After all, it's a very good place to start!
(Maybe I should first say that I'm a very cheesy/dorky blogger....I amuse myself...so be prepared.)
A little over four years ago, Hubs came home from a men's conference and said, "Hey....I think we'll adopt someday."
<insert utter shock here>
I did not handle this declaration well. We already have two kids. We have one of each gender. One is in private school and the other is going as well. How will we afford more kids in private school...and we JUST bought this house?
He followed up by saying, "SOMEDAY. I didn't say tomorrow."
And so, I calmed down, a little, and went about my business. This was 2009.
It came up occasionally...mostly in thought. Thoughts would come to me like, Why DID God bless us with this great house? What IF God changed hubs' career to better support more children?
Relationships were formed and strengthened...the stories would be long, but I firmly believe that He places particular people in our lives for our growth. God uses people, no?
In April of 2011, the Lord broke down a huge wall in my heart. I began to realize my calling to homeschool our children. Oh how I proclaimed that I would NEVER homeschool. God had other plans.
We watched our friends in another state become licensed for foster care/adoption. We supported them in their calling. It was THEIR calling. That's so wonderful, I thought. Little did I know that God would use them to prepare my heart.
Hubs and I didn't talk about it a lot. We supported those friends...but we just weren't there yet.
Enter December 2013. I had been doing a Bible study in Esther. Esther had the fate of her people, the Jews, resting on her actions/faith. Several times throughout her story, she did things that the king could've had her punished/banished/killed for doing....she decided to trust the Lord. Esther put her people before herself. She was always safe; given high honor and favor from the king, so he ultimately trusted his queen. This saved her people. Esther took action. Esther took a leap of faith. Esther trusted.
<pondering>
Hubs came to me...he said he'd been praying for God to show him where we stand on the issue of adoption. He said, "I keep hearing, Stop waiting." I told him that I agreed. Through what I had been studying, what he was 'hearing' was what I was 'hearing.' Take action. Take a leap of faith. Trust God.
Were we really...FINALLY....on the same page???? YES!
We do not know anyone locally who has walked the foster care/adoption road recently. That part is a little discouraging. Who could we bug with questions? Our friends are in another state....would things work the same here? For about a week, we looked for the steps we needed to take and what path we wanted to follow. We looked over several websites. We decided we would go through the state...not a private agency. We separately made phone calls looking for guidance. This challenge ended when Hubs finally reached someone who gave us the first step: Sign up for PATH (Parents As Tender Healers) classes. On a Tuesday, we reviewed the schedule of class offerings and found that a new session began that Saturday...or else we'd have to wait for another month. Well, let's just get started!
Childcare (on short notice) was worked out and we were able to start classes. We went to class with our minds set on taking in a sibling set of two, with adoption as the end result. As the classes progressed, we both felt a softening toward doing foster care. What!??! Where did that come from?!?! We didn't think that was our thing!
Will it be easy? When you compare it to what our Savior did for us on the cross....yes. When you compare it to the children who can't be with their bio families for whatever reason...yes. With regards to following the norm, raising only our bio kids, keeping our routines and our plans...no. Are we called to stay comfortable?
Our Pastor's sermon this past Sunday was written for me. There were several points within the message that struck me...hard...and yet, made my heart smile.
What does Jesus want?
- Applause or Action?
- Image or intentionality?
- Lip service or life service?
- Do we embrace or emulate?
- Your hands or your heart? (both!)
*God is looking for surrendered hearts moved to action.*
In Sunday School on the very same Sunday, there were points made regarding how everyone has a mission, determined by God, and the example was Jesus. Everything that happened before His birth was no accident. It all worked together to bring Him here. While He was here, He had a mission. And even though He knew what the mission entailed, He fulfilled it.
What Jesus did to adopt us wasn't easy. Why, then, would He do it? Who would sign up for something hard? Obedience. He obeyed His Father. God showed us sacrificial love by sending His son to die for us. If we are to be like Christ, why should we expect easy? Why should we keep all that He has blessed us with to ourselves? What blessings are we missing with the 'our four and no more' mentality?
Only the Lord knows what this journey looks like for us. We are not ruling out adoption...only increasing our availability for foster care. He knows what children need us....and what children we need. We expect to not only BE a blessing....but to be blessed. We want to be obedient. We want to make ourselves available to be used for His glory. He's been working on us for years...I dare say, He's worked very hard. Had He not blessed our marriage....had He not allowed us to buy this house...had He not led us to homeschooling...had He not orchestrated our relationships....would we keep making excuses to ignore Him?
Loving beyond ourselves...that's what we're trying to do.
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