10/25/2010

A new sense of normal


Another week has passed in our little corner of the world. I would like to say that this one was easier than the ones that preceeded it. It wasn't. It was full of several new and interesting crises. It seems like crisis mode is becoming my new normal. So the question becomes what happens when a family faces multiple crises several weeks in a row. From where I sit the answer is clear: you get mad, or you get over it. When this particular storm hit several weeks ago I got pretty darned mad. For days I was a seething mess of justified anger. I don't think anyone would have blamed me if I had stayed there. But I didn't. I'm now a proud member of the 'get over it' team. This particular storm has shown me just how much I rely on technology, instead of on God. At the beginning I was quick to get upset when something "critical" stopped working. A few weeks later, I have been known to do a happy dance when something does what I want it to do. Instead of whining when something else breaks, I now offer up thankful prayers when something does work. I am constantly being reminded that I need God as my center and not my own agenda.

10/18/2010

Grace under fire


All adoption stories are different. There is one common thread that seems to unite them, struggle. Struggle with birth parents, bureaucracy, and finances or a combination of all three are all common. It seems that our struggle will be of a spiritual nature. I went on a bit of a rampage last week. I’d like to say my war cry made a difference. It didn’t. All week I continued to struggle with anger and frustration over not being able to use “critical” technology. I was at the end of my rope more times than I’d like to admit. To say that my emotions are a little raw right now would be a bit of an understatement. But you know what, God is still in this. I can still see His hand in everything. Aside from technology, every other area of my life is happy. Our fundraising is going better than expected, we are sailing past all our adoption hurdles with remarkable ease, and our friends and family have really rallied around us in support. God is so clearly in the middle of this storm, it’s impossible to miss His presence. And I want the world to know it. The question is how do I let the world know what is really happening in our lives without sounding like a crybaby. How do I handle this mess with God given grace and dignity? In short, I don’t know. I don’t know how to praise God in the storm. But I’m learning. I’m learning what is really critical in my life and what isn’t. It turns out that television and cell phones aren’t, but I’m still not convinced that I can do without reliable access to the internet. On the flip side, Christian music has become a reliable staple in our lives. It’s interesting to note that on the extensive list of things that don’t work in this house that both of our radios (which are constantly tuned to the Christian radio station) are in perfect working order. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Other items that have climbed onto our critical list are Godly friends and family, and time with God in prayer and reading the Bible. It’s funny how much more relevant God’s words are when your emotions are as raw as mine are.
So is this fun? Not really. Am I ready to pitch this mess, and go back to easy life? Sometimes. Ok, more often than not. But am I defeated? No. I am most certainly not defeated. My armor is thick, remember? And it gets thicker every day. I have my eye on the prize, and by golly I’m in it to win it.

10/11/2010

War on warfare

So this weekend was an interesting one in our house. It was full of broken technology and communication breakdowns. Sadly these breakdowns are becoming more and more frequent. Not that I'm surprised. It comes with the turf. Any Christian who steps out in faith should expect to be hit with spiritual warfare. I won't bore you with the list of things that have broken in this house in the last six weeks. But I will say, it's not pretty.
So this last weekend, after a particularly epic breakdown in communication, I was driving around looking at all the pretty fall leaves when a thought occurred to me. I have a choice. I can get fed up and discouraged with all this warfare or I can fight back. I CAN RETALIATE. If Satan wants a war, he's got one. But he just rattled the wrong cage. My armor is thick, my sword is steady, and by golly I serve a mighty commander. So bring it on. From here on every time he hits we as a family are going to hit back by going out of our way to show God's love and kindness to our community.
This is our battle cry. Satan, you've been warned.
(ps. if anyone is interested in enlisting in my army we've got a great retirement plan)

10/05/2010

Why


Last week was quite a week. It was full of more downs than ups. While we don't mean to bring you down with all our troubles, we also don't want to lie to those of you who may be interested in international adoption. It's not a fun game that we're playing because we have nothing better to do. You can't expect to fill out a 3 page application, fork out a few hundred bucks, then twiddle your thumbs until they call you to come get your kid. If that was all we had to do, shoot, we'd have 10 kids by now.
So why bother right? If it's that hard, why do it? We all know that there are lots of kids out there that need a good home. Our foster care system here in the States is burdened with more kids than they can handle. If we really wanted another kid, why not just get one of the easy ones that are already here in the States. Our answer is this: we don't just want another kid. We want a specific kid. If we really wanted a bigger family it be a lot easier to just get pregnant. That's not what we want. We were introduced to a sweet, intelligent little boy who was in a really bad spot. If we bring him home he'll have a good chance at being a productive member of society. If he stays where he is, chances are pretty good that he'll either commit suicide or go to jail.
So, forward we trudge. Bolstered by supportive friends and family.

10/04/2010

Chip In

I saw this chipin widgit on a friend's blog. It's an easy way for our readers to contribute to our fundraising efforts. Without having tried it, you should be able to click on the ChipIn button, and make a contribution (through paypal or with a credit / debit card) right there. In a perfect world we'd be able to adjust the amount raised feature ourselves to show how much we've risen in our other fundraising efforts, but this is close. So who wants to try it out to see how well it works?

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...