August23
I really have no excuse for being MIA, except for the fact that in N. Idaho we only have about 3 months of summer (but this summer it was about 8 weeks, ugh), so we are busy having fun. In fact, so much fun that lately the kids have been begging to just have a ?rest? day at home because having fun has just worn them out. So? today is a rest day, and thus, I am here.
First off, the Shadricks are doing great. Oh my word, Sarah is fitting in so well with our family, it is nothing short of a beautiful miracle. I can?t believe that Sarah has already been home with us for 7 months and our adoption roller coaster seems like a distant memory. Now that we are on this side of? adoption, I can honestly say, with some experience under my belt, that if you are considering adoption or in the longggg, harrrdddd, heart wrenching wait for your child, know this, adoption is amazing and so worth every single moment of work, prayer, tears? Adoption has transformed our family in ways we never imagined?.
Sarah, now 17 months old, finally started walking about a month ago, and now she doesn?t stop:) She loves to talk (in fact most of the time it still sounds like Amharic:) and LOVES her family and exploring this world with us.
Sarah at the Spokane Mobius Children's Museum
Sarah at the park with her new favorite dress (thanks Jeanette:)
By far Sarah?s favorite toy is her baby doll, ?Deedee?(thank you Chris and Jeff Butler). She LOVES to push baby ?Deedee? around in her stroller and the pride and determination she shows as she navigates her little darling around is fun to watch! Sarah also loves to smother Deedee in kisses and hugs, which blesses our hearts because it shows how loved Sarah feels ? hallelujah! Although only 17 months old, she is incredibly nurturing and motherly (even with real live babies), I can?t wait to see what God has in store for her tender heart.
Ivy and Quincy are now saving their allowance up to help build a home for a special family that we support in Ethiopia. Once again we are amazed at how? tender their hearts are and how adoption has changed their perspective.
And finally, after lots of prayer, guidance and discernment, we? feel that our family is to pursue foster care with an emphasis on the foster-adopt program. When we first felt called to adoption over 2 years ago we began by looking at the local needs of children in our area and country. We researched and inquired about Foster-adoption and the doors CLOSED at EVERY turn. We were told up front that the need for children ages 0-3yrs was very small and we would probably never get a placement. We wanted to adopt where there was a need, and it was at that point that we turned our sights on International Adoption, which we know is where God wanted us.
A few? months ago we began praying about out next adoption, where did God want us to look for our next child? While my flesh desperately wants to dive right back into ET, my Spirit just did not have peace, and neither did Jason?s. I started looking into other IA programs, China, Korea? but nothing felt right. One night I asked Jason where he felt our next child would come from, and he said ?domestically.? I actually laughed out loud and said, rather matter of fact, ?Honey, that will never happen. First off, foster-adopt just wont work because of our age restrictions, and with domestic infant adoption, a birth mom would never choose us because we can have bio kids & we already have kids?and? why would we even try to adopt a baby when there are so many families lined up for them and really, we just aren?t ?needed? for domestic infant adoption. Sorry hon, but you are ?hearing? wrong.? He simply replied, ?well, you asked, and that is what I feel??
The next day a friend stopped by to say ?hi? and confined in me that they are getting licensed for foster care and want to foster-adopt. I told her that I would LOVE to adopt via foster system but Jason would not be supportive of it for at least a few years, if at all. As I talked more with my friend, she shared all that she has learned about our state foster-adopt program and that they actually do need families for children aged 0-3 (2 years ago we were told that the chances of getting a 0-3yr placement was minimal). I started to get excited.
That night our social worker ?happened? to come over to do our 6 mo. post placement report and she just ?happened? to be the? foster-care specialist for our HS agency. After Jason got home from work, and before our social worker came over, I asked Jason what he thought about asking our social worker about foster-adoption. I fully expected him to say ?no way?, and was shocked when he said ?I told you I felt we are to look domestically. Its about time you came around ? wink, wink.? I was floored, I never expected those words from Jason.
So that evening we discussed this opportunity with our social worker, who is also a believer. We then decided to take it slow and spend time praying over such a huge decision.As time passed, we felt more and more convicted about? caring for orphans (James 1:27) in our own community.
In fact, I began to feel like a total hypocrite as I shared about a wonderful new program that YWAM has in ET called ?Adoption Ministry 1:27? where people can ?sponsor? either a single parent family on the brink of losing their children due to poverty or illness (which would result in another orphaned child) or ?sponsor? an Ethiopian foster family which allows them to financially afford to take care of an orphan in their own community. International Adoption is clearly not the solution to the global orphan crises, and via this new program YWAM is partnering with local ET churches to promote local orphan care by offering sustainable, long term, more realistic solutions for Ethiopian orphans.
So here I was, promoting? a program that enables and encourages Ethiopians to care for their ?own? orphans, and here we were, not doing the same here in our own local area. Did I expect Ethiopians to do something that we ourselves were not willing to do? That was a hard question?.
As days turned into weeks a sense of peace surrounded the idea of fostering and the once scary thought of only being able to love a child for a season, suddenly felt like an incredible blessing and opportunity. Until recently I was fearful that Foster care or Foster Adoption would be too emotionally taxing on us, but now my heart aches for the little ones who need a safe, loving home, even if only for a season.
I also used to wonder how the instability of foster care/adoption would affect our children? But then I realized that while we were teaching our children to advocate, love and give to the orphans and vulnerable children of our world, we were failing to show them the realities of many children in our own community and what we, as believers in Christ, are to do for the ?least of these? right outside our door.
My fear of having a child, whom we cared for,? ripped from our home used to produce great fear in me? But now, by the grace of God, I see the opportunity to love on a child for a season as a gift, honor and blessing. We plan to pour enough love and prayer over each child to last them a lifetime. These? children may never again have anyone praying on their behalf, and so we will take seriously the opportunity to do so, even if just for a short time.
Now don?t get me wrong, while I feel that we are more emotionally prepared for the heart ache, I am not naive to the reality of fostering. We recognize the emotional roller coaster that comes along with foster care and the need to be on our knees in prayer a lot, which is always a good place to be. And for those of you concerned about the safety of our other children, we are trying to be very wise about the children we will allow in our home. We will in no way risk the safety and well being of our other children, so please, have faith and confidence in the decisions we make for our family and remember that we love Ivy, Quincy and Sarah more than you, and thus we would never do anything to jeopardize their safety.
Our ?plan? (which I totally recognize as meaning nothing because, like we learned with Sarah?s adoption, God?s plan is the one that counts), is to start slowly with respite care (babysitting or watching foster children for short time periods, like hours or a few days), and then if God wants us to continue, we will move on to accepting long term placements of children (or a child) who are likely going to have parental rights terminated and will be placed for adoption.
While we do have a dream and a vision, we fully accept that God can change things very quickly and this may not end the way we envision. But our job is to be obedient today, and to say ?yes? today, so that is what we do. Today God is asking us to get licensed for Foster Care, so we are, and we will see where He takes us.
We really have no expectations of what will happen, and I am done trying to guess what God has planned for us. We may adopt via foster care or we never even get a placement and we may be led to international adoption again and find ourselves waiting to bring home another child from Ethiopia or some other distant land (and trust me, I am soooo anxious to start another International Adoption!).
But regardless of where the journey takes us, we will continue to allow God to break our hearts and mobilize us in new ways. He is only good and His plans are so perfect. We are just along for the ride.
Blessings,
kameron
Source: http://theshadrickslove.com/?p=2197
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