HE MAKES HIS LIFE MANIFEST IN US

Jesus gave us the power of the Holy Spirit so that His life would become manifest in us. This life is evidence that Jesus is not dead but alive and still ministiring in the world today.

No confidence in the flesh

8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. phillipans 3:8-11

Our family has grown by 3

Well as most of you know we now have three additions to our family. What a change it has brought to our home. We have 2 girls ages 3&5 and a boy that will soon be 2. They keep us on our toes but we couldn't be happier with our decision. In the 3 weeks that they have been with us we have seen such a change in them (and us). The way God moves is amazing.

First call...ahhh

We got our first call today from DHS. this is about how it went......
~Hello this is (unsure) from (not sure what she said) can I speak to Andy or Amanda
~This is Amanda
~We were wondering if you had room for a sibling placement (lights finally came on) 4 & 6 year old boys.
~ummmm (Long Pause) (probably awkwardly long Pause) Well......probably not
~OK thanks
end of call

I felt so clueless. I didn't know what to ask her. After this call was over I found a website that has a list of questions to ask when you get this call. I guess next time I will be more prepared.
Well....I am probably not ready for a 4 AND 6 year old boys. I just trust God knew what he was doing through that phone call.

Approved!!!!

I got a call about an hour ago.........WE ARE A LICENSED FOSTER CARE HOME!!!!

Just thought I would let all of you know

The wheels are turning Again!!!!

Well...Our support worker should be turning in all of our paperwork today to DHS. What a stressful couple of weeks. For those of you who don't know I will fill you in. A couple of weeks ago our support worker told us that we HAD to be a registered daycare before we could be licensed as a foster home. We had an idea about this and I sent the paper work in in March. Well, I called the ladies down at the daycare registration office and they told me"yes we have had your paperwork since March but we haven't gotten your background check in yet" She told me that she would resubmit it and we would have to go from there. (Usually a background check takes no more than 2 weeks) Our support worker told us that we could not move forward until this was done, but we only had until June 1st or we would have to take the whole class over again. So we have been doing a lot of praying and calling the registration office . Well after much anticipation we got our daycare registration on Thursday. PRAISE GOD!!!!!
So that is where we are now. DHS should have it approved by June 1st. After that we should have a child within 2-4 weeks. We are so excited to bring this child into our home. We know that God has amazing timing and he had this planned all along!

God as our Treasure

The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately and forever.
The pursuit of God A.W. Tozer

FINALLY DONE

We are finally done with all of our classes!!! Last night they said that the latest that we would be lisenced would be June 1st. We are getting really excited and really nervous at the same time. I really don't feel any more capable of rasing a child than I did before the class started. God is going to have to teach me everystep of the way because I know without Him guiding me I am bound to mess something up.

Nearing the END

We are nearing the end of our classes. Thursday is our last class. We are really excited!!! After that we will have one more home visit. Then DHS will have to approve our paperwork. This class has seemed to just fly by.
I am going to have to find something new to write about after the class is over.

Half way through

We are finally half way through our class. Well actually we are a week past half way. We have had our first home visit and will have our second on the 25th. Please be praying for us that day that God gives us the words to say.
We are so amazed at what God has taught us through this and how the things that we are learning in church and other groups has helped us to filter through the information that they have given us.
We are becoming more and more excited as the time gets closer for us to actually get to help one of God's little children. My eyes were opened to how the biological parent's are feeling when we got the chance to minister to the women at Mitchelville. (Honestly, I felt like I was ministered to more than I ministered to them) That's is all these women wanted prayer for, their children and families. I was so touched, it gave me a new perspective towards the families in these situations.

Class

We started our class a week ago for foster parenting. We really like the class and think that we will learn a lot. We think that this will be a good way for us to learn some parenting tecniques, but we also know that ultimatly we need to look to God's word for that. Soon, probably in the next 2 weeks, we will have our first home visit. We will continue to keep you all updated and let you know how everything is going.

A Loving Reminder

I have been so inspired, encouraged and reminded this week of why I need the unfailing love of our Savior. He has given me a renewed strength and passion. When I seek after Him it is never enough, I always want more.
He has given me more peace and joy. He has made me more humble and loving. I just want to do anything to please Him.
I don't want to be a mediocre Christian I want to live completely for him and take drastic measures to keep sin out of my life.

Update

We just wanted to update everyone on how things are going. We have attended the orientation to start the process to be foster parents. We had a ton of paper work to fill out for that. After all of our record checks go through then they will contact us to set up a time to start taking our ten week class (PS-MAPP). Around week 8 of the class we will have home interviews and they will do a home inspection, just to make sure we have adequate space and that our home is safe for children. Then, after the class is done DHS will have to approve us to be a foster home. That could take any where from 30 -60 days. After we are approved we will start having children in our home. At the beginning of the orientation we had the opportunity to let them know the age group that we are willing to take and also the severity of mental, physical and emotional disabilities. So that is how they determine which children they will call us about. Then when they call us we again have the opportunity to to ask questions about the child and decide if this would be a good fit for the child and for us.
After the child comes to our home it is completely based on the situation how long they will stay. Also, if we think that we can no longer care for the child they would be placed in a different home. The majority of children that enter the system will be reunited with their families. We feel that this is a great opportunity to really show these parents the love of Christ. Some of the children that enter the system will eventually be adopted. If the child has been in a home for a year or off and on for 21 months than they are put on a permanency program. DHS and the courts talk with the biological parents and decide whether they want to make an effort to keep their child, if they want to voluntarily give up rights or if the courts need to take those right from them. If their rights are taken away a family member has the first option of adopting them, then the option is passed to the foster family and then to any other foster family or just plain adoptive family. It is a long hard process for some children and if we are put in that situation we are praying that God will help us to comfort these children and really show them love and peace in this time or chaos.
We are already so in love with these children and we have yet to meet them. God is already softening our hearts for them and their families. Please pray for us as we go through this. We already know that showing the biological parents love is going to be that hardest part for us, but feel this is what God has called us to do. Please pray that these parents hearts are softened to us as well. I think it is easy to forget that even though they have done something to lose their children that they have to deal with the fact that someone else is raising their child. Also, God created them for a purpose too. Help us to show unconditional love for them just like Christ shows us.

Our next step

Ok....Andy and I have decided that we are going to start the process to be foster parents. We are so excited and can't wait to see how the Lord is going to move through this. He has already blessed us in so many ways we just want to be able to share that with children that are in need. Our desire is give these children a home where they can feel the love of Christ from the moment they walk in the door, where they can experience all that He has for them. We want to pray with and for these children and thier biological families, if they are to return to them for a safe and loving home. We want to do this all to glorify God. God help us to bring glory and honor to your name. Help us to see the needs of these children and provide for them spiritually physically and mentally. Lord we put all of this in you hands. Amen

The strength of the Lord

Psalm 18
1.I love you, Lord; you are my strength.
2.The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior.
He is my shield, the strength of my salvation, and my stronghold.
3. I will call on the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
for he saves me from my enemies

What an amazing God we serve.