Blog

20 Sep

Teaching Tuesdays

Tapestry Conference 2015–Back to Basics Changing What we bring to the parent-child relationship – in terms of your own history, motivations, and expectations – matters just as much as our children’s histories, abilities, needs, and challenges. In order to help our children build trust, heal, and grow, we need to focus on our past, present, and future. By making sense of our past and being realistic about the future, we can be freed to be fully present in each and...

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17 Sep

present day super heros…..

There is a new brand of super hero.  She is responsible, she is Spirit-led.  She is ready for the worst and always hoping for the best.  She understands need and supply and demand….and sorrow…..and justice.  She is the Christian Foster Mom.  I don’t think there is a braver soul on Earth than a Christian foster mom.  She does the work to prepare her heart, her home, her family, her friends.  When called upon, she says yes and then starts a...

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13 Sep

Testimony Tuesday

Brandon and Melissa Cotter Children: Autumn (7), Brooklyn (4) and Caidyn (2) – Not pictured is our foster son Tristan (3) Church: Galloway Full Gospel Church, Springfield, MO Tears of joy and tears of grief.  Adoption is born out of both, brokenness and love.           Going back to our adoption day video, 2-year-old Caidyn was handed to us by a cheerful nanny who had been our son’s most beloved caretaker in Tianjin, China.  While our eyes were fixed on Caidyn easily coming to...

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10 Sep

Sigh.

Today, I did a very hard thing.  I faced some of my biggest fears, and my most prideful weakness.  I went on an adventure with my black daughter Precious to a real hair salon in a real city that is owned by a real black woman.  If you are not a white mother of an African American daughter with very hard hair….this may seem ridiculous.  If you are…..then you understand how scary this day was.  For both of us.  It...

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06 Sep

Teaching Tuesdays

Tapestry Conference 2015–Back to Basics Understanding Children from hard places are impacted in many different ways and in varying degrees by their histories. Join us as we explore the six primary risk factors as detailed in The Connected Child, that characterize children from hard places. In order to help our children heal from their relational trauma we need to understand their histories and what the risk factors are. In addition, we must always remember that our children have experienced profound loss. While...

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03 Sep

consider the wild flowers…..

Luke 12:27 says this, “Consider how the wild flowers grow.  They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.”   Consider how the wild flowers grow…..in other translations it is consider the lillies of the field.  Consider  nature….what is all around us…..consider how effortlessly things bloom and grow……   Many of us feel like we are just so, so busy and yet we long to consider how the wild...

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01 Sep

Don’t Buy Into It

As the school year begins I had a thought occur to me again. One that has sort of become a pet peeve of mine. An idea that seems to be subtly circulated through the minds of parents (at least I assume) by our culture. And this is the idea: that others can see how much you love your children by how much you share about them on social media and/or how much your life centers around their activities. Of course, like many...

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30 Aug

Testimony Tuesday

Paul & Laura Wilson Children: Asher Emerick (3), Kai Daniel Wilson (2) (expected to join our family May/June 2016) Church: Calvary Baptist Church, Easton, Pennsylvania Our story of adoption is one of loss giving way to life. After our first son was born, we excitedly started to dream about what our family would look like. We dreamed of our family of four kids, two years apart, all with personality traits and appearances that resembled us. As we began our journey of secondary infertility,...

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29 Aug

Did You Know? You are WANTED

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:15-16   ...

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26 Aug

an adoption story….Rachel

Eight years ago, we were just beginning our journey to adoption.  I scrolled through the Family Blogs page on the Katelyn’s Fund web site that used to exist, and I was reading about domestic adoptive families.  One of them had a link to a new ministry in India.  The ministry was called Sarah’s Covenant Homes and the woman had a blog where she shared her call and journey to rescue special needs orphans in Southeastern India.  (This may sound familiar...

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