It has been a fun yet daunting task to prepare my home for children. After making half a dozen trips to Walmart and Lowes, I finally have the rooms prepared for children to temporarily live in my home.
Recently, I have been buying new pillows, mattress pads and microfiber sheets. Even as I type, I am thinking that I need to replace my $4 pillows with $9 ones to ensure the best nights sleep for the future kids who will be afraid to lay their head down in a strangers home. Furniture has been moved around several times and it's on my to do list to organize my fridge and buy closet organizers.
My good friend Melissa joked that I was "nesting". I had to look the word up because all I could think of was an eagle spending 3 months just to prepare a sturdy yet soft nest for her young. According to americanpregnancy.com, "Nesting during pregnancy is the overwhelming desire to get your home ready for your new baby. The nesting instinct is strongest in the later weeks coming up on delivery." Maybe that means I will have a child in my home sooner rather than later :)
One verse that came to me today was John 14:2-3, "My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."
The idea that Jesus is preparing a place for me in eternity is humbling. He is making it perfect and when the time is right, He will come and take me to that special place, His presence! I imagine that He is doing much more than buying $9 pillows and microfiber sheets, but in a small way I'd like to think that I can relate to His love for children who may not even love him yet.
Ladies!
I have been silent for the past few weeks, but I am still here! Let me give you a little life update 😊
I am changing jobs (kind of...same organization, different role)
Finished my certification classes to be a foster parent!!!
Purchased a new car (after old car died on me several times and forced me to pay for rental cars for two weeks!)
Planned a weekend retreat for 80+ kids
Got attacked by bedbugs at a camp and had a bad allergic reaction (face swollen and full of hives…#cute)
So yeah, things have been a little crazy and exciting!! I am so glad that God put it on my heart to do the 90 challenge because those healthy habits have helped me to stay sane during this slightly hectic time of my life.
I want this post to focus on my journey as a foster parent. As I type this, I am sitting in a doctor’s office to get a form signed saying that the doctor thinks I’m healthy enough to be a parent, I just finished paying the lawn guy and the house cleaner to make sure my house looks perfect for the home study and last night I finished spending a few hundred dollars on a crib, pack and play and car seat. I plan to put child locks on all the cabinets after work tonight…fun times!
Some people may wonder why I am becoming a foster parent. Honestly, I ask myself the same question. Why would I disrupt my life and open my home and heart to children who may never love or respect me?
Why would I sign up to be greatly inconvenienced by the various needs the children may bring due to the trauma they've experienced?
Why would I choose to become a single parent???
It makes no sense to me. It has to be that God put his desire to care for orphans on my heart. When I was a child, I knew without a doubt that I wanted to adopt. Adopting gives you the benefit of having your own child, rearing them up, being called mom, etc. Foster care does not promise that. Foster care asks you to love children like your own and then give them back to the very people they were taken away from. You essentially sign up to get your heart broken.
I am still in the beginning of my journey. I enjoyed taking the PATH classes to mentally prepare for foster care and I have been thankful for friends who have reassured me that I will be a great “mom”. I’m excited to relate to my friends with children and I look forward to making new friends in the foster care community.
Have any of you ever thought of foster care? What questions do you have for me?
Last night, I barely slept and I woke up this morning with the nagging thought in my mind.
"I have to make a decision"
You may be able to relate if you have ever been at a crossroads in your life. There is something that has been gnawing at your heart but you keep avoiding the inevitable because you are not ready to make the hard decision.
I mentioned in a previous post that I was re-prioritizing my life and had made some small changes. Deep down, I know there are bigger changes to be made but I have been dragging my feet because the changes I make will radically change the next season of my life.
I was talking to a dear friend last night and she was telling me about her decision to leave a certain ministry group. She said "I had been thinking about it for 8 or 9 months, it was past time for me to leave".
Her comment struck me. In my situation, I can say that I have been thinking about the shift that I need to make for much longer. I admired her courage to make a decision and move forward. I need that courage. I certainly don't want to be out of season with what God is doing in my life.
What do you do when you are at a crossroads? As believers, we should look to God as our guide. When we are facing hard decisions we may want to ask God for a sign. There is no shame in this but before you ask God for a supernatural sign, look at the natural signs that he may have already sent.
1. Have you been thinking about this decision consistently for a significant amount of time?
2. Have fellow believers challenged you on it?
3. Are scriptures seeming to pop out from the page to lead you towards a certain decision?
4. Do you have peace in your heart about making the decision even though it may be hard?
Those are just a few questions that I have been asking myself. I highly recommend Priscilla Shirer's Discerning the Voice of God for specific steps to hearing God's voice in your life. That book alone helped me through a very difficult time!
As a matter of fact, Priscilla's book helped me so much that I have read it through 3 times...I tend to pull it out when I'm facing a hard life decision. I would love to gift the audio sessions of Discerning The Voice of God ($23.00 Value) to a friend/reader who is facing a crossroads in her life.
How to enter:
1. Reply to this email and tell me about a current crossroads in your life and why winning the audio sessions of Discerning the Voice of God would be a blessing to you.
2. The winner will be announced next week in my weekly email update.
