Picture Perfect: A Cold Day in May

Brrr.....it is so cold out today.  But Little Miss and I made the most of it by enjoying a walk around town.

 

Begining Our Journey Into Foster Care

(Almost) Three years ago when Tony and I got married I told him I would not foster.  I was passionate about orphans, I was getting a degree in helping distressed families in my community, and I knew I wanted to adopt someday.  I told him I wasn't "called" to foster and it would be too rough on our own kids.  The fact was I was scared and I wasn't willing to let God have that fear.

Slowly over these last few years I have let God in to my heart and my fear.  He has brought into my life many wise families who have been an example and encouragement.  They have been honest with their successes and struggles.  Through that God has been breaking down my heart and replacing it with His.  It has been a challenging process.  Its not always easy to let God in and let Him have control.

Right now our church is focusing on the "Much" that God has given us and the "More" that He wants us to accomplish (Mt. 13:12).  When I started this prayer journey with my church I knew God would do BIG things.  First in our church and next in our family's life.  The days where coming close to the time when the 40 days of prayer would be up but I felt like that big thing was still around the corner. 

Little did I know that God had been working in mine and Tony's heart to the same purpose.  (Although I shouldn't of been surprised.)  Last week we decided to start pursing fostering with the intent of having children in our home after Addilece turns three.  We are hoping to start the licensing process at the end of the summer.  We feel this is just the beginning of the "More" God will entrust us with, not the end.

Scared?  You better believe I'm scared.  No child in this system or another country's system is easy.  We don't know what God will bring through that door.  We are just relying on the fact that this is what God has for us.  We don't know any details about the types and number of children we will be okaying or even licensed for.  We don't know if God will have them here for weeks, years, or forever.  What we do know is that while God places them in our home we will try our best to show them a Savior who cares deeply about them.

I'm keeping a list of the millions of questions I have to run past other foster parents I know and ones I'm being put in contact with. We covet your ,and if your a foster/adoptive parent, your wisdom.  This journey will probably be the most challenging one we have yet embarked on.  We are humbled by what God is going to allow us to do for His kingdom.

Book Review: When Hurt Runs Deep

My most recent book up for review was When Hurt Runs Deep by Kay Aurthur.  Kay is strong in her faith.  She is a very wise woman of God.  This book is full of her wisdom and experience.  However, she backs everything she says with strong biblical evidence.  There is almost as much Scripture as there is of Kay's words in this book. 

Kay talks about the twelve principles of healing from something that hurts you deep.  Because of the sin filled world we live in we will always be surrounded by hurt and suffering.  However, what I liked most about this book was the conviction and peace it brought about for the things that didn't effect me deep down in my soul.  It is definitely a book I would recommend to everyone.

This book is a slow read.  It is one that you will want to sit down in read in a good chunk of time.  You will also want a pen and highlighter handy.  Because of my current life schedule I was not able to sit down for long lengths of time often.  It is still an excellent book, however.

This book was given to me by WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing company.  It was given to be free with no other compensation other than my review.  The opinions expressed in this review are purely my own.

Overwelhming

That is how things feel right now......overwelhming.  The list of everything we can do on the house that we don't need to have money for to do is LONG.  Sometimes I wonder if we will ever get anywhere.  When I think that we've been here 2 1/2 weeks I wonder what we've done for those weeks.  I mean, really I know what we've done, but it makes me feel like its nothing. 

Here is the list:
1. Kitchen cabinets-paint (4 coats to complete each one)
2. Take chair rail off of kitchen walls
3. Strip wall paper in kitchen (it's painted over by the way)
4. Paint kitchen walls
5. Deep clean: entryway, living room, dining room, kitchen, upstairs hallway, office, and Addilece's future room.
6. De-growth yard (this has about a million projects that fall into this category)
7. Remove rocks from around house.
8. Replace missing siding on porch (thankful its also in the garage....we think they might not of known how to finish it)
9. Finish preparing dirt for garden
10. Plant garden
11. Take down ALL lights....clean and paint most of them.
12. Strip wall paper in the dinning room (it's also painted over....fun)
13. Remove falling paint on entryway ceiling and paint.
14.Clean almost every other ceiling in house and see what else needs repainted.

Other Possibles:
1. Paint guest room (and anything else those three gallons will cover)
2. Paint upstairs bathroom (part of those three gallons??? hopefully)

Projects with just a little bit of money:
1. Downstairs bathroom: probably need to buy some drywall....probably have paint for it and found tiles in the garage.....this will only work if the items in there (sink, toilet, bath) are savable.
2. Mud area: If we have paint, then I just need to spray paint some hooks and purchase some totes for shoes.

Like I said...its a LOT!  We've gotten questions of when are we going to tackle a "big" project....but there aren't any "big" projects at this point.  Its just a million little projects.  When you throw in the daily dishes, cleaning, mowing, church and other responsibilities it gets to be a lot.  Then top it off with stuff like part of your ceiling falls in (b/c the roof USED to be leaking...but isn't anymore...thanks to a friend).

So that's life right now.  And that's why posts will be sparse for a while.