It’s been a bit. Almost 2 months since I last wrote. So why the gap in blogging? What have we been up to?
Well… I needed some time. WE needed some time. We chose to put our home on HOLD for the past 9 weeks, much longer than I had originally planned for. I struggled with that decision as I wanted to be open, available to say YES to any child or children God wanted us to care for. Who could we have missed out on loving during these 9 weeks “on hold”?!
Truthfully, I still struggle with that last question. BUT what I know is that these past 9 weeks were necessary. A crucial time. And we are in a much better place to pour out love now than we would have been had we gone back on the list with “empty cups” and broken hearts soon after our last goodbye.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 is a commonly used passage of 14 contrasting activities that speaks of the balanced, cyclical nature of life. There is a TIME and a purpose for everything. The past 2 months have been filled with a lot of these “activities”: time to weep over the loss of 2 kids we loved on for 8 months (even though I know they are safe and loved, I still sent a piece of my heart with each of them), time to mourn the death of my dad, time to love on my almost 3 and 5 year old biological children, time to love my husband well and go on dates, time to (re)plant ourselves into a community that we can do life with (through church etc), & time to be silent— silent from worldly distractions, silent with God & in His word (I read the first 12 books of the NT so far during this time), and silent by myself to evaluate where I am emotionally and whether or not I am able and ready to say YES yet again.
Well, it is almost time. I do finally feel “ready”. It is hard to be truly ready as we have no clue what age or gender a child we will welcome next (or possibly childREN) but we know that God has that part all planned out. I anticipate that soon there will be way less “me time”, sleep time, and quiet time, but plenty of opportunity to build, to laugh, to dance (we love kitchen dance parties with “Alexa”), to mend hearts & minds, to love, and to embrace this wonderful calling and journey God has sent us on.
Going forward, we plan to take one last trip this weekend to see family in Kansas & then we will open our home to calls starting a week from today! If you would, please pray for God’s will to be done & that He equips us with all we will need to love & care for the children He places with us next. And if you have ever thought about fostering please do not hesitate to reach out to me via the comments or “Contact Me” as I would love to “pay it forward” and answer any questions you might have!
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Foster Love 
I am glad you took some time to come up for air–to recharge and rejuvinate. It will put you in a much better position to dive back into the beautiful fostering journey your family is on. I am still learning to be good at taking that time to “come up for air” myself, but I find when I do it, I am much better for it. Self care is so important and in the midst of life’s chaos, sometimes we can forget to make time for it. Excited to see what God has in store next for your family. Miss you, friend! 🙂
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I am so glad you took some time to come up for air–to rest and rejuvenate. In the chaos of life these days, I think we often forget to take the time for self care, but it’s SO important. It helps us to step away and get ourselves centered again so we can take on whatever life throws at us next–good or bad. Excited to see what God has in store next for your family. Miss you, friend!
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