distracted over the next few weeks (or months!) as we have a lot of crazy little things to think about. For instance, in the newest batch of paperwork we have to check the box for "presenting behaviors" that we will be willing to consider. Let me tell you, this list of behaviors is SCARY! Aggressive toward other children, chronic bed wetting, fire setting, sexually acting out, extreme withdrawal, self abusive... and there are about thirty more on the list. So we have a lot of stuff on our minds even though we don't yet have to deal with any of this. I'm pretty sure our distraction will only get worse, and we are trying our best to live in the present, but we also recognize that our lives are about to be turned upside down. One interesting thing that I have noticed is that all of this has really helped me to put things into perspective of what is important and what isn't. Hopefully I can keep that mindset :)
Okay, the clock is ticking so I had better get moving before it's time for Hunter to be back home! Please keep praying for us, for our child/ren and for our sanity! Ha! Things are going to start moving quickly and we will need all the support we can get. THANK YOU for being that support for us, we appreciate it more than you will ever know!
Love you all!
B, E & H
This morning I called our agency to ask a quick question about some paperwork that they sent us (yes, the paperwork really is never ending!!!) and so I also asked about our license. She said that she was going to look it over today and as long as everything was there and it all looked good she would be sending it to the state this afternoon. Wow! I then asked her how long it would probably take for the license to arrive and she said that our region is typically pretty quick so she expected it to take just a couple of weeks. Oh, my! I'm excited. And scared. And nervous!
Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that we will have a placement any time soon, but it does mean that we could! I feel like no amount of preparation will ever really help us get ready for what may come, but I sure am going to try my best to prepare anyway. So today I am going to do a little cleaning, some organizing, a lot of praying, a bit of paperwork, hopefully find a moment for a little fun stuff and make a few phone calls along the way.
Please understand if Ben and I are a little distracted over the next few weeks (or months!) as we have a lot of crazy little things to think about. For instance, in the newest batch of paperwork we have to check the box for "presenting behaviors" that we will be willing to consider. Let me tell you, this list of behaviors is SCARY! Aggressive toward other children, chronic bed wetting, fire setting, sexually acting out, extreme withdrawal, self abusive... and there are about thirty more on the list. So we have a lot of stuff on our minds even though we don't yet have to deal with any of this. I'm pretty sure our distraction will only get worse, and we are trying our best to live in the present, but we also recognize that our lives are about to be turned upside down. One interesting thing that I have noticed is that all of this has really helped me to put things into perspective of what is important and what isn't. Hopefully I can keep that mindset :)
Okay, the clock is ticking so I had better get moving before it's time for Hunter to be back home! Please keep praying for us, for our child/ren and for our sanity! Ha! Things are going to start moving quickly and we will need all the support we can get. THANK YOU for being that support for us, we appreciate it more than you will ever know!
Love you all!
B, E & H
Thursday, March 1, 2012
I love mail!
Today when I opened the mailbox there was a big envelope sitting there from our agency. Since I wasn't expecting anything from them I was a little concerned about what I might find inside. I didn't even wait to get in the house to open it! As soon as I pulled into the garage I tore it open to find a letter that said:
"Dear Friends,
I am pleased to inform you that your homestudy has been reviewed and approved."
OH HAPPY DAY!!! I don't know much more than that, and we still have to wait for the state to issue our foster license, but I am pretty sure that this means that our fingerprints are back from the FBI and it should be 3-4 weeks for the state to finish our license and then we can start taking calls about placements!!!
Anyway, just wanted to let you all know the good news! I'm off to go play legos with a little guy who is complaining of an earache. The life of a stay-at-home mom is a busy one you know!
Keep the prayers coming, it sure seems like they are working!!!
B, E & H
"Dear Friends,
I am pleased to inform you that your homestudy has been reviewed and approved."
OH HAPPY DAY!!! I don't know much more than that, and we still have to wait for the state to issue our foster license, but I am pretty sure that this means that our fingerprints are back from the FBI and it should be 3-4 weeks for the state to finish our license and then we can start taking calls about placements!!!
Anyway, just wanted to let you all know the good news! I'm off to go play legos with a little guy who is complaining of an earache. The life of a stay-at-home mom is a busy one you know!
Keep the prayers coming, it sure seems like they are working!!!
B, E & H
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