Local foster care/adoption support......

 What?  Well....you know sometimes you just see things and think- this is my life in a nutshell ;)  I mean who doesn't have barbies hanging on to your water bottle?  It reminds me of the Steven Curtis Chapman song that talks about toys in his yard reminds him that he is a father.  So yep, this is another reminder that my life is not my own. 

 Cuddles with daddy.  Sometimes its ok to get back in the sling and snuggle. 

 I think the 3 year olds in this picture are a little distracted ;) 

 A snake?  WHAT? 

 Great idea- let's all pet it......

 OK...

 Awww.......while at Busch Gardens we found this mommy duck and her ducklings marching around- so cute! 

 Oh and Jonathan wanted me to tell you this important news- he lost his first tooth!  Just a month shy of turning 6!  WHAT?  Just yesterday he was only 2!!  ;)

 Now for those of you with children who have security, sensory, sleep issues......this can help.  We call him Mr. Glowy, but he is made by MOBI.  He sits in a charger during the day, and at nap times and bed times he is with Joanna.  It glows different colors or has a setting to change colors.  It is a rubbery plastic and helps!  :)  I bought this at Walmart for $11 (for those who wanted to know). 

 This is a picture of Elizabeth's single twists hair :)  I love her smile!!!

 This is a side view!  Now it takes about an hourish to do, but you can put it in ponytails, etc. really easily and the twists stay for quite a while- around 2ish weeks :).  I start at the back- put the rest of the hair in a bun, do one "row" at a time (but it doesn't have to be a perfect row).  I condition the hair, and then use twist and lock cream in it.  Take a small finger of hair and twist it- it stays.  Now keep in mind my girls hair is pretty much the tightest curl.  AND they love it because they can wear it down! 

OK so our local foster care/adoption support.  I wanted to share a little more about our local foster care/adoption group.  We are very blessed to have a Brandon Area group called Loving God's Children!  There is education aspect, connection to others in the area, Mom's night out at a local restaurant, fundraiser for things for orphanage needs, and for the local Chrsitian foster care network, mission trips, and loads more!  This is run by my friends :).  YEA!  So blessed to have this.

Then Jason and I started a connectional ministry in our church to help encourage and support others in foster care/adoption process within our church as well.  To promote and educate the Body of Christ of the need to look after orphans and widows.  To also provide that needed prayer chain, help with babysitting/respite, listening ears, help for hard situations within the church as well. 

Why would it be necessary to have different levels of foster care/adoption connections?  I think the more support we have in a community the more we will see things in our community grow!  We desire for our church to grow in our care for children in need and families in need!  We also know this isn't just about our church which is where the Body of Christ also comes together- regardless of what church you go to- and supports each other as well! 

So far we have an annual picnic (this is our 2nd year doing this) on Father's Day weekend - Saturday.  We have had an informational meeting on the different kinds of adoption- foster care, international, and domestic.  We have a private FB page to connect with each other on an ongoing basis with encouraging blog posts we have found, great articles on adoption, foster care, etc as well as prayer requests for others in the group.  We have had 3 families go through the foster care class.....and 2 more going through right now (there have been others in our church who have already taken the class as well that we are connecting with those in the class now).  We have had so many more ask questions.  We have been able to share stories of how God has opened our hearts and minds to our own children.

Next steps:  We are working on an event that would hopefully happen later this year on a bigger basis sharing about the needs and what people can do for children locally and around the world.  We are also taking the Train the Trainer course through Empowered To Connect and will bring that back to our community and set up classes so we can share information with others locally.  This for us is so important because we want to encourage people to adopt and foster children, but what happens when it gets tough- I mean really tough?  We want to support even further what these families are doing! 

So there you have it.....will share more as we go along.  I pray that if you are thinking about what to do for your church or local area that you would gather information, and pray!!!  This is all about God's children and these precious hearts are made in HIS image.  We pray it will bring glory to Him.