Open to What Comes: Our Foster/Adopt Update

I was speaking with a friend this morning about my experience with the baby we had for a week.  I know I shared with you the tough parts, but he was a cute little stinker and there were some fun parts as well.  He had a great smile.  He also loved our dogs and would stare and smile at them.  (It was cuteness overload.)  He was a pretty good kid.  As a matter of fact, he was everything we had requested on our foster/adopt paperwork.  He was our first choice in gender and age.  He looked like he could be our child (something we didn’t request but I think deep down both liked.)  We also were required to give them a list of what disabilities we did and did not want to manage as parents and this child was right on par with what we thought we could handle.

But it wasn’t right.  From the first day I didn’t feel connected to him. He looked like he could be a member of our family, but he didn’t act like the babies in my family acted.  Something was just off.  If this little one came open for adoption today, we would not accept the placement.  He didn’t fit in our family.  We asked God for a certain kind of child and when we got him, it wasn’t right.  I almost feel as though God gave us that experience so that we would clear our mind of what is the right child for us and be open for whoever he sends our way.  Something about this has made me more excited than before.  As opposed to planning for a certain kind of kid, we are going to be given a total surprise.  I can’t wait to see what God does.  He knows us more intimately that we know ourselves, so we choose to trust Him.

For those who want the update, our paperwork is complete.  Our home studies are done.  Any day we should receive a call or email saying that we are approved.  From the moment they say “approved” we can get a child or children placed in our home.  We will be licensed as a “resource” family.  That means we will foster with the intent to adopt the child were he or she to become open.  So, prayers in our direction, please!  We want God’s perfect plan for our lives: no matter how that looks.  (One child, two children…we’ll see what we get!)

Everyone Needs That Person

As someone who leads a small group, I believe really strongly in the importance of community.  We all need people in our corner.  We need a friend to cry with us, a friend to rejoice with, a friend who will pray for us, and (cause I’m a girl) a friend to shop with.  I want to add something onto this list, though.  We all need a friend who challenges us.  We need someone in our lives who makes us want to be a little better.  Some friends motivate us by simply living their life in a stellar way.  We see it and want to strive to be like that too.  Others verbalize their challenge on our lives.  They call us out or hold us accountable.

My husband has a friend that falls in this category.  Every time he hangs out with this guy, I notice my husband change for the better.  He’ll go grab wings with the guy and the next day I’ll see him jumping into the word and asking folks if he can pray for them.  Yesterday he grabbed lunch with this dude and came home with a juicer, talking about how he wanted to improve his health and break his family history of diabetes.

Those thoughts were always in my husband, he just needed someone to challenge him to rise up and be that person.  He needed someone who didn’t share his last name telling him that he could do it.

We all need that person.

Who is that person for you?