Monday, February 20, 2017
Baby is here
Our new little one is now here with us, bringing our current number of children to six. She's doing well so far. The kids can't get over how tiny she is. They haven't had much experience with a baby so small, but they are all in love already. I am too. We will see what they think of her if she starts crying loudly at 2am. It sure was fun pulling out Hannah's old newborn clothing. It's funny how everything can change in a minute. All my plans need to be reevaluated now in light of having an infant now. Hopefully there is sleep at some point in our future, lol. But I'm so excited to be able to love on this little one for however long she is here. I can't really share her personal info, but her life has had a rough and sad start. I'm thankful for the chance to share Jesus' love with her. We've been praying for a baby of our own for quite some time now, but that hasn't happened. I'm happy to help care for this one while we wait. If you don't hear from me for awhile after this, you will now know why!
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Talent Show
As I mentioned in the last post, our family participated in a church talent show on Saturday night. This was a part of fundraising event for the youth missions trip this coming summer. We signed up to do several different things. Nathanael and Micah both played piano solos and Luke played "God of Wonders" on guitar. However, John decided to add us all in on God on Wonders, so it wound up turning into a family song. I did a solo and John and I also did a duet. I have "God of Wonders" and the duet on video and I wanted to share that with you here. The duet is called "Make a Way" and it is originally by a band called I Am They. While various people were performing different acts, a spaghetti dinner was served. After the meal and the talent portion was over, we had a time of corporate worship. John and I were also asked to help with this, so we did. I do not have that on video to share, but we really enjoyed worshiping with everyone last night. Many of John's family members were in town for a family event, so they came to the talent show. John's mother, his grandparents, and two of his aunts were all there with us, so that was special. His mom was able to join us for "God Of Wonders", as you will see. A very special thank you and shout out to Sarah W. who watched my girls so that I could rehearse and sing without having to keep being mommy off to the side.
Micah was a little distraught because he was supposed to sing with Grandma on"God of Wonders" and his mic was not working properly. So when you see him looking around and trying to talk to me during the song, he was trying to get me to fix his mic and he didn't understand that I couldn't do anything about it at that point. So we will teach him about continuing on even when you experience technical difficulties, as it happen to everyone at some point.
Here is the video. Enjoy!
Micah was a little distraught because he was supposed to sing with Grandma on"God of Wonders" and his mic was not working properly. So when you see him looking around and trying to talk to me during the song, he was trying to get me to fix his mic and he didn't understand that I couldn't do anything about it at that point. So we will teach him about continuing on even when you experience technical difficulties, as it happen to everyone at some point.
Here is the video. Enjoy!
February Update
Hello everyone! I wanted to give a quick update since we have had a lot going on around here.
We had a really nice trip to MS to see John's family for Christmas. We both thought it was one of the best times we have had there. All of John's siblings were there and we also had an opportunity to meet a new little niece that we had not yet met. We did a family photo shoot and took some photos of the entire family that will be cherished for years to come. On the way home, we were able to stop in Branson, MO to take the kids to see Moses at the Sight and Sound Theater. This was a gift from a family member and was such a blessing to my family.
When we got back it was nice to finally have a winter where we didn't have commitments every Saturday. We had this idea in our heads that winter weekends would be down time for our family. But the first winter we were here, John wound up taking welding classes every Saturday and the week after his classes stopped, he had to start working Saturdays again for spring planting. Then last year, we wound up taking foster care classes every Saturday, and the week those stopped, you guessed it, it was time to get ready for planting again. So we were quite excited to have our Saturdays with John this winter. Upon our return from the nice warm south (I wore a t shirt and capris on Christmas!!), we were asked to again provide respite care for three little ones we watched twice last year. Respite care is like foster care babysitting. So we were watching another foster family's foster children. These three little ones are 4 months, 1, and 2, so they gave me many flashbacks to the days when my boys were all under three. They are great kids and we love having them here. We watched them for a long weekend in November, then for a week in December, and then for four days in January. The night before they came, we got a call about a two year old. We were at our max with the three siblings, so we were not able to take the two year old in right away. However, they did not have another family for her so as soon as the three siblings left, I picked up the two year old from the emergency shelter where she was staying. So we have had a two year old foster daughter with us for the last five weeks now. She is a smart little cookie, and is very articulate for a two year old. She will be three right before Luke and I celebrate our birthdays. As with every placement, we don't really know how long she will be with us. But we are thankful that things are going well and we have been able to have a good relationship with her parents and the social workers. That always makes things so much less stressful.
But now we are about to take things to a new level. On Friday, I got a call about a newborn who needed a home. She is still in the hospital for one more day, but when she is discharged on Monday, we will bring her home to live with us too. (No, I don't know how long she will be with us.) She will be 5 days old when we bring her home. Have you noticed the Lord keeps bringing us girls? This baby will be our 7th foster daughter. (We did have two boys just for a night, but that was temporary for an emergency situation.) I think it's because He knows that I have all of Hannah's old clothes and much of her girlie baby stuff but I gave all the boys' old clothes away. So I am totally set to accept a little girl at the drop of a hat, but I'd have to go shopping if I take boys in. (We don't always get a lot of warning and we never know if they will have any clothes until they are already at our house. So there is often not time to do much preparation for whoever is coming and we have never been told anyone's sizes in advance.) Anyhow, we are very excited to care for a newborn. I was able to go to the hospital on Saturday evening and spend several hours bonding with her. I am looking forward to spending a few more hours with her on Sunday afternoon. I wish I could share a photo with you, but I can't. She is such a precious little girl. I spent a good amount of time just praying over her and singing worship songs while holding her. I want to make the most of every opportunity that I get to speak truth and life into each child's heart because they often leave just as suddenly as they came. I never know how much time I will have with them. So if things were to change and for some reason I didn't wind up taking her home on Monday, at least I will know that I sang God's truth over her and prayed for her on Saturday and Sunday. This will be our first time to have two different placements at once, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. It's always interesting to experience different situations so we can see what does and doesn't work for our family and it also opens our eyes to the many different ways God can use us as a foster family.
Our family sang in our church's talent show tonight. I am uploading a video of two of the songs we did. So stay tuned for another post tomorrow with that video!
We had a really nice trip to MS to see John's family for Christmas. We both thought it was one of the best times we have had there. All of John's siblings were there and we also had an opportunity to meet a new little niece that we had not yet met. We did a family photo shoot and took some photos of the entire family that will be cherished for years to come. On the way home, we were able to stop in Branson, MO to take the kids to see Moses at the Sight and Sound Theater. This was a gift from a family member and was such a blessing to my family.
When we got back it was nice to finally have a winter where we didn't have commitments every Saturday. We had this idea in our heads that winter weekends would be down time for our family. But the first winter we were here, John wound up taking welding classes every Saturday and the week after his classes stopped, he had to start working Saturdays again for spring planting. Then last year, we wound up taking foster care classes every Saturday, and the week those stopped, you guessed it, it was time to get ready for planting again. So we were quite excited to have our Saturdays with John this winter. Upon our return from the nice warm south (I wore a t shirt and capris on Christmas!!), we were asked to again provide respite care for three little ones we watched twice last year. Respite care is like foster care babysitting. So we were watching another foster family's foster children. These three little ones are 4 months, 1, and 2, so they gave me many flashbacks to the days when my boys were all under three. They are great kids and we love having them here. We watched them for a long weekend in November, then for a week in December, and then for four days in January. The night before they came, we got a call about a two year old. We were at our max with the three siblings, so we were not able to take the two year old in right away. However, they did not have another family for her so as soon as the three siblings left, I picked up the two year old from the emergency shelter where she was staying. So we have had a two year old foster daughter with us for the last five weeks now. She is a smart little cookie, and is very articulate for a two year old. She will be three right before Luke and I celebrate our birthdays. As with every placement, we don't really know how long she will be with us. But we are thankful that things are going well and we have been able to have a good relationship with her parents and the social workers. That always makes things so much less stressful.
But now we are about to take things to a new level. On Friday, I got a call about a newborn who needed a home. She is still in the hospital for one more day, but when she is discharged on Monday, we will bring her home to live with us too. (No, I don't know how long she will be with us.) She will be 5 days old when we bring her home. Have you noticed the Lord keeps bringing us girls? This baby will be our 7th foster daughter. (We did have two boys just for a night, but that was temporary for an emergency situation.) I think it's because He knows that I have all of Hannah's old clothes and much of her girlie baby stuff but I gave all the boys' old clothes away. So I am totally set to accept a little girl at the drop of a hat, but I'd have to go shopping if I take boys in. (We don't always get a lot of warning and we never know if they will have any clothes until they are already at our house. So there is often not time to do much preparation for whoever is coming and we have never been told anyone's sizes in advance.) Anyhow, we are very excited to care for a newborn. I was able to go to the hospital on Saturday evening and spend several hours bonding with her. I am looking forward to spending a few more hours with her on Sunday afternoon. I wish I could share a photo with you, but I can't. She is such a precious little girl. I spent a good amount of time just praying over her and singing worship songs while holding her. I want to make the most of every opportunity that I get to speak truth and life into each child's heart because they often leave just as suddenly as they came. I never know how much time I will have with them. So if things were to change and for some reason I didn't wind up taking her home on Monday, at least I will know that I sang God's truth over her and prayed for her on Saturday and Sunday. This will be our first time to have two different placements at once, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. It's always interesting to experience different situations so we can see what does and doesn't work for our family and it also opens our eyes to the many different ways God can use us as a foster family.
Our family sang in our church's talent show tonight. I am uploading a video of two of the songs we did. So stay tuned for another post tomorrow with that video!
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