Show me the love!

I have alot of people asking me where we are in this very slooooowwwww process. Did I mention how sloooooowwwwww this is???!!! Seriously! wow. I was joking around that I wasn't even praying for God to give me patience lately....because usually when I pray for patience; He gives me extreme amounts of circumstances that require just that. PATIENCE. So now......I find myself praying for it and I am happy to be giving you an update that perhaps has things moving:)

Here's where we are at. Finally last week(after waiting for over a month!)we received our pile of papers from the fostering resource worker (Miss P) to fill out....applications, criminal record checks, health checks etc. While I was picking them up she mentioned that she was going to fire off an email to the adoption resource worker with our names. Because our long term goal is to adopt; we would need an adoption resource worker to do our homestudy. Miss P. told me that they are so busy, so don't expect anything to happen too quickly (surprise, surprise!)So, that's fine. I took the papers, and dealt with the fact that again....I was going to require extreme patience. Disappointed? yes. Prayed some more? yes. Well guess what?

Two days later Miss. P sent me an email that said 'good news'. My heart lept with a tiny bit of excitement and anticipation as to what her email might say, so I opened it quickly. She said that the adoption resource worker (Miss. D) wanted us to contact her right away for an adoption info session coming up on the weekend. So I called Miss. D right away and explained that we couldn't do the weekend session due to Brad working all weekend; and unfortunately the next one wouldn't be available until the fall. BUT! She said with no hesitation "I would like to have a private meeting with you then so I can go over all the information with you both and get the homestudy started" !!!!! really? Yes, of course! We set up a meeting for the 18th of April. Cool heh? So all of a sudden things are going to move. (Thank You, God!) I really think He set up our private meeting with Miss. D. No doubt about it.

Over the last few weeks we have heard stories about children in need etc. I was scrapbooking with a lady who calls herself the 'baby pimp'. She laughed about it; but it is so terribly sad. Her husband has a biological sister who is a meth/cocaine addict down on the East side in Vancouver. She keeps having babies (addicted babes) and they are trying to find homes for them year after year.
We heard about another set of girls whose parents are also addicts; same mom different dads. Babies were cocaine babes at birth; and are currently in foster care and will possibly be up for adoption soon. 1 year and 2 and half years old. Healthy little girls.....but they are in foster care because their parents can't keep it together and get healthy enough to keep their babies! It would be easy to judge these parents.....and 6 months ago, I would be the first to judge. Now my heart has changed....

After learning more about addictions while going through our foster care sessions I understand more. Brad and I have had the opportunity to work with the coffee cart ministry a tiny bit through our church. Our youth pastor sets up a tent, coffee and muffins in a less fortunate area of town in an empty lot. People come who are hungry. Not only hungry to fill their bellies; but hungry to talk to people. Hungry to be heard. Hungry to change but feel stuck. After talking to various men and women, we have learned to not judge; but to love.

Many of these people who are now on the streets or close to it.... have addictions; they have a past. Many of their pasts include growing up in families who struggled with addictions and they as children were raised in and out of Foster Care. Who's going to break the cycle? We need to reach out to these people! We need to show them we care when no one else cares. We need to show them hope when they feel they have no hope. We need to adopt these waiting kids in BC so they have a chance to grow up to be thriving, happy adults who are not addicted to drugs and alcohol. Take them out of the system. Give them a family.

Miss. D asked hesitantly "so I have to ask. Why do you want to adopt when you already have three kids of your own?"

How can we not? We see the need; we want to be a part of changing broken, hurting lives; there is no doubt that this is what we need to do. What we want to do. It's not for everybody, we get that. But God has impressed it upon OUR hearts and we are excited to obey.

Maybe we should just buy a 15 passenger van now....cuz let's fill'er up! Perhaps not a 15 passenger...but we might end up with more than 1 child.....

There's our lengthy update for now. Please continue to pray for us as we prepare our home for the home study etc. Please pray for our kids as they transition and wrap their heads around adding permanent siblings to our family. Thank you for your continued support!

I have posted a link below that is a video showing a bit about what the coffee cart is all about. It shows some of the people who come....it shows their eyes. Take a look at their eyes; they say alot. Next time you walk by a homeless person or someone who doesn't have 'it all together'; take a look into their eyes and don't be so quick to judge. They have a story too.
May God bless you with grace, mercy and love:)

Dana

(copy and paste this link to go and take a look at the video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkkgliHTFh4&NR=1

don't forget to turn on your volume....there's a good song to go with:)