God's Amazing Miracle!

What a blessing it has been to witness His healing touch upon this precious child!  When we received Amara, we were told that her vertebrae were not healing well and that the neck brace would be on for at least another 8 weeks.  I said "that's okay" (to which I was met with strange looks)... "we didn't know she existed.  Now she will have love AND prayers!  She will be fine."  Again, polite nods.

We took Amara for her repeat xrays in preparation for her neurosurgeon appointment on Tuesday the 22nd.  God in His amazing mercy acted in a way we never imagined... I went into the appointment with her and the doctor (after reviewing her films) said that her healing was amazing and that she didn't need the neck brace anymore!

No words can express my love for a merciful savior.  I thank you, Lord, for allowing us to be part of your will for this precious one!

Such a Joy!

Who knew?  I am just marveling at how God has planted this little precious one in our home... I feel like she was exactly who we were all missing.   Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to minister to this precious one. 

BTW... this was one of my best Mother's Days EVER!  Thank you, Jesus! (and thank you to my dh and all my children that made my day special!)

"He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD."
Psalm 113:9 NIV

SHE IS HERE! (well she came on Friday!)

 Our newest precious one was added on Friday.  Very overwhelming to think of all she has been through in her so precious, young life.  Scars from old cigarette burns, scars from her broken occipital bone on her face, and a neck brace on 24 hours a day for three broken vertebrae are just a few of her burdens.  Her parents named her Amara, which means bitter.  I just don't have the heart to call her that.  She is precious and sweet and I don't believe for a minute that God saved her (and her twin sister, but that is another long story) from death just for her to grow up with the burden of bitterness.  We will see if the Lord will have her stay here, and then we will have the opportunity to change her name for something more appropriate to give God the glory of saving her.  Until then, she is our "cutie-pie", "Angel-girl", or any other cutsie name we can find.  No bitterness here!  Only God's goodness and grace :-)

Waiting for Number 6 to Arrive!

Well.... we just met the most adorable baby girl who we will be bringing home on Friday!  God is so good and protected her - even with a broken neck, she is wonderful and friendly and lively.  We are praying for her and her twin sister (who is much worse off medically)... so thankful that He spared their lives.  So much hurt and pain for such young lives of 4 months!

We can't wait to go get our newest princess on Friday!  Love you already, girly!

Being a Blessing - Standing in the Gap

Time with Jacob and Michael seems to be flying by~ only a few short weeks more and the possibility of letting them go comes up.  My heart is sad at the thought of loosing them and missing them dearly, but at the same time, I am amazed and humbled at the thought that we were given the privilege of standing in the gap for them while their family was restored... their marriage repaired and the family reunited!

At the same time, we have been so thrilled at giving the children not only a safe and loving home to stay in, but many fun firsts!

First time in a bouncy place!

First time on a farm!

First time experiencing church classes and dramas!

Thank you, Lord, for the privilege of serving Your children!  Please continue to give us grace and strength to complete your call.

Running the Race

As we all continue to try and settle into the new life that God has asked of us, there is a new voice (well old voice!) who is calling out.  We are called to run the race!  This calling is not a sprint.  It is a long-suffering, highly "inconvenienced" road that we must run without ever knowing what or when the race will end.  We are called to run it.  Not control it, but humbly submit ourselves to His call and continue to depend on Him on the good days and the bad.

Take our sacrifice, Lord!  We love to be used by you to send your love into the world.  Prepare us for the race and the struggles that are ahead.  Let us lean on you at every twist and turn.  This is Your calling Lord, and You will provide all that we need to sustain through the journey!

And the Answer Is...

They are staying for a while longer!

With so many problems still yet to address, God has allowed the Dewey boys to continue to stay in our home.  I am very encouraged in thinking that I can stand in the gap for these precious boys and get them the help that they so desperately need.

Who knew that all those countless hours of sitting in early intervention time, hours and hours of speech and occupational therapy for the twins was indeed preparing not just the children, but me for the ministry that was ahead.  What an awesome God we serve!

I am finding myself getting excited... they get to stay for Easter (they don't even know the true meaning of Easter!), camping trips, and so much more.  Such things I want to share with them - planting seeds of faith and family... I pray that all He would have us do and share will be fulfilled.  We love you, Lord and seek only to do Your will.

Keeping My Eyes (and heart) on His Calling...

In my quiet time with Him, I frequently tell God what I feel I can't do.  I don't know why I feel the need to keep telling Him.  He knows my shortcomings quite well - and loves me and calls me despite them.  He is growing me so much - I can't even begin to express.

Having these extra little ones here (especially on my souped-up work schedule right now) has been a tough adjustment on the family.  Down time (and I barely had any before) is down to nothing.  Private time anywhere in the house is non-existent.  Our kids are adjusting as well - sometimes embracing and sometimes feeling frustrated with their new adjusted roles in the family unit.   YET - there is something so right with the whole thing.  Being in line with our calling from Him is just so "right".  No other way I can put it.  Jesus never told us this was going to be easy - just that He would be there - giving us strength and encouragement all the way.

I pray for our hearts often - that He would allow us to find the balance between falling in love with our fosters and guarding our hearts for when they are reunited with their family.  Such a difficult line to walk. 

Thank you, Lord for helping us reach Your children!

Welcome to the Newest Crew!

Welcome to our new visitors, Michael and Jacob!  

Although they almost came last week (these are the brothers that were kept at the temporary foster...) we are thrilled to welcome you into the family as long as God will have you here.  We are praying for your family unit to be restored, and more importantly, that He sends someone in their path to open their hearts to Jesus.  We love to serve a God of restoration!

The Ministry of the Ping Pong Ball

I truly never thought much of all the craziness that goes on in order to place a child.  I knew that they have to find homes for these children, but oh! what those DYFS workers go through!

In the past week we received many referrals... one was a set of 3 boys (we had to turn away b/c we don't have 3 big kid beds for boys), a severely traumatized boy who would have put our own children in jeopardy, 2 boys for temporary placement (the worker decided to keep them in their emergency placement), and today we received a call for a 1 year old girl and her 4 year old brother (they ended up in a different placement before we received the message).  So- all week has been YEAH! awwww..... YEAH!  awwww..... YEAH!  awwwwww..... and such is the life and ministry of a ping pong ball.

Either way, Lord Jesus, we are here for Your using!  Help us to use wisdom and discernment as you send us your hurting children.

Fleeting Time

*sigh*
Our first precious visitor was with us way too short of a time!
We sadly released Zyara to DYFS after her mom convinced a cousin to take custody of her.  For the mom, this means that the system can't force her to seek help to rehabilitate.  For us, this means our little whirlwind was a very fast moving burst of sunshine.

Lord, please give us the strength to see the ministry through!  Hold my heart together, dear Father... as I seek to do Your will and care for your lost and hurting children.

Our First Precious Gift!

Last night, we were blessed with the arrival of our first foster child!  All of us were so excited as we received the call and then lept into action, trying to prepare for her arrival.  We initially were preparing for Zyara and her 4 month old baby brother, but Aiiden has a different father who was willing and able to care for him.  We will continue to pray for him, as we found out that he was born extremely premature and even now only weighs 8 lbs.

Zyara is a cheerful little girl who arrived and transitioned well into the home.  Last night was rough for her and I held her for hours as she cried and slept and cried and slept.  Such a hard transition for such a little thing... 3 years old is way to young to have seen all that she has seen.  Inner city Camden is many, many, worlds away from the suburbia that she was placed into.  All the looks and smells are so different, but I love seeing her face light up as she longs to run in the backyard and go on the slide (so sorry to hear that it is raining today!).

I pray that He continues to watch over Zyara - He is so faithful that He protected her as she was left home alone and then wandered out into the streets of Camden.  Oh, how my heart breaks when I think of all the "what ifs" that His hand saved her from! 

Faithful God!  Awesome God!  Thank you for allowing my family to minister to Your children.  Thank you for using me for Your plans and purposes!

His Purposes Gorified!

Worthy is the Lamb!  We are celebrating His goodness and His promises glorified here in our family.  Jesus truly blessed our day of inspection and we passed.  We are all anxious now to see our ministry truly begin as He sends us His hurting and lost children.  Yea God!!!!

The Lesson in the Waiting

As I sit in my precious prayer time, I struggle.  I do.  Knowing what He has called me to and not being able to do anything to further it along.  He has carried us through so many difficult months (and years now) and yet I am called to wait.  WAIT!  My heart screams within my chest for His will to be fulfilled in me.  I know that He is faithful.  I know that in the core of my being.  So it is in that knowledge that I wait - knowing that His timing is PERFECT!

A Call to be Embraced

“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes! Cease to do evil, Learn to do right! Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.” Isaiah 1:16-17 AMP

All through His word, God calls us to look beyond ourselves.  Scripture after scripture have jumped off the page to remind me of this so much lately.  Nothing that we do can EVER earn salvation, that is a miraculous free gift from God.  But as His children, He calls us to take action.

^"External religious worship [religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world."  James 1:27 AMP

So I guess I have arrived at the point in my life where I love God soooooo much that I can't keep ignoring what He calls all of us to do... defend the fatherless, care for the orphans, for how will they find any hope but the hope in Jesus?  Oh, how I have been shown the Father's heart!

He loves them so - just as He loves us.  How can we not hear their cries?

I am really feeling like He is about to do amazing things!  I can't wait to post about His praises as they become revealed to me!

A New Beginning for Us

This year New Year's Day fell on a Sunday.  And while it was nice having Christmas on a Sunday (nice to celebrate His birthday on His day) - this year it was absolutely amazing celebrating the New Year in church with our church family.

Our pastor preached today about the parable of the wineskins :

Luke 5:36-38

"He told them a proverb also: No one puts a patch from a new garment on an old garment; if he does, he will both tear the new one, and the patch from the new [one] will not match the old [garment].  And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the fresh wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled and the skins will be ruined (destroyed).  But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins."

This really awakened something in my spirit - and Pastor's teaching only confirmed what God had already be speaking into my heart.  He is doing a new thing.  Amazing things.  But to receive the new things that He want to pour out, we must get rid of the old wineskin.  What He has done in the past was wonderful, but He has new things yet to be done.  By discarding the old, we are allowing Him to move - to make room for the new. 

There is nothing more that I desire from Him.  The new!  Oh, how I long for what is to come! 

Help me, Lord... to move on from where I am.  To discard the old and to take up the new in anticipation for all that you have planned.

A New Begining for Connor

Last night was a momentous occasion - mine and Bill's first grandbaby was born.  Under the best circumstances?  No.  But what I do know is that God is still God and He is still available to all who call upon His name.  He is so needed in this situation with this precious new life.  My prayer is that all will be used for His glory and the growing of all involved.

So here I sit in a very strange spot in life.  Looking at pictures of this amazing baby that God allowed Katie to birth, yet knowing the difficulties that are ahead.  Strange mixed feelings indeed.

And yet, we are also poised, praying for Him to add onto our family as well.  We are all feeling the tug of our hearts as God prepares us for the little ones that He will send us.  We have been shown many secret places of His heart through this process.  He has grown me and showed me that He is a God of restoration... of hearts, of lives, of marriages, of relationships!  That is WHO He is.

When Bill and I felt the tug of God to become involved in the prison ministry at church, I saw this as a separate calling - apart from the fostering, but God has brought amazing things into focus for me.  He is that God of restoration.  There are broken lives all around us - we only have to pray for our eyes to be opened.

My prayer moving forward is for God to continue to use us - lead us - and guide us along this journey that is really His story being told through us.  His children are hurting and alone... we are saying "yes" to His call to stand in the gap and show His love.

Ending One Journey - Begining Another~

As 2011 comes to a close, it seems only right for me to start this blog.  So many changes have happened in this year - in my family (both close and extended), good and bad (and some votes are still out), but still God has placed such a feeling of anticipation for what is coming.... He has given me some hints, but I am really just flying on trust.  Knowing that whatever He has for me and my family is soooooo much better than anything I could think or dream.

So I am here - preparing and waiting.  Knowing that He is faithful to perform what He has promised.  Always.