Orphan Sunday 2011

Orphan Sunday 2011 from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

Rainy & Relaxing Labor Day

(Having trouble getting videos to load, so added some photos until I can figure it out)

While tropical storm Lee may have altered our plans to spend the weekend at the lake, it did not alter our ability to have fun! One of the benefits of a large family is that the party is always where you are! Last night Cole ordained today as family talent show day with performances to begin when the three little ones woke up from naps. Everyone quickly began planning their wardrobes, talents, etc. and went to bed filled with excitement. This morning was spent prepping, practicing and primping and then the last little one finally woke up from his nap and the show could begin! This is the finale and is actually what my den looks like at some point most every day :-) No lack of entertainment around here!

Below are the individual performances, which are probably way more that you ever care to see of my family but I'm posting it anyway for my benefit and for an easy find next year when we hopefully have a repeat performance and can compare!

Hope you enjoyed a wonderful and relaxing Labor Day with your families!

Today as I pondered "Labor Day" these verses came to mind. No doubt we all "labor" but may we labor for His glory and know that it is not in vain! What a glorious and encouraging truth, especially at the end of a long, and exhaustingly fun day :-) The Lord has a special path and plan for each of our lives! No two are the same yet all are part of His perfect plan and I've enjoyed reflecting on all the ways I labor on a daily basis and if they are truely for His glory of if it's for mine. After a wonderful sermon on Sunday on idols it has been a weekend full of evauation and reflection and I am so thankful for the many areas the Lord has revealed where I need to make changes. Always under construction! So thankful for pastors and a church body who loves us enough not to leave us where we are but to lovingly preach and teach us the truth for our benefit and His glory!

John 6:27

Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal."

Philippians 2:16
holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

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Back to School again

At the beginning of summer it seemed like school was a LOOOOOOG way off. I wasn't sure how we would survive the summer with 10 kids, 3 two and under who can't swim, and a full calendar. I'm happy to say all 10 survived, however I almost did not :-) Now everyone is excited about a new school year, catching up with friends and I am so ready to return to a routine....oh how I love a routine!


I can not believe I have a Senior!!! Oh how quickly time passes. I still remember what we both wore the day she started Kindergarten. It seems just like yesterday. I'm having a hard time knowing that this time next year she will be gone :-( College plans are still undecided but schools are being considered all the way from Wheaton in Chicago to right down the street in Auburn and several in between. Praying she will have a peace about the perfect place the Lord has prepared for her. Enjoy your SENIOR year sweet girl!

Middle School here she comes! Anxiety over her locker and 6 different classes/teachers filled her first few days but now she seems to be in her grove. This girl loves school and her friends! She amazes me with her ability to adapt and adjust to change and her drive to learn new things. Have an amazing year beautiful Zozo!


She is the big dog of elementary school now and in a new addition addition to school so she is loving the new 5th grade wing and rotating to 3 different classes/teachers. This girl goes from a girlie girl to wanting to play football in the snap of a finger. She loves life and always makes it interesting! Keep smiling my wildly wonderful daughter!

Sam Bam is one tough cookie. He had surgery to but fat in a cleft in his uvula and a nose/lip revision about a week before school started. He never took an bit of pain medicine once out of recovery and never skipped a beat. He amazes me with his resilience and I am so blessed to be his mom! Have a wonderful year brave boy!

This boy is expanding his interests. He is playing football for the first time, addicted to skateboarding and playing his new guitar. He loves life, wants to know every detail of what is happening at all times and loves being a caretaker. Such a sweet, funny and predictable personality. He's inherited some of my OCD tendencies and it always provides comedic relief. I love you precious one!

How can you be starting school!?!?! Where has the time gone? Not sure Kindergarten is ready for miss personality but I know she is ready. Can't wait to watch the many ways you will grow and mature this year! You are a blessing and while you can have attitude like I've never seen before, your sense of humor and laughter always brighten my day! Keep smiling and dancing my little Cheetah Girl!

Praying you each have a wonderful and amazing year! Prayerful that you grow socially, academically and most importantly spiritually this year. Praying for your teachers as they shepherd you in many ways and for patience and wisdom for them. Praying the Lord provides friendships that will sharpen, encourage and support you for years to come! Praying you will grow in your relationships with each other and for the Lord continued guidance for our family as to His will for it! I am blessed to be your mom!
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A celebration of 75 years and the Blessing of her life

What's New - Photography by DiAnna Paulk: Enjoy Family {Montgomery, AL Family Portraits}: "This very special lady had a very significant birthday recently, and I could think of no better blog post for the 4th of July than a few hig..."

Watch the Lamb

"Children Of God"

When DHR calls after hours.......

I learned it's not to check in on you to see how things are going ;-)

I share this with you because it's a completely different journey than fostering a baby. I know I am meeting his needs, he doesn't know about his history and other than sleep deprivation and normal "baby" issues, he has been "easy". This week has been MUCH harder on many different levels, however I am thrilled we can do this and be here for these girls and their family. I also share this to bring awareness to the GREAT need for foster families! In about a week, two different classes will begin here in Montgomery. First Baptist Church will be offering training through Alabama Baptist Children's Home and Gateway Baptist Church will be partnering with Shepherd Staff and DHR offering training on Tuesday nights (with childcare). Please consider joining one of these class if you are local and inquire about upcoming classes in your area/state if you are not.

Sitting in my car at the YMCA at 7:30 Tuesday evening, waiting on my girls to finish BB practice, my phone began to ring. I had no idea how that call was about to change "my plans". It began with "We have 2 girls...." and ended with ".....is there any way you could take them?"

My mind immediately thought of my ever growing laundry pile, our ski trip planned for spring break, the beds and clothes I had just spend 2 weeks rearranging and moving making room for baby T to move from his bassinet in our room to a baby bed. Where in the world would they sleep, where would their things go??? Why was I even thinking this through. I knew all I would need to do was call Cole and he would tell me "Are you crazy, we are overflowing as is, absolutely NOT!" and then I could blame my husband as I called the social worker back and explained why we couldn't take them into our home. However, when I called Cole and told him what little I knew of their situation, he was actually thinking about it, concerned about me since the majority of their care would fall on me, but he was open. As we sat on the phone, thinking, praying, talking through it aloud, all the reasons that caused me concern seemed ridiculous compared to what was about to happen in their lives. The only thing that gave me any kind of comfort was knowing that the least I could do was know that they would be in a home that would love them, provide for them, pray for them ( and their parent), protect them, and teach them about the only one who can offer them a sense of peace and hope for their future.

It almost seemed like an out of body experience as I called the social worker back and I heard myself saying, " we'd love to have them, bring them on!"

.....did I really just say that????? 10 kids !?!?!? Me? I grew up wih 1 sister 9 years younger than me, this is so not my comfort zone! How will I do this? Once again I realized how often I was saying "I". It's NOT about me! I have to remind myself of that daily and trust that the One who is entrusting these precious girls to us will also provide all the stamina, patience, wisdom and love that will be required. I will not worry about tomorrow, because I know who holds it in the palm of His hand and He will give exactly what we need each day. I just have to make sure we stay focused on Him and not attempt to do it myself!

Over the next few hours we rushed home, moved bed arrangements, prepared the kids and prayed for our new house guests who would be arriving soon.

At the same time across town 2 social workers were on their way to an unsuspecting home where 4 kids we sleeping in their beds. I can not imagine their confusion and fear as they were awoken and told that they were being removed from their home, their bed, their parents and even separated from their siblings. Parents upset, anger, sadness, fear, confusion, quickly packing a small bag and then being put in the back set of a strange car and driven to the home of a complete stranger!

I can not imagine anything more frightening, much less for a child.

The doorbell rang, it was the social worker making sure she was at the correct house. We followed her to the car to meet the girls and help them inside. The youngest was asleep and we carried her inside and the oldest buried her head in the arm full of stuffed animals she had grabbed as we led her inside and tried to offer her some sort of comfort. They brought a book bag and a small over night bag with one outfit for the oldest and a few mismatched articles of clothing for the youngest, a bag of diapers, tooth brushes and the pajamas they had on. We sat on the couch and talked with the social worker in more detail about the situation, this was actually when we learned that they had two brothers and that they were on their way to another home. We were given the cliff notes on their health, history, education and then it was time for the social worker to leave. My three big girls had stayed up to meet them and in the midst of this horrible situation they showed so much love and compassion and helped ease the transition as best as possible. It was pretty late at this point so we got them ready for bed and Elizabeth showed them to the room they would share with her and Emme. They crawled into bed clinging to one another, crying silent tears until sleep came.

The next day brought more change. We had to unenroll in one school and enroll in another. We had to buy shoes, clothes, school supplies, school uniforms. (This was fun with a 5 month old, 1 year old and 2 year old in tow...so thankful for the double stroller a sweet friend gave me)!

My heart broke each time I looked in my rearview mirror and saw those two beautiful and precious girls curled up to each other with fear and pain in their eyes.

Thursday brought more heartache as they learned they would be stay in in our care after the court hearing. I explained that both parents had showed up for court, that they agreed to do everything that the judge asked of them in order to get their family back together. Yes, it stinks, I HATE that they are having to go through this, but in the long run this will allow her parents to take care of themselves so that they can take better care of them. ( At this point I was ready to kill some parents for putting their children through this and thinking they BETTER do all that is necessary to restore this family to a healthy environment. I also couldn't help but think of the sibling groups currently available for adoption listed on heart gallery.....are they currently separated from their siblings, split, waiting for a family.....and praying that these precious siblings are not posted there one day).

Friday afternoon we had our first of weekly family visits at DHR. I knew what to expect, I knew there would be tears, anger, regression, accusations but after a physically and emotionally exhausting 2 1/2 days, I was physically and emotionally spent. It was HARD and bed time could not come soon enough so I could decompress in a hot bath!

As we sang this song Sunday in church and as I thought about how broken we ALL are and the thought of our time here on this earth only being a vapor compared to our eternal life with our Heavenly Father, it again confirmed why we are doing this! We know the only one who can heal, save and truly love and we must share that with those who do not! It's their only hope!

Be Unto Your Name

by Lynn DeShazo & Gary Sadler

We are a moment You are forever
Lord of the ages God before time
We are a vapor You are eternal
Love everlasting reigning on high

Chorus
Holy holy Lord God Almighty
Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain
Highest praises honor and glory
Be unto Your name
Be unto Your name

We are the broken You are the healer
Jesus Redeemer mighty to save
You are the love song we’ll sing forever
Bowing before You blessing Your name

© 1998 Integrity’s Hosanna! Music CCLI# 2177476

Fostering.....a new journey!

Fostering was something I had thought about for years. Several things held me back from beginning the process. To begin with, the training was never convenient. For both Cole & me to attend the training 12 consecutive weeks, on a school night, for three hours with no child care seemed impossible. Second, I thought it would be too painful emotionally to love and invest in a child who could be taken away in a moments notice. Third I was afraid I might do bodily harm to someone or put myself or my family in danger when aware of the circumstances of a potential child placed in our family and if that potential child was returned to an environment that I knew to be harmful, abusive, neglectful....I tend to have quite a mama bear complex and was concerned about my ability to trust in the system and ultimately in the sovereignty of God.

After attending an adoption conference in Texas and praying about the direction the Lord was taking our church in adoption/orphan care, I came away confident that the Lord wanted our church/our family to come along side our foster system. What the Lord revealed to me was how many times in my reasoning for not being involved I was saying "I"and "me". And what He boldly revealed to me was that it's NOT ABOUT ME! It's about being His hands and feet and meeting the needs of the children hurting around us. This used to be a ministry of the church, but somewhere along the way we turned it over to the state. Why?

Who knows the only One who can give peace in circumstances that most of us can't even imagine, but is a reality to many just down the street?....The Body of Christ!

Who has been rescued from our desperate circumstances and brought into a family that doesn't judge us on our past but offers a promise and hope for the future?.....only the Body of Christ!

There is only one who can:

comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve
bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of joy instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. (Isaiah 61:3)

Should we avoid being involved in situations that could cause us pain and hurt or require us to sacrifice some of our comforts or take us out of our comfortable routine and organized life? We flee from the need in front of us because of fear. We’re afraid of changing what we’ve always done. Our lives have become comfortable and manageable. We have to put ourselves where the needs are!

Scripture tells us as believers we are to die to self daily, take up our cross and follow Him!

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

1 John 3:16

Our Journey:

In January our church hosted foster care classes taught by the Department of Human Resources (DHR) social worker and Debbie Dickson of Shepherd Staff . It was such a blessing to be able to attend classes during normal "church" hours and to have childcare and children's activities available (thus removing reason #1 for not going through training). We finished classes in March and turned our paperwork in at the last class. We didn't hear anything from the DHR for a few months and then they called to schedule our home visit for September 7th at 10 o'clock. We had a great visit and I asked tons of questions about intake, caseload, etc and they mentioned getting a couple of babies in that week and one that morning. We have plenty of square footage in our home but only 4 bedrooms and 7 kids, you can do the math . When we bought this house we had one child and I was pregnant with our second....we had no plans to have a large family.....bet God was laughing then :-) We are working on house plans that would give more room options for fostering in the future, but until then I told them we could easily make room for a child 0-6 and to call with situations older and we would have to determine based on age, sex, and circumstance if we could make arrangements that would work. After checking the fire alarm, water temperature, escape plan, etc.... they were gone and life resumed as usual......until the phone rang at 5:15.

The baby they had told me about that had been discharged that morning was still sitting at DHR. His foster family that was supposed to be picking him up hadn't showed all day.....could we come get him?!?!?!?

I flew up to the attic to get the infant car seat, called SK to see if she was almost home from cross country because I had to get 4 kids to soccer practice, so she pulled in and I handed off Eli and the 4 soccer players (who had no idea what was going to be waiting on them at home after practice) and Emme and I jumped in the bus headed to DHR. About half way there my phone rings...it's Cole (completely forgot to let him in the loop). "Hey honey...what's the plan for tonight (meaning dinner)..um, well, it just changed....SK is running soccer practice and I'm on the way to DHR to pick up a baby!" :-0) .....ooooookaaaaay, how long will we have him? You were in classes with me...who knows! Love ya!

45 minutes later we pulled in the driveway

This is what I picked up

Can you tell we left in a hurry :-)

before we finished unloading Cole made it home and helped us inside!

This is the most patient and loving man you will ever meet.

Not sure he would have "put a ring on it" 11 years ago if he would have know what the Lord had planned with our union. Just kidding!

About 10 minutes later the rest of the crew arrived and after laughing at their shocked and excited faces we were able to get a group shot before supper, baths and life as we know it (with just a lot less sleep)

How long will he be with us? Who knows! It could be a few more days or it could be a lifetime. What I have complete peace about it that my God has a perfect plan for his life and for whatever amount of time He allows him to be in our family we will love his as our own, teach him about his Heavenly Father and tell him how precious and loved he is. Will my heart break if he leaves us? Yes! Will I cry? You bet, already bawled at the thought many times! Will I regret opening our hearts and home? NO WAY!

Hebrews 12:2 For the joy he knew was coming he gave himself. That’s our example. As we focus on fulfilling what is on God’s heart, looking ahead to the joy He promises –we help others find the love of God through the giving of ourselves. That’s the ultimate goal!

21 Foster Parenting Truths As Seen By a Veteran Foster Parent

from Keith Thompson:

My wife and I have been doing foster care for 17 years. Along the way, we've learned a few things that seem to be givens when working for our children.

1. Love may not be enough, but when you add unlimited patience and a sense of humor, you can usually get through.

2. Things go best when you go by the book - but you have to be using the right book!

3. Having a spirit of contention accomplishes nothing - especially when you are trying to work with the "system".

4. You can't help every child, but you can still cry for them.

5. You can't help every child, but you can still pray for them.

6. Some people know how to fix a broken child, and some people know how to fix a broken system - very few people have the time and talent fix both!

7. You can feel close to God when changing a diaper.

8. Foster Care is the worst paying job in the world.

9. Foster Care is the best paying job in the world.

10. Enjoy the good days when they come - on the bad days, find someone to serve.

11. Kids who've had it rough in life need good, strong parenting.

12. Kids who've had it rough in life need someone to serve them.

13. Knowing when to be a parent, and when to be a servant brings the greatest joy and success.

This is the one I'm most partial to:

14. Abused kids are used to being yelled at - try using funny voices instead!

15. Never let a child go to bed without a "tuck-in".

16. A 10 year old who's never been allowed to be a 10 year old, will not become a 10 year old upon arrival in your home - pick your battles and conquer one behavior at a time.

17. ALWAYS expect that the children will not resemble their "resumes".

18. Children are more important than furniture.

19. Work as if everything depends on you - Pray as if everything depends on the Lord!

20. The greatest lesson the Lord has ever taught me about fostering children came during a church meeting one Sunday. Our newly arrived, nine year old foster son came in during the meeting and asked me to tie his shoes. My first thought was to scold him for not being able to tie the shoes himself. My next thought was to kneel down and tie them for him. My final thought was - I am kneeling at the feet of the Savior!

21. And since I have still not learned everything, my most recent lesson comes from someone I only recently met. When we ask ourselves why a child had to be born to such an abusive parent, remember that the birth of a child is the keeping of a promise made in heaven.