Joyous Journeys

As I was reading through all my blogs I am realizing that there is no beginning to our Journey and how we came to be where we are now doing what we are doing. So here is a little back track in time. Johnny and I have been married for 4 years as of April. We have 3 children that have passed on to be with the Lord from July '05 to Dec '06.
We felt a strong calling from God to adopt but were told that in order to adopt a newborn you would have to foster first. So we are in a program called foster to adopt. We basically receive children (infants -2 yrs) that are "risky" (meaning they could come up for adoption but they could also be reunified with family and you will lose them) so that we could at least have the opportunity to adopt an infant that we have been raising from birth.
So far we have been licensed for a little over a year and we have been placed with 3 children total 2 of which we still have.
We have had Bear for almost 10 months now (The picture is of his homecoming). He came to us when he was 7 days old straight from the hospital. We got to cut the ID bracelet off of his tiny little ankle and everything. So precious and so sweet. He is getting so big and learning so much stuff. He is the one standing in the previous pictures. He is trying to walk. We are now in the waiting process to be able to adopt him (I think we have been here the whole duration; but the court is now on the same page Ü). He has a court date set real soon for final termination. So maybe before his 1st birthday we will know if we can adopt him.
Five months after being placed with Bear we received another little boy we will call Iggy when he was 5 months old. Bear at this time was also 5 months old. Wow talk about twins one of which you have not been raising... rough. He left after 3 weeks to be with his siblings at another foster home nearby.
Shortly after he left we received Moe whom is now with us as well. Moe was 6 weeks old when he arrived. He has come so far in just the 3 1/2 months he has been with us. We had to work real hard on him. Among other problems that were curable by amoxicillin and other drugs he was very aloof when he got here. And very insecure which makes for a very unhappy baby. He was in rough shape and screamed a lot.
A lot of people say to me now "you have such happy babies; you are lucky you got babies that were so good"; but anyone that knows how foster children can be (due to the confusion and frustration from transitioning, they can be very scared and hard in the beginning) knows that this statement is not true. What is needing to be said is "Wow you have worked your tail off to make them feel secure and loved and teach them the things they need to know about being structured and well mannered even though you may not be able to keep them". They don't just come with all these good qualities built in. Far from it. These children are being removed from something far worse than some of us could even imagine and OUR job as their foster PARENTS is to teach them the love of Christ and teach them how true love from PARENTS is supposed to look UNCONDITIONALLY so that they can have healthy childhoods.
So next time you see a foster parent with good kids. Tell them that they have done a wonderful job as their PARENTS. Of course Johnny and I always thank God that He guides us through it and leads us in parenting them. It is Him alone using us, we just have to be obedient and strong willed to push through even the toughest of times. Believe me there are many days that I wanted to wash my hands of this and say "It is not worth it; doing the hard part so some one else can enjoy them later"... but that was my flesh feeling the pressure and discomfort. It is not an easy job by far; It is very selfless and consistent. But God is calling us to something far greater than ease and comfort. It is worth it for me to parent these "abandoned, abused, neglected" babies. We will give them the start in life God had planned for them. WE will pick up where the bio parents could not push through. We will be God's vessels to show them the LOVE they need and deserve. And God help us we will pray them right into the home that they are supposed to be in permanently. It will be hard I am positive but it will be rewarding to know that we have done the will of God no matter the cost. UNCONDITIONALLY!
We will continue foster/adopt until God says so and we invite you to join us for the journey. Thank you for your love and support. We could not do this without you all.
God Bless and keep you and your families.