No matter who you voted for, whether you’re celebrating or mourning, the election is over. The advocating and voting are done, there’s nothing more to do there. But there is good to do. There is a way that we can affect the future of this nation.
All in orphan-care
No matter who you voted for, whether you’re celebrating or mourning, the election is over. The advocating and voting are done, there’s nothing more to do there. But there is good to do. There is a way that we can affect the future of this nation.
As a foster mom, you may not get the fruit of prayers answered and hopes realized. You may not get proms, graduations, weddings, and grandchildren. Let’s be real. You may not even get the fruit of bedtime routines achieved, table manners acquired, multiplication tables learned, or secrets whispered. But what you will get, what we foster parents are working for, is the joy of being faithful right now. Today, I have today. And I will faithfully train and parent and love this child today and for as many more “todays” as I get.
But helping these children meant dealing with the state agency, the one I had been afraid of and looked down upon, the one I had warned others about...I met the recruiter. She met me with an inviting smile and helpful answer. She had a heart for adoption, a burden to see the church rise up and champion foster care, and a genuine love for the children she advocated for. She was “the state.”
Some of them are writers and some are “just” moms, but they were all faithful to write and share their story with others and, eventually, with me. I want to give them the gift that others gave to me in sharing their words. But more importantly, I want to give you the gift of reading their words and entering their stories...It wasn't my arms they were placed into, and their daddy wasn't there to cut the cord. He couldn't carry them swaddled to me for the first time like their sister.
Some of them are writers and some are “just” moms, but they were all faithful to write and share their story with others and, eventually, with me. I want to give them the gift that others gave to me in sharing their words. But more importantly, I want to give you the gift of reading their words and entering their stories... "Healing days are about trauma and rewiring her brain. They need to happen for her to be healthy. But when the healing days become healing weeks, the weight of her suffering feels all consuming."
Some of them are writers and some are “just” moms, but they were all faithful to write and share their story with others and, eventually, with me. I want to give them the gift that others gave to me in sharing their words. But more importantly, I want to give you the gift of reading their words and entering their stories... "Then, the text came. It was my mom. “I know you have decided not to foster, but there is a family who has foster children that will most likely need to be adopted. Are you interested?”
Some of them are writers and some are “just” moms, but they were all faithful to write and share their story with others and, eventually, with me. I want to give them the gift that others gave to me in sharing their words. But more importantly, I want to give you the gift of reading their words and entering their stories..."I'm reading about how sharing your story can change the world. I'm a terrible story teller. I do have a story, but not sure how to begin to tell it."
A couple of months ago a judge took away your biological mother’s rights and you had your last visit with her, said goodbye to her. I cried for you and cried for your mom and cried for the loss all around, but then dried my tears and assumed life would go on as usual. It hasn’t.
You get a cute shirt and needy, deserving girls in Uganda get an education. Buying one of these beauties is a classic win-win.
As much as any future foster parent may wish this process away to just get on with the foster caring, maybe it’s the perfect intro course into foster care...maybe the sacrifice is meant to remind us of why we got into foster care in the first place.
Her father hadn’t shown up, but she had her daddy, going to great lengths, working to adopt her and become her forever father. And she had her God, who already “finished” the great work, making the way to adopt her and become her Forever Father.
In the global community of 2016, maybe the definition of “neighbor” has grown past our own local communities...So, NEIGHBOR, I want to make you aware of a need so that you, too, can consider if it's one of the ways you're meant to be involved in orphan care...my friends are having a fundraiser, selling super cool shirts to help fund the massive expensive of giving this little one a family.
If you read these numbers anything like the way I typed them, you just glossed over all the zeros and saw the precise number of “it’s a really big problem.” These kinds of numbers are just too much to even process...A few minutes of fifth grade calculations and the numbers are quite easily reconciled.
I’m grateful he keeps saying yes to something that makes him uncomfortable, because He loves God and others more than he loves his own comfort. I’m grateful he’s opened his heart and home to all of the children who’ve come in and out. I’m grateful that he’s followed The Father’s example and become a father to the fatherless.
In three weeks a judge will take away her legal rights as this little girl’s mother. In a year, our daughter’s birth certificate will show my name as her only mother. This woman was first stripped of her relationship as mother, will soon be stripped of her rights as mother, but nothing can take her biology as mother.
I am passionate about being just an ordinary mom to my 4+ bio/adoptive/foster children. Loving my two foster daughters well is the best thing I can do to “fix the system.” But I am also passionate about helping give a voice to the other 150 million children who don’t have a mom loving them well. This is why I love The Archibald Project.
RANDY ALCORN shared my story on his blog. If you’re wondering how in all the world this happened, I’ll tell you exactly how it went down. I wrote my little blog post and sent it to him, 100% sure that he would never lay eyes on it but figuring I had nothing to lose. This is what is known as “swinging for the fences.” That was a sports analogy. I believe it was a baseball analogy.
James 1:27 is a call to VISIT orphans. It’s a call to spend time with, to play with and hug and feed and serve and know and care for orphans...If you have a burden for children in foster care but can’t be a foster parent, maybe you’re meant to be a foster “carer.” (Yes, it’s a real word. No, do not look it up.)
Many of my readers have asked questions about becoming licensed as foster parents, so Britt and Andy have volunteered to allow me to follow them through their licensing process. They've signed on to become the first official Foster the Family “reality blog” stars. You can just call them the Kardashians.
“He who did not spare His own Son but gave him up for us all…” This is WHY I can give up a child I love. This is HOW I can give up a child I love.