Our First 'No'

It's hard for me to even write "Our First 'No'", because it's acknowledges that there might be other times when we say 'no' to a placement call. I had just told someone the other day that I felt good being able to say that even if we never got the chance to have a child in our home, at least we had said yes at multiple steps of the way- when adoption didn't seem right, we said yes to fostering, the first call where a child lived far away, we said yes to the distance, and we said yes to the second call for a child with some medical needs. So when I got this call, I thought maybe God had been helping us wade in the water in preparation for this deep plunge- a child living far away (with parental and sibling visits), and major medical needs. Matt and I talked and very confidently agreed we were not equipped for this child, but I realized it hurt my pride more than anything to say no. So today I am reflecting on and reminding myself that even though this whole process is growing our character more and more, that's not the entire point, and sometimes saying no develops out character too. It's not that we should stick to our list of what we committed to- even though we put parameters on based on wise advise, we should still seek God's counsel before every decision, and I have to face that sometimes the answer will be no.

It's Thursday!

I woke up this morning and very quickly thought, "it's Thursday, I get to pray today!" I almost laughed out loud at myself because it sounded so silly. It was like setting I now had permission to pray/take some time away from other things to ask God for direction specifically about fostering/adopting, or anything else He wanted to bring to mind. I absolutely realize this gift of prayer is available to me, and encouraged constantly, but at least for me, it has taken a specific commitment to help me remember.

I sent out my first e-mail to that prayer e-mail list, and I was happy to get responses from people with their encouragement and confirmation that God is in control of the lives of everyone involved. It feels great to include our friends and family in the process!

Placement Calls

Just wanting to remember each child/situation that we have had the chance to even hear about, to be a part of their support network in prayer.

Chrissy's sister-in-law's baby (Bailey Grace)
Jordan- (2012) two younger siblings
Jesus- (2012) two siblings
Unknown- (2014) one older sister
Davarrion (2014) 3 older siblings
Joshua (2011) one younger, two older sisters, one older brother)

Emergency Test E-mail

I read an article a couple of weeks ago about a family that has fostered and adopted, and one of the things that stuck out to me was how she had a group of people that she could e-mail in moments of difficulty to ask for prayer. She could just feel the coverage and support of these praying friends. So today I am also creating a prayer group e-mail and want to send out a test e-mail to ask for prayer to prepare us in whatever way God knows we need to be. I may also be asking some of these same (local) people to make sure they have turned in any paperwork they still have to be our substitute care providers in case we need more than prayer :)

Priorities

I look at my schedule many times a day- I feel like I am lost without it, and really I just know I'm forgetful. If something is really important, I put it on my Google calendar and set up alerts. Long story short, I didn't put "lunch fasting and prayer" on my schedule, and every Friday for the last month, it hit me that I had missed it. It was only then that I even thought about children in foster care, our future in adoption and fostering, or really even praying. So today I put it on my calendar, not because it will be checked off my spiritual disciplines checklist or because it will put me in a greater standing with God. Rather, the Bible constantly reminds us that our strength is not by might or power, but the Spirit of God, and the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. So along with scheduling, I have started praying that I would be drawn more to prayer, so that eventually I would not have the schedule it- that I would just be drawn regularly to the One in whom I put my life, trust, love, and faith!