missing out

i was going to do a quick little list of all the happenings around our little home, but instead decided to take my friend's advice and do a PSA regarding biblical adoption. gird your loins. ;)

so a little background: today we had yet another doctor's visit with the bio parents. mom was the only one there. once again she showed up with family who wanted to take pictures and act like everything was hunky dory.

once again there was drama and craziness.

it was an interesting day. there are trials. fostering is hard.

and here we go. are you ready?
even though days are frustrating. the process is dumb (for lack of a better word). kids come to you needing love and might leave. sometimes you want to give up...we won't.

why? because although this is partially for the kiddos, it's for me too.
this has been an incredible pruning process. it has been a challenge, to say the least. as i told a friend earlier today, for those of you who say you couldn't foster because of whatever reason, i have to say you're missing out. you're missing out on endless opportunities to display the love of Christ selflessly to a child who might not like you, love you, or stay with you. opportunities to see how God works all things for good, even when you can't actually "see" it. opportunities for your own growth in Christ. opportunities for exercising your faith that God is, in fact, sovereign. will HE be sovereign if the child goes back home? what if the child dies when they go back home? would this press you or crush you?

i told someone recently that if CPS had informed us of all of the baby's needs and the big brother's behavior issues, we probably would have said no. ---because there is NO way that we, by ourselves, could do this. in fact, 4 days after we got the new boys, i stood in the kitchen, holding a sick, screaming baby, while one of our little boys screamed half the time and yelled "NO!" the other half, and the other two children acted out to get attention, i said in tears to my mom, "let me just ask the question everybody's thinking: how are we going to do this?"
but you know what? we do it by God's ability and not our own. and HE alone has worked it out. i can honestly give Him all the credit. by saying yes, we allowed ourselves to be open to what God wants for us and how He can equip us. sometimes it's good to be stretched, even though it's painful and difficult. i would NEVER, ever, in a million years, thought i could've done this. but by saying yes, i 've learned how strong i can be in Christ. i now know what i'm made of. what i'm capable of. what i can make do with and without. --because of HIM.

i'm not here to convict you. i just have to say outloud (or on blogger) that from now on, if you say to me the top 5 reasons it's not convenient or practical or doable to foster at this time or any, my answer will now be "well, you're missing out."