Not Finished......

I have struggled with the most unique "feelings of loss" as we've had to put our foster/adoption plans on hold, over the past 4-5 months.  For those that know me-I am PASSIONATE about the orphans-especially those in our community.  The statistics that I hear for our County are heartbreaking.  Over 44 children entered "the system" in December of 2012 and of those, about 50%  were under the age of 3. And then a big percentage of those kids were also sibling groups who were being separated, due to lack of foster families with space for sibling groups.

So, I have prayed and asked God to continue opening doors for me to minister to local foster families and kids. And He's answering those pleas.  Not in ways I ever pictured, but then again, I am the human with the human tendencies to place the All Amazing God I worship, in a human made "box" with boundaries and limitations  when, my HUMAN MIND is smart enough to KNOW BETTER ;) .

It serves as a beautiful reminder that our call to love and care for the widows and orphans of the world involves MORE than just the individuals who are willing to foster and adopt.  It takes an army people.  A village to raise a child.....yep, that's fo' sho!

How can you serve?
Make/provide meals for foster families.
Buy a gift card to Publix, Target, WalMart and give to a foster family. (or contact me for connections)
Get involved in Bridge A Life -a foster/adoption ministry at Bayside Community Church-you don't need to be a member at BCC to be involved.  They have "Stew Crew" and "Hammer Time" just to name a few ministries within that ministry.
BAL's 2nd Annual Walk (taken from their FB page):
Mark you calendars now, and plan to show your support for foster children in our community during the 2nd Annual Foster Care Awareness Walk at GT Bray Park in Bradenton, FL on Saturday morning, May 18!!! Share this on FB, twitter, etc., and tell your friends and family. Stay tuned as the date approaches.

Also, if you are interested in helping with the planning, coordination and execution of the event, shoot us a message! We want to hear from you! If you have contacts/connections for sponsors, raffle prizes, speakers/advocates, ministry partners and/or community partners, we want to talk to you. Let's make this year's walk an amazing voice for hurting children in our community!

"Like" Bridge A Life on FB!

Bumps, in Life's Journeys....

Our road to fostering and adoption encountered a hiccup-or a bump--this past fall.  We were ONE phone call away--ONE HOME STUDY away from getting our license when we found out we were expecting our thirst biological child.  I would TOTALLLLY take a foster child and handle a newborn, if the state laws didn't require that child to have their own living space, etc. BUT, b/c of that, we do not have the physical space in our home to do the fostering thing, right now.  I look forward with GREAT.ANTICIPATION to the day of being able to pick up where we left off, with Florida Baptist Children's Home.  Our training/classes are good for 5 years--so we have plenty of time to adjust to this "bump" and become a NEW family of five.

We rejoice. We give God thanks.  I am reminded every day, as I look at my growing mid-section, of the doctors words 13 years ago "I cannot guarantee you'll ever be able to conceive children Jess, but let's hope for the best and do what we can to get you a family, when the time is right."  God's ways are NOT always our ways. ;o)  Grateful.  And well, still---a little overwhelmed!

I am 19 weeks today-here's a pix at 16.5 weeks:

Our Name-This Photo

If you've read the side bar, you'll see our name means "Bridge Over a Ditch."

Recently, our family was BLESSED (okay-I considered it blessed-D and boys would've said "cursed!") by the A.MAAAAAZING. Mandie Joy, who so willingly did a photo-shoot of our crew at one of our favorite family spots-Rothenbach Park.

As we walked along one of the trails, looking for the "perfect spot"--we spotted this dry canal/ditch (sorta--depends on who you asked--D. man said it was all good.....my cowboy boots found it to be rather marshy and muddy like!) and she asked us to "hop down" so she could shoot some photos of us from that spot.  As we stood and "posed" it dawned on me the "irony" of it.....here we were--the Bridge Over a Ditch Crew--standing in a ditch as a family unit......

Amazing how beautiful something can be, when you step back and look at it from a different perspective than what it is by name.....I mean--it's just a muddy 'ole canal/ditch.  But, LOOK AT THIS SHOT-simply BEAUTIFUL!!!

The Ditch

The Bowditches-in the  Ditch.

The Boyditches in the Drain of the Ditch

My Baby. I wonder how long he'll be my baby?

Big Red. Just turned 9. Almost as tall as his Mama. Stop.It! 

Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. 

Pause. Not a bad thing....

Parts of our life have been put on "pause."  But, that's okay.  Dealing.  Processing.  God is pushing "play" in other areas.  We are growing.  Closer to each other.  To Him. To what He's calling us to do. To be.

"Pause" usually means, in my mind, rushing off to go pee in the middle of a movie--quickly--because, without fail, the urge occurs at a climax in the movie....you hurry through what needs to be done, so that you can quickly return to your cozy place on the couch and click "play" again.

In the "movie of life," it.just.ain't.so!  Sometimes, the pause is longer.  Sometimes it's shorter.

I'm happy for pause right now--because well--LIFE is still happening--boy's schedules have been hectic with Little League. Big Red has been asked to join a Travel Ball Team. (That's BIG stuff ya'll!).  Thanksgiving is tomorrow! (YEAH!!!). Christmas is just a month away.  And get this--the love.of.my.life.turns.FIFTY.in.a.month.too!  These are BIG things ya'll!  BIG!  Let's not forget about work and the amazing responsibilities I have between two amazing PT jobs. (PT=Ministry Jobs=FULL TIME DOUBLE TIME NEVER ENOUGH TIME!) ;)

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently on Him. ~ps. 37:7. love this. clinging to this.

Haiti Adoption Fundraiser!

Have you seen the fundraiser going on over at Facebook yet?

No?

Read about it here:

mulletmemos

and view it here: FACEBOOK FUNDRAISER! 

One awesome "HOPE" cuff donated for the auction:

Our Timeline=In.God's.Hands

The ball will officially roll from the hands of FBCH and our SW this week, to SCC and a "mystery SW" who will be doing our HS.

Tonight-I basically completed the last of our paperwork-D will sign off on it tomorrow.  We need to get finger-printed, physicals and have 3 others do some finger-printing too.  And-the rest is up to the SW--our work is done other than continuing to work on the house.

A lot of "waiting" in the in-betweens.

We'll have a LONG HS w/ the SW from SCC-interview us as individuals (boys included), a family, etc.  Walk around and inspect home.  Then, a Health Dept. inspector will be scheduled to come out. All this is probably what will take so long--waiting for the next appointment, etc.

Our SW said to give it at least 8 weeks of being "in the works"--but not to expect our 1st placement until around Dec. 1.   You know-the.most.chaotic-I mean-wonderful.time.of.the.year! ;)  It's okay--have I mentioned this is ALL GOD'S?  All.His.Timing!

We still have "piddly" errand types of things to do--purchase 2 required fire extinguishers (2 floors), safety-proof certain things--but because of how fast we accomplished tasks this weekend-and pounding out paperwork tonight--I'm feeling we're ahead of the game. For.NOW! ;)

So, hope this answers some questions.  Oh-and NO--we do NOT know who we're "going to get."  Nor do we have a preference of boy/girl.  We are sticking to the age group of 0-5 years of age.  The room is ready with boy and girl toys.

That's all, for now. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we venture on this beautiful journey God has called us on--and keep in touch! :)

Day Of Redemption

August 31, 2012=The Day of Redemption!  Augusts have been deemed as my "bad month" for years.  Lost my 1st pregnancy in 2002. Brother was almost killed in an accident in 2002 (a week before my loss). My "Uncle Daddy" (most FAVORITE relative in my extended family) diagnosed with brain cancer in 2010--I just.don't.like.August.  And let's not forget I live in FLORIDA--one of the HOTTEST months all year!

So, there I was-Friday-on the brink of putting behind me the dreaded month....and I'll admit--August 2012 wasn't.too.shabby.at.all!  Content-YES! New job in Ministry-YES!  Good start to school for both my sons-YES!  Things.are.starting.to.look.UP.for us-YES! And then-I got a call---the long-AWAITED-call, from our Social Worker (SW)--but it was a "tad bit earlier" than she had promised (late Sept-Oct)--so I was anxious to hear what she was "proposing"--and of COURSE, she was at LUNCH when I returned her call!  And voice mail picked up hours later when I attempted AGAIN. Didn't she know not to tease me like that going into a 3 day weekend?  I laughed at myself and was reminded again by that still.small.voice in my heart--It's all in God's hands--HIS timing--NOT mine! And I felt so at peace. Not.like.me.at.ALL! ;)

5:45 p.m. on a Friday as I splashed around Mom's pool with the boys-my cell rings--it was our SW!  Long story short--they are "outsourcing" some of their families (US) to the local foster system (where we'll be getting children from anyways!) in an effort to get more families licensed and available.  Currently-there are NO available foster homes in our county and 100's of kids "in need of beds"--aka--HOMES, JESUS, PARENTS TO LOVE ON THEM, FAMILIES TO HELP BRING HEALING TO THE BROKENNESS!!!!  After conferring with Dana--we both agreed to this "change of plans"--and decided to GO FOR IT.....we'll still get our license through FBCH, but to get the ball ROLLLLLLING--we'll have our initial Home Study (HS) done by Safe Children's Coalition (SCC) instead of our SW w/ FBCH.

We originally had a "plan-less weekend." Forget that plan.  We entered into super-vamped mode of clearing out closets (Dear dear hubby FINALLY departed with a specific shirt that I have DESPISED for the 12+ years we've been together-Hallelujah-Thank You JESUS!!!), filled 4 LARGE garbage bags of clothes for a friend who ministers to the needy, filled a box w/ misc. stuff for Goodwill, rented a small storage unit for stuff in our son's closets that freed up space so they could HAVE A CLOSET---oh the work we accomplished when we had MOTIVATION! :)

Photo caption from Instagram: Moving seasonal decorations and baby/toddler items to storage in prep for our #homestudy . 25 sq ft made such a HUGE difference! Weird!

 

Photo caption from Instagram: Can't fire the free help! This cracked us up-both Dane and I were busting our tails and we looked over and saw them sitting there all chill! #thegoodlife

So grateful for the beautiful reminder from my friend E.  She pointed out how God had REDEEMED the month of August, for me, via a text!  Her words smacked.me.in.the.face!  Hard.  I took a deep breath, re-read her words and smiled. And whispered a prayer of gratitude to my Sweet Heavenly Father who knows just what we need, just what we want and just the right time for it!!  :)  Four days later, I'm still grinning like a ninny.

Photo Caption on Instagram: What? Don't most people do #radon tests on Tuesday nights at 955 pm? #totallynormal right? Beats the glucose test required in wk 30 of pregnancy! I'll take this test any day over a cup full of orange flavored vomit ! ;)