Angels in Adoption

A few weeks ago I got an email in my junk mail titled "Angels in Adoption Welcome Packet."   There's that annoying computer smart thing that finds just the right ads and right junk emails to send you that line up with everything going on in your life.  So I almost scrolled past this one, but decided to open it.

Long story short, ND's Senator Heitkamp chose Bobby and I as ND's Angels in Adoption this year.  We've been a little taken back by all the press it has brought, as we are truly humbled to receive this award.  In fact, at first we had planned to not tell anyone and just let it play out.

Then the press called. 
And the news station. 

So much for keeping the award quiet!

You see, we do not foster or adopt to get any sort of "fame" or award or "good works" mentality. We simply do it because this is the life God has called us to.

You see, we are no Super Couple with everything put together.  We are no Super Parents who have parenting figured out to a T with unending patience and grace.

EVERY SINGLE DAY  I wake up and ask God to help me through the day.  I ask for patience, grace, energy, joy, and enough love to go around. 

And I fail. 

EVERY.

SINGLE.

DAY.


We're asked all the time, "How do you do it?"
Well, I'm here to tell you there is NO WAY we could do this without God's grace and guidance. 
NO WAY.

We started the foster journey 7 years ago.  Adoption, 3.  Through these years we have found that when we fail, it's because we are in a slump in which we feel sufficient on our own.  The times when we're lacking in prayer time.  Lacking in time in the Word. 

 

We ARE NOT sufficient on our own. 

WE

CANNOT

DO

THIS

ALONE.  

 

And in addition to God's loving hands equipping us along the way, we have many others who give us support and encouragement.

• Those who pray for our family.
• People who give financially when they understand the cost of adoption is far too much for an every day couple like us.
• People who send us notes of encouragement.
• Friends who we can call when we need to vent to or be real with.
• Those that I can call at the drop of a hat to watch the kids while we go to doctor appointments, get more signatures, or don't want to go to Wal-Mart with four kids hanging off my cart.
• Friends who bring us meals when we have a new child in our home.
• Those who still invite our large family over for dinners and get-togethers.
• The MANY people who step up and help us at church, AWANAs or other events.

And my mom.  Can I just publicly say how awesome she is!?!??!  How many fifty-something-year-olds are so open and willing to take your children for weeks when you need to travel???  OR who says yes EVERY SINGLE TIME you call saying, "Would you mind having two more kiddos tomorrow when you're watching the kids?"

 

You my friends and family.  YOU are the Angels in Adoption.   

 

For those that always say, "I could never do it"....
You're often the ones that ARE doing it....

by helping us along the way.

**I do want to encourage EVERYONE to at least consider and pray about being a foster parent.  We had two littles in our house this week.  The social worker knew we would be leaving soon so she searched and searched to find a home for the boys.  She couldn't find a home for them together, so they are being split.  When she came over yesterday to pick the littlest up, she told me they just got 3 more children in their care. 

Their case load keeps growing and growing. 

But the number of foster parents does not.

 

We are ALL called to care for orphans. 
Don't feel like you need to be some put-together-perfect family to step out of your comfort zone and do something. 

 

2 Corinthians 12:9-10But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.