Reflections on a year ago.

 So, what was going on in my life a year ago?  That would have been the end of July, 2024, to be exact.  We had been fostering, with the intent to have 2 children adopted, for 6 years. We weren't giving up, though for many, adoption came in that first year even without that being their intention.  Maybe God knew we wouldn't give up and He could take care of a lot of kids in the meanwhile with us.  I think He knew that we still had a lot of working on to do, and He would do it in the 7 years that we stood on His promise of adoption.  We had to submit to him, and He was preparing the hearts of our bio kids. 

We had completed our first adoption at the end of the previous year, on the day we left for an amazing month-long trip to visit my brother in Phuket, Thailand.  Upon arriving back we took a short couple months break before opening our home up to a 9 month old little boy, who was supposed to be a short (couple months) trip back to his momma.  After a couple months had gone by, we got the call for our newest son's baby sister.  Were we ever exstatic!  My daughter, Aliya, and I had been believing for a baby girl, but even when we heard Jaxon's momma was pregnant, we couldn't know that we would get to have her.  Momma's sometimes run, and sometimes the baby never makes it.  We visited her in the hospital until she could come home with us, in the beginning of May, and juggled the 2 babies.  Then at the end of June, I invited a 12 year-old girl who had been bouncing homes and seemed incredibly sweet, to join our team.  We had 6 children in our home.  My, was I over my head!  

Had I been doing what God called me to do?  Fostering is a missional yes.  When you're on mission, it doesn't look like a yes followed by reward, blessings, and ease.  Or, at least that's not been my experience in my humanness.  Difficult cases produce difficult kids who don't know how to live above their circumstances.  Even babies are confused by the change of hands, and any previous drug exposure really does affect the child, no matter what stage of life they're in.  So we often had a battlefield in our house. 

The 9 month old became a 12 month old that learned how to walk and would find the baby girl in her bassinet and smack her, and pull our newly adopted son's hair.  We had screaming pre-teens and screaming babies in the house!  We arranged for the baby to be moved to another friend's house, for his last few weeks before returning to his momma, but we were not yet in recovery and bonding mode.  

Big kids in conflict were the most difficult, but we endured through all kinds of hurtful and rebelious acts in our home and at school, and prayed Holy Spirit fill the rooms of our home.   Then we found out in November, just before she was in her last month of returning to her parents, that she was lieing about our family in reports.  Though we had a great reputation and were not put in investigation, we felt she needed to be moved, and a good friend of mine took her for those last few weeks.   Now it was December, we were a bit in shambles, and ready for some good Christmas memory making.  Recovery and bonding was beginning.  

God would use all of this for His glory.