Life Changes

Three weeks ago I was having a down day. My heart was heavy and I wondered if we would ever have the opportunity to adopt or to care for children in foster care. All afternoon my heart was filled with prayers to God. I shed many tears begging God to create in me a desire for His will in my life over mine. That same afternoon we received a call about a possible placement. We did not receive those children or the child from the next phone call. Those calls and their timing were a clear signal to me that I was not forgotten by God and that He did indeed have a plan for us. I received peace that day. Two weeks ago Monday, our lives were forever changed by a phone call asking us if we were interested in a long term pre-adoptive placement for a sibling pair. Would we drive to a nearby town and pick up two little babies in need of our care? With one phone call God closed many doors and clearly directed our steps to the path He has chosen for us. I said yes and within a very short amount of time we were on the road to pick them up.

The last fourteen days have been intense. Neither baby sleeps all night. We have had to adjust and learn the children's habits and behaviors, likes and dislikes, and they have had to adjust to us. Then yesterday one of the babies was admitted to the hospital. We have definitely redefined what normal is for our family. We are tired yet exhilarated, exhausted yet filled with joy. We do not know how long these two will be with us but we are pouring love and teaching into them knowing it will not go to waste.

The timing is not ours. Mr. as well as DMD and DYS leave town on Tuesday for three weeks. I may be trying to care for a toddler with a baby in the hospital. Providentially, our DOD came home Friday night and will be around next week and is willing to help. I was on the Easter committee at church to decorate and serve Easter breakfast. Two of our children are participating in the Easter cantata this evening. DYS is playing Zachius. We were hosting Easter dinner at our house this afternoon and DYS was having his family birthday party. I could look at all of those things and think the timing is all wrong. We watched the Young Billy Graham Friday evening and I was particularly touched by the scene in which he is saved. The evangelist points at him and tells him that he was not sitting there on accident. That two thousand years ago God had planned for him to be sitting there. That is how I felt when I woke up this morning in the hospital with this little baby. I am here in this time and this place for this purpose.