Harley and I are well on our way to becoming adoptive parents. Our current stage is "fixing" some things on our turned in application. We are scheduling fingerprint appointments, health and fire inspections of our home, preparing for a homestudy and generally ready to welcome home our daughter(s). I use the plural because we have stated we are open to siblings, ages 3-11. Yay, girl power!! We've spent hours and hours in the first part of 2012 being "trained" and I 've realized that it is helpful and silly all the same time. For example, the sexual abuse class: helpful, loss and grief: helpful, supervision: silly. I mean, I have 3 kids at home...can we opt out on good faith that they are being watched properly and that is why I feel I would make a good adoptive parent in the first place!? Oh, well, what are you going to do? So, we did it! We have a case manager of sorts. Our agency, Arrow Family Ministries, calls them Ambassador Family Specialists. Our AFS's name is Lindsey, and she rocks! She checks in with me all the time. She calls if something is pertinent. I feel God has so richly blessed this union between the Jeanises and Arrow. We are in constant prayer over these desicions. We are starting to feel more confident to talk about it openly. We are telling everyone now instead of just the few who we think will understand. Which pretty well catches you up, Friends, and brings me to my point.
Typically, we don't blurt out: "We're adpopting!" However, our family dynamic and make-up draw many oberservations. 1. We have three children. 2. We have only boys. Many times people want to know if we are "done."(I assume they mean with child-bearing, and my body says, oh, yeah, YOU, Missy are DONE!) Or if we are going to "try" for a girl. (I don't even know what that means.) So, now that we are getting oh-so-very-close, we have started answering with: "well, actually, we've begun the process to adopt." A very normal response is "that I must love being a mom!?" And yes, while that is true alwaysmost days, it is not the reason we feel we must adopt. Another, repsonse is: "You, two are just such great people for doing that. You are just so good." Ummm, yeah, we are! Yeah, not so much!
Just to be clear, The Jeanise are decent folks. We have high moral standards. We try to be like Jesus. However, we are human. We are not perfect. And we are certainly not, good. The bible says it like this in the parable of the rich man in Luke 18: Once a religious leader asked Jesus this question: “Good Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “Only God is truly good. But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother.
The rich guy answers that he has kept those since he was young. CHECK! BAM! Then, Jesus lays it out in verse 22: When Jesus heard his answer, he said, “There is still one thing you haven’t done. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Gulp!) W-w-w-wh-what? I think the point Jesus was trying to make here is that all those actions in the commandments are important. They show others you are upstanding. But so true to character, Jesus is concerned with the heart of man! Following Jesus is hard. So far, since beginning this journey, people have thought we were insane or glorious; we lost friends and made new ones; we have family crisises and professional ones. Nothing has been easy. Our children have been left with their grandparents so we could go and "learn" how to become parents of children who have been hurt. We have cried, we have yelled, we have thought about quitting! Romans 3:10 reminds us that “No one is righteous— not even one." But God's precious nudging has been a constant the whole time.
Lastly, this journey is for his glory, not ours. This is his story and we feel so blessed to be included in it. We will keep you posted, Friends! Thanks for your prayers!
ALERT: My family and I are NOT celebrating Easter this year! Yeah, you read that right. No chocolate Easter bunnies or visits, no dying eggs, or Easter gift baskets! But before you put me on your church prayer list and start throwing holy water on me, hear me out! We are exchanging it for a festival! Instead of celebrating our cultural norms, that have so many secular, ungodly demands, we are focusing on a more biblical representation of the season that reflects who we are and who we want to be. In that spirit, we ARE celebrating Passover!
God has been stirring me for sometime regarding holidays and how our family celebrates them. Then, Jen Hatmaker's book, 7, came into my life and I could NOT ignore the engraved invitation from the Lord to learn more. She states it like this:
"Easter is a little name picked up from the Anglo-Saxon fertility goddess of spring, Eostre, who saved a frozen bird from the harsh winter by turning it into a magical rabbit who could lay eggs. Hence: 'Easter' bunnies and eggs."
This information confirmed that I am slave to pagan rituals and led by culture. Many of my holiday practices represents nothing of what I say I believe. As a side note, if you intend to continue dying Easter eggs with you babies and leaving carrots out for the Easter Bunny, more power to you and you will not receive any judgement from me. You don't have to delete me on Facebook! We will just be doing things differently.
Friends, you may be thinking, we've lost it. I mean, first, she's ditching the Christmas Tree and reindeer food and (gasp!) Santa. Now, the poor Jeanise children are not even going to have a chocolate bunny to eat that morning! It's OK, really! We will all survive with a little less sweets and egg dying around and bonus: our waistlines will thank us!
Here are a few reasons why we are celebrating Passover:
1. It is biblical. Passover is not just a Jewish holiday, but "a special festival to the Lord." (Exodus 12:14) Messianic Rabbi, Eric Carlson, puts it like this: "This Feast is directly related to and fulfilled by the Jewish Messiah, Messiah Yeshua! (Jesus Christ). John the Baptist refers to Yeshua as 'The Lamb', 'Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.' (John 1:29)." The people in Jesus' day understood this profound meaning in that description. Isaiah 53:7-10 provided them(and us, in retrospect) the foretelling of the "human lamb" that would suffer for us.
2. It acknowledges the redemptive blood atoned for our sins through sacrifice. God says only blood can atone for sin. (Leviticus 17:11) We believe it is through the Lord, Jesus Christ that we can be reconciled to God. Jesus identified himself as the Passover Lamb. (Matthew 26:17-28) (John 12:9-19)
3. It is part of who we are. (Romans 11:17)
Who knew? We, Christians, mere Gentiles, are grafted in. This is our identity. Jesus goes a step further in his suffering and dying for us. The outcome is not only for the forgiveness of our sins, but also, to bring us into inheritance with him. Ephesians 1:11: "Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan."
In conclusion, we are going to begin Passover with a traditional Seder(Jesus being the focused Passover Lamb). If you're interested you can find instructions here: http://www.zionsake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=66. We are so excited and pray that the Lord would draw us closer to him during this precious time as we reflect on the lavish love of our Heavenly Father and the sacrifice of his Holy Son! It is already working! ;) Lastly, no matter how your family takes time to remember the love of Christ this spring, I hope it is a time filled with renewing and refreshing.
Psalm 68:6
God places the lonely in families...
