Put Up or Shut Up

I came across this article tonight and finally had the chance to read all of it and think it is a must read.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/16/my-take-on-adoption-christians-should-put-up-or-shut-up/

I am a supporter of adoption all the way around. International, foster, domestic...whatever. Sometimes I wish I didn't care so much because life would be a whole lot more care-free! Unfortunately, since I was little I remember caring about kids who had no parents. It really bothered me. Maybe this is because I got to grow up in a loving home? I don't know, but it was always in me and I knew I would adopt someday. When we were first married I would print out pictures from the waiting child list and put them on the fridge and pray that they would get a home.

It causes me anxiety to think about what our littlest guys life will be like if he goes home. I just have to completely block it out most days and only think about it when I have to (on big review days etc...).

My Dad called today just to tell me how exciting it was to see B climb all the way up the stairs and work his way back down (with us there of course). He was so proud of himself and had the biggest smile on his face. He so deserves to have a family to love him and cheer him on!! He (and the other half a million children in foster care) deserve a chance to break the cycle of abuse and neglect that seems to come with their family of origin.

I get it that we have chosen for our extended family and our biological children something a little out of the ordinary by fostering. Sometimes I feel bad because our family and friends are so emotionally invested in B's life and I feel bad that we chose to bring a hard situation with lots of ups and downs for everyone to worry about.

And then I get these emails that encourage my heart and keep me going....

Just last week I got one from the Mom of a high school friend saying she had just filled out her application to be a CASA worker! Maybe you aren't in a spot where you can foster or adopt, but maybe you CAN be an advocate for a child. We are very thankful for our CASA worker. She gives of her time to try and figure out the crazy mess of a case we are in.

We would do it all over again. How can you not??? Oh, I love him so much! He is my wake up call everyday and it is a good, happy one!

We only get one chance to live our lives....I for one don't want to have regrets over things
I wanted to do but the timing just wasn't right.

Sometimes you just have to make a decision and get off the fence. I'm sure the county worker who answered the phone the day I called thought I was a nut. I said something like, "Hi, we want to do foster care but I don't think our house is big enough. We have three kids age 2, 4 and 6 and we live in a 3 bed 1 bath house. Do we qualify?" Ha!! Two things. They don't get a lot of people with small children who actually want more AND yes, our house was kind of small. We were willing though and God's timing was perfect. We lived in our new home for about a week when little B joined us. What if we had waited to start until we had a bigger house...we would have missed out on B! Makes me sad.

So, that was a bit long winded, but you all know how I can get when I am passionate about something :)! Imagine being Jeremy. He fakes sleep all the time!!