Preparing for tomorrow

I think there are a lot of valuable lessons for me in my kid's favorite Bible story...David and Goliath!

"Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him." I Samuel 17:32
We currently are fighting a pretty big giant here, but as this verse says, we must not lose heart. We have no control, it looks like the parents are doing what they need to be doing, we may not get to keep Little Man here with us forever, BUT we must not lose heart!

" I cannot go in these,' he said to Saul, 'because I am not used to them.' So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine." I Samuel 17:38b-40
We cannot use someone else's faith to fight our giant!

"David said to the Philistine, 'You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty'." I Samuel 17:45

"All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord's..." I Samuel 17:47 (emphasis mine)
The following is from my study Bible and totally summed it up for me :)

"Many of us have obstacles looming in the distance. We can approach them with the same confidence as David: When we pray in the Lord's name, remember what God has done and confidently place the results in God's hands." (emphasis mine)

One year ago today!

I can hardly even believe that it was ONE year ago today that Little Man was brought to our home and joined our family!!!!!!!!! Back then he was a 5 1/2 month old BIG boy who actually assimilated pretty well. I remember the initial item that stopped him from crying was a red bulb on the Christmas tree that he could see himself in :) The first month he was with us are almost a blur as we adjusted to having an infant in the house and especially because he was SO SICK with asthma problems. We had so many Dr. visits that month it was crazy! Of course things settled down and he became part of our family. He has changed so much and is developing into quite the little character! He's not a baby anymore and he is looking more and more like a big boy!

Never in my foster care fantasies did I imagine that our first foster care placement would be this long. I'm not really sure what I expected, but I think I was expecting more of what my friend has had her first year...12 kids! Obviously God has us each on the path that He has planned for our separate families but we certainly have had different experiences for sure!

I have learned so much in the past year...there have been very hard times...there have been fun/easy times...there have been moments where I want to scream at the system...there have been moments when I have tried to encourage workers with tangible efforts to "keep going" when their job was "too much." There have been times when I have cried at the very thought of having to say goodbye...there have been times where I dreamed of the day I could announce that Little Man would be a permanent member of our family! I never imagined the emotional rollercoaster that foster care has turned out to be, but I know that this rollercoaster is from God and we are along for the ride to do as He wants us to!!



We have no idea how much longer Little Man will be here with us (hopefully we'll have a bit more of an idea after Friday) but we will cherish each and every day we have with him and even if he does return to his parents someday we will never regret having the blessing of him in our lives for however long God had him here!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We have so much to be thankful for this year! This is Little Man's first Thanksgiving with us and we are definititely thankful that we have him here to celebrate this year
:-) I think Thanksgiving will be this kid's favorite holiday because it involves his favorite activity---EATING!!!

Little Man's permanency hearing is next week and so is the one year marker of his arriving at our home. It has been a good 2 months since he has had any "after visit" nightmare wake-ups...that is until last week. His Dad's visits have been reinstated and with the all that is coming next week there is some definite stuff in the spiritual realm that is going on! He had a visit yesterday and last night he was just fitfull in his sleep and around 10:30 he had "THAT" scream! He is really only half awake, but is so overcome that it's hard to settle him back down. He is fearful and can't relax to go back to sleep. This has only ever happened after his visits. I am THANKFUL that he is in our home and that we have the opportunity to pray over him when he is feeling this way! God has taught me a lot about spiritual warfare in the past year and just what a position we are in for Little Man (and any other child/ren that come into our home).

Have a BLESSED day blog friends!!!! We will :-)

Thinking about Christmas....

I'd like to hear from some of you other foster parents out there....Do you do something for your foster children's birthparents for Christmas? If so, what do you do? A card? Special picture? Gift?

Last Christmas we didn't even have contact with his parents so it wasn't an issue. Since then of course we have developed a relationship (kinda) :) . I was thinking perhaps a special card with his picture or something similar.

What are you ideas???

Getting bigger!

My big guy is 17 months old today! I can hardly believe it!! We went to a dinner at church last night and as I was tucking him back into his carseat to go home I told him that I loved him and he grabbed my face a planted a big 'ole kiss on me! Then he said "wub woo!" Awwwww.....

A tad tired (warning...a little venting!) :)

A few weeks ago Little Man's transporter asked both the mom and I if we could switch his visit from Wed. to Tues at 10am. We both said that was fine. I verified it with him last week when L.M. was dropped off. Yesterday comes and it's 9:30 (time scheduled to pick up)...9:45...10:00 and no transporter. I called him and asked what was going on and he said that he had double booked and was currently supervising a visit. He called me back a few min. later and asked if he could pick him up at 3:30. Ugh...fine! Little Man got back home at 6:30 last night..had dinner and went to bed. Just a tad tired (this is the 3rd time the transporter has done this me) of my time not being valued and expectations of me being flexible.

So when he got back I read the communication book. If you have been reading my blog for awhile now you know that L.M.'s mom is VERY picky about what he wears (NO jeans...baggy, etc). So..for his b-day back in June she gave him 3 outfits. In order to stop her complaining about what I put on him I only put him in these outfits (rotating them). Yesterday she wrote and asked if he had any other clothes that fit him. Ummm....yes of course he has more than three outfits! I am getting more bold with her about things like this and wrote back to her that I will be more than happy to put other outfits on him, but if she prefers no jeans/baggy only clothes that she will need to supply them and I would be happy to put him in them for his visits. Just a tad tired of being "told" how I need to dress a child in my care. When you have your son back you can dress him how you want to. You kind of lost that right when you made the choices you did. I tried to respect her wishes and it's just frustating she doesn't appreciate it!

So another thing is that they meet at the mall. I have a bag that I send with him and she has placed two small blankets in there for them to sit on (him at least) while they play. A couple of times now she has told me they need to be washed. Umm...ok I did it last time and I will do it once more, but I wrote to her that perhaps next time she could take them with her, wash them, and bring them back. Just a tad tired....I know this seems like a silly little thing..what's the big deal, but all these things add up!

His mom can be a nice lady...really, but she has a big issue of expecting everyone to DO for HER. She wants the state to supply her with a rent free apt, she wants "someone" to get her a job and a car, she wants DCF to supply all the big things like a bed, stroller, etc that she will need. I am all for helping people in need, but I also think they need to learn to look in and do something for YOURSELF for some self-satisfaction. Neither one fo them have actual jobs...their criminal histories make that tough. I have ZERO confidence that the two of them together could at all take care of Little Man's needs. No jobs...no stable housing...and the kicker is that she thinks she'll have him back for Christmas! Just a tad tired....

All of that to say that I am leaning (more than ever!!) on God to take care of Little Man. I have NO control...court is two weeks away and that will be a pivotal day. If we have to send him back I will be concerned for his health and safety everyday, but at the same time trusting God that He knows what He's doing and will protect Little Man.

National Adoption Day 2010 is coming up!

November 20, 2010 (many states are celebrating the 19th) :-)