Tuesday, September 27, 2016

simple phrase

We have been living in a difficult season for awhile now.

Some days are really hard.

My Love will come home and I share with him the struggles I went through.  He gets to hear all the raw emotion and sordid details.  Maybe a week later I might sit down with a friend and recall the same experience with less passion.  Perhaps a month later I will update a relative on the phone and again talk about that day weeks ago in just basic facts.

With each passing day that overwhelming moment in time gets shorter and shorter.  The emotions felt and the memories relayed get foggier and less significant.  

Recently I have heard several people share their testimony and it struck me how much life must have been lived in just a single statement relayed.  How many tears shed, knees skinned, checks bounced, dinners made, sins revealed, fears felt, forgiveness given, miles driven, hours worked, prayers lifted and years lived all wrapped up in a simple phrase describing a whole season of their life. 

"During our marriage, we lived in Germany and California before spending the last seven years in Virginia."

13 years full of all kinds of memories.  13 years of God trying to mold us to look more like him.  13 years of building this family. 

It hasn't been easy.  Ever.  But somehow I find both grief and comfort in knowing that all that we are currently living and walking through will one day just be a few short words in a brief story of our lives.  A story God is writing and knows the ending to.


Saturday, September 17, 2016

radical love

Her text came on a Tuesday morning.

"...my dad died last night..."

I lost my breath for a moment and then my heart burst into a million pieces for my friend.  She had already grieved the loss of her mother before we met 13 years ago and I couldn't even begin to imagine the pain she would be feeling with such unexpected news.

It didn't take long before I got the crazy idea to go to her.  By some strange and divine appointment, My Love eventually supported my plans.  After playing out each scenario out loud, the best travel option was decided for me to drive there with our four happy little travelers.  It was going to be a spontaneous 700-mile adventure.

We decided to tell my friend of my intentions to come for her father's funeral.  Plans had been made and accommodations booked.  And as we predicted, she insisted I didn't need to make the trip and would rather us come visit later on after the shock had worn off.  She wanted to have something good to look forward to.

"Ok," I said.  "I can respect that."

I hung up the phone and turned to My Love and said, "She told me not to come but I'm going to anyway."  And by another act of God, he was still ok with it.  My Love's travel points paid for our two night hotel stay and a friend was willing to help out with the dog while My Love worked.  It was time to pack for our road trip.

In what was essentially a grand gesture of God's love for my friend, I drove through four states with no expectation of spending any real time with her.  I was merely going to give her a hug and show my moral support by attending the funeral.

I loaded up the kids in the minivan at 2:45am on a Monday and arrived at our final destination in a small town in rural Indiana 13 hours later.  The kids took a swim in the hotel pool and we ate dinner locally before calling it a night.

The next day we made our way to the funeral home prior to the Catholic Mass being held at a church nearby.  I saw her from the back in an adjacent room off the main hallway and I gently touched her arm.  She turned toward me, jumped back with a gasp and covered her mouth trying to hold back tears.

"I didn't respect your words," I said.  "But sometimes a girl has to give a friend a hug."  She burst into tears.

We hugged and cried and hugged some more.  She held the baby and snuggled each of my older children as I in turn hugged on the two of hers.

"How long was that drive?" she asked worried about all the trouble I had gone through for this moment.

"It doesn't matter," I reassured her.  "Sometimes you do hard things for people you love."

More tears and hugs.

The service was beautiful.  Even though I had never met her father, I felt like I knew him.  What a sweet man.  My friend looked in my direction as she walked down the aisle following behind the casket to her seat.  In that moment as she blew a kiss my direction with tears streaming down her face I knew in my heart I was right where God wanted me to be in this world.  We visited with her and her family briefly a few more times before it was already times to say goodbye.  In God's grace, the four children had been perfect little travelers.  We packed up the van and took one more sleep before starting our 700-mile road trip back home to Virginia.

As I drove on the beautiful roadway that is highway 64, I couldn't help but think about how radically God loves.  And now that I knew I was capable of being used by him to show love in a big way, it was now time to allow his radical love to flow through me in my own home--toward my husband and children.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Counting the days

635 days ago there was a knock on the door and a woman walked two precious dear skinned children into our lives.  They were visiting for respite care.  We said yes knowing we had two biological children and one bonus foster baby.  It was only to be an 8 day visit and we could fit 5 children into our Volvo XC-90.  Thank the Lord we bought that third row seating 9 years ago before a single baby was a twinkle in our eyes.

It was an adventure to be sure.  One that included a paternity test if I recall correctly.  They also screamed terribly every night at bed time.  But Buddy Boy and his sister Ladybug arrived with smiles and ratty hair but with no inhibitions about staying with complete strangers--which bothers me every time.  They just seemed happy to have children and toys to play with.  Brother and Babydoll are the gateway to our home for so many hurting kids, I tell you what.  God is using them in our family ministry in a mighty way.

The week came and went and My Love and I took a deep breath and gave each other a high five.  We survived the week.  The kids were a joy but it was nice to return to our termporary family of five again with our easy going bios and low key infant.  Never again did I expect to see them.

A month later the phone rang again.  Another respite was being sought as their caregivers would be traveling again.  We said yes for continuity sake.  They were precious after all.  The case worker sort of let on that the situation might be changing with their current foster home where they were living with a youngest baby brother of the five siblings.

Buddy and Ladybug spent another fun filled week with us.  I think we went to pumpkin patch.  It wasn't long after that when we had a meeting with all parties involved in their case.  After praying about it, we agreed it was best for the two of them to come live with us.  Baby J would stay in his current foster home.  Seriously, what were My Love and I thinking?  I mean, five kids?!  Five kids?!  There was something in us that felt like God opened the door for us to love on these children and who were we to say no out of fear now.  It wasn't until six months later that Punky Pie left our home to live with relatives who later were able to adopt her.

So much has happened in these past 635 days.  It has been a long hard journey for our little son's heart.  Ladybug of course eventually left our home too to live with her biological father.  I think that shook Buddy the most as I don't believe he ever dreamed they would be separated.  But about six months ago it became official that he was going to be able to stay with us and we were free to pursue adoption.  As much as he longed for his first family to get things together and make it right he knew in his heart and mind pretty early on that he was right where God wanted him to be.  The anxiety and stress he had been carrying around in the unknown had disappeared and he was finally free to just be without fear.  The case worker and lawyer have been busy checking all the burecratic boxes but for all intents and purposes Buddy is our forever son.  We couldn't be more humbled to hear him call us mom and dad.

Last week we were sitting on the couch and Buddy turned to me and said, "Mom, if I grow up and be like Dad, I would like that."  Cue tears.  He has come so far and really we are still sitting in awe watching God do miracles in his heart and mind.

635 days is far too long to be living in limbo.  How excited we are to have a reason to stop counting up those days and just moving forward into our future together.