We continue to step...

Last night we met with a woman from Social Services for our first Foster Care evaluation.  It went well.  We continue to step, trusting in the Lord's direction.  I'm not going to lie, there's fear, trepidation and an overall wondering of how becoming licensed Foster Care parents affects our family.  I'm trying to trust that Lord will continue to lead.  I know He will...it's my faith that wavers.

Some moments I long to hold a child that is in need of love and stability...other times, if I'm honest...I want to walk away and pretend that my heart doesn't ache for children in need.  I don't know where this journey will lead us, but...we continue to step.  

Family Time - eyes

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.

 For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:18

This was our Family Time lesson this week.  We talked about temporary and eternal things and then enjoyed realizing that though it seems as though a huge roll of toilet paper would take a LONG time to unroll, it reality it was just a few minutes.  Things in this life are 'temporary' though they seem like they will go on forever...nothing, but our relationship with the Lord is eternal.

It's been so good to memorize scripture together as a family and be able to talk about it all throughout the week...we missed Family Time and have enjoyed making it a priority.  Though we read the Word together in the evenings before bed and have quality time then, this time set aside when the kids ask questions, we have a lot of fun as well as discuss and probe into their lives...it's something that Dan and I have really missed.  Welcome back Family Time!!  

I forgot a couple things...

In my last post I knew I would forget a few things...and it wouldn't surprise me if there are still more things I forgot, but here are a few more 'happenings'...

Last week we also went to get finger printed.  Why?  No, we were not thrown in the slammer!!  We have thought about and prayed about doing Foster Care for the past year or so....actually, for the past 8 years. We started the process before I found out I was pregnant with Alayna.  We decided at that time to put it on hold...then we were surprisingly pregnant with Seth...still on hold...Seth = not the easiest toddler we've ever had...still on hold...now...the ball is rolling.  They ask you to get finger printed first, then fill out paperwork and send it in and then we have a few other 'hoops' to go through before we are licensed.  

I'm not going to lie, part of me is overwhelmed with the opportunity to love kids who have no one else in their life to truly love and care for them...another part of me is scared of how it could/will change our family...but a bigger part of me knows that the Lord is asking us to 'step' and so we will continue 'stepping' until the path is made clear.  

Another random thing that happened was my purse was stolen.  That has never happened to me before...thankfully!!  I was in St. Cloud at Target, no cart, just my purse on my arm.  I'm still not sure what happened, I must have set it down for a moment (though I have NO memory of doing that, nor would I normally do that).  I didn't even realize it was missing though until I went up to the check out a few moments later and realized I didn't have it.  I was in the store for less than 15 minutes.  My heart was racing and I'm sure I was sweating a bit wondering what happened to my purse with all my ID and everything in it!  I felt in my coat pocket and was BEYOND thankful to realize I had my keys and my cell phone in my pocket.  I literally walked around Target thanking the Lord for his provision of the things in my purse that I really needed in that moment.  

I called the one other store I had been in and they didn't have my purse.  I wandered around the 3 areas of Target I walked through (looking to see if I could find it) while trying to call Target as well.  They put me on hold for a while...I was still sweating, pacing and thanking the Lord for my keys and cell phone.  They finally answered and I described my purse and they said "Yes, we have it up here".  When I went to get it, I asked where it was found and they said in the Sporting Goods area.  I was no where NEAR that area!  I looked through my purse, nothing was missing and since I had no cash with me there was no money to steal (sorry whoever you are, you tried to steal from the wrong person!)  What a HUGE relief!!  I was so thankful first for the Lord's provision of my keys and cell phone and then even more surprisingly that I got my purse and everything in it back.  HUGE blessing!

A Look Back...

A lot has happened in the last couple weeks and I'm sure even as I type this I will miss a few things, but here goes nothing!

We had Parent Teacher Conferences for Josiah and Alayna.  We have always looked forward to conferences and this time was no different.  Both kids are doing amazingly well and are far ahead of where they need to be and they are both great examples and leaders in their class.  Alayna's teacher said that when there's a sub she always notes on her sheet that if she has any questions or needs help with anything she should as Alayna.  How cute!  They both love school and are excelling, though we are proud of their academic achievements, we are even more proud of the example they are for their classmates!

That same week Dan needed to go to Grand Forks for a tournament game and earlier that week he noticed that his 'check engine soon' light was on.  He dropped it off to have it looked at and got a call that morning that it would be about $600 to repair...bummer, but it needed to be fixed.  Later that afternoon he got a call that there were more issues that needed to be repaired and the cost would be at least $2000.  If you have never seen the "Man Van" as we called it, it was a 2000 Chevy Venture that was rusted, lacked heat, the drivers side window didn't work and the gas gauge was broken.  It didn't leave the city limits and was not worth $2000 (especially when that didn't fix all of it's issues, there would still be no heat, window or working gas gauge!).  So began the decision of fixing or updating his vehicle....we chose to update it.  The kids (and Dan) had off of school the following week and so we enjoyed time at home, time to think through our vehicle purchase before actually purchasing a vehicle that week.  This is what it looks like.  He likes his new wheels and I'm thankful it will him warm in the winter!

 A little later that same week we took a trip to St. Cloud to see Dan's mom as well as my sister.  While at his moms Dan put on a new front door and we pulled the carpet up in his mom's bathroom (she was NOT a fan of the carpet...can you blame her!?!) and put in a new toilet.  Quite a productive couple of days!  I should have taken before and after pictures...bummer! 

After a couple days in St. Cloud we continued our journey to Austin MN where Dan's grandma lives.  It was her 89th birthday!  Seriously, doesn't she look great??  She's 89, looks and feels great and she's a lot of fun to talk to...she is full of history and memories.  When Seth saw her birthday cake he was really excited!  Dan asked him, "how many birthday's have you had Seth?" -- he said, "4" -- "did you know that great grandma has had 89 birthdays?" -- his response, "that's not fair she's had a lot more birthday's than me".  Yes she has and we were thankful we got to be there to celebrate!  He saw this picture when I uploaded it and said, "that's great grandma!  She's the nicest great grandma!"

Family Time RETURNS!!

If you've been following my blog since the beginning you've probably seen our posts about Family Time.  We used to have it on Wednesday's, but then we began hosting a Missional Community on Wednesday's.  We have covered 'Alphabet Verse Memorization', 'The 10 Commandments', 'Dinosaurs/Creation' and reading through 'Dangerous Journey'.  The kids remember and were excited to get started again.  Here's a look back at a few of our Family Time evenings...here, here, here, here and here (who can resist the outtakes?!)...the kids look sooooo little!!

We had planned on starting Family Time this past Sunday (our new Family Time day) and we were trying to figure out what to study with the kids next.  A good friend sent me the link to another blogger who also does Family Time.  What a blessing!!  We don't have to reinvent the wheel...at least not for a while.  Here's the link for what we did on Sunday.

Happy Valentines Day!

I just needed to prove that the time I have spent on Pinterest isn't totally in vain.  I actually used 2 ideas on there to help Josiah make his Valentines for classmates as well as to make his Valentines box for school.   Why reinvent the wheel when there's great ideas ready to be used!

We had a lot of fun getting crafty and he's pretty excited about what we have to show for it!

We had some fun ideas for Alayna too, but she wasn't feeling great this weekend and writing her name on each Valentine was about all she could muster...maybe next year!

My Calling??

Seasons are changing...the school year is more than half over and we are starting to think about preschool next year for Setharoo.  That means for a few times out of the week I will be a stay at home mom without kids at home.  If I'm honest, that is somewhat terrifying for me.  I went to college planning to get a degree and then a job, instead, I went to college, got married before our Sr. year of college, got a degree 1 year after being married and 2 weeks after getting that degree (looking VERY pregnant while getting said degree) I had Josiah.  

Now, nearly 10 years later I'm wondering what the Lord would have in store for me as this next season approaches.  There are so many things that fill my mind!  What does the Lord desire of me???  Here is a tiny sample of all that fills my mind when I talk to the Lord about what He desires for this next season.  Am I a stay at home mom who is busy with school activities with my kids?  Would the Lord want me to build up my design business again and work from home still?  Will it be a season that I'm available to mentor even more women who are younger then me?  Not because I think I'm full of wisdom, but simply because that's what the Lord calls us to as women --  

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Titus 2:3-5  

Is it time to become licensed for Foster Care, will that be a great fit for our family?  Will I be a stay at home mom to my kids, plus a variety of other kids that I get to love for a season?  I don't know...one thing I have learned though...I'm called to be a mom...the desire to nurture kids will never go away...I'm thankful for this calling on my life...I'm a work in progress and after nearly 10 years of parenting I still have A LOT to learn, but the beauty of that is, I never tire of learning about it.  I trust the Lord has a great plan, but I do wonder what that plan is!