Here we grow again...or something like that.

Never quite sure where to start when we're in the middle of something and want to share it with others.  Guess it's best to just jump right in.  The end of the story is that we are in the process of becoming foster parents.  (should I have given a "spoiler alert" warning?!)

Back that truck up to 2009...if we had to mark it on a timeline, 2009 is we began actively praying about bringing another child into our family through adoption. By April of 2010 we were in the process of adopting (you can read about it if you go to the 2010 part of this blog or if you click on the "adoption" tag).  We did all the paper work, took all the tests, had our home study, went through some pretty major ups and downs in the process...but the end of the story is that no child was ever placed in our home for us to adopt.  I still don't fully understand it all...but I'm ok with that.

I don't know that I ever shared this next part in the form of a blog post.**  If not, here it is.  If so, here it is again.  In the midst of that leg of our journey - the season of trying to adopt, I was praying with some friends (during a delightfully routine and sacred part of my week called Crave) and I shared with them that I didn't understand why there hadn't been any children placed with us as we were fully certified to adopt - and, I felt that we were very open to lots of possibilities...race, age, sibling groups, challenges...it wasn't like we had one very specific type of child that we wanted to adopt.  As we did at Crave, we all spent time separately praying and listening to God.  At the end of our time, a dear, dear friend named Jessica shared something with me.  She said, "Dianna, as I was praying I had a picture come into my head.  I don't even know what it means.  It doesn't make any sense to me...but I'll share it with you.  I saw this bridge going across a big body of water - a river or lake - and I knew that the bridge represented your adoption.  And I asked the Lord "Why can't they walk over the bridge?  Why can't they just go over the bridge?"  And then the bridge raised up, like a draw bridge...and then a big white ship came by....and then the bridge lowered and you were able to walk right across the bridge."

My response, after I picked my jaw up of of the floor (and probably with some tears streaming down my face...at least they would be if this happened now.  the tears come so easily!!), was to ask if she knew that we were praying about joining Mercy Ships...and that the vision God gave her was confirmation for us. She didn't know about Mercy Ships.  And all throughout our five years on the ship, I've held on to that vision...wondering/hoping that whenever we were done serving with Mercy Ships, the bridge would go down and we'd be able to walk across it and bring a child or children into our home.

And sometimes I wondered if we would walk across the bridge while we were on the ship.  There were times when I felt certain that we were going to connect with an orphan in one of the countries where we were docked...and I even met a few children and immediately asked God, "is this the one?  is this little boy we get to bring into our family?  could she be the one that is going to be a cash?" None of the beautiful children we met and interacted with during our time on the Africa Mercy was meant to be a Cash.  Sometimes that makes me sad.  Most of the time I can remember that God's plans are far better than our own!

So here we are on the other side of the "Big White Ship Going By"...and we're willing to walk across the bridge.

But it's shifted slightly (or maybe tremendously).  Part of the reason we were seeking to adopt year ago is that foster care scared us....or at least me.  It still does sometimes.  But we've said that we want to do what God asks us to do...and we want to be obedient...and foster care is the road He's walking with us down (for the record, we are open to fostering to adopt and to adoption as well).

Fact: as we've been transitioning from life on the ship, adoption has been on our hearts and minds....and foster care has come onto the radar.  But for a while we've sensed that we weren't necessarily supposed to DO anything with it.  My thought - and even what I've told people - is that we're open to it...and we were trusting God to make it obvious.

Well, friends, it seems like He's making things pretty obvious.  There was a situation with a baby that kind of looked promising...but it looks like God has other plans for that precious baby...but then there's this boy....

I don't know all of the foster care "rules"...not sure what's ok to say or not.  The bullet point version is this:

• there's a 9 year old boy who is the son of a friend of a family member
• this boy needs a foster home 
• we are open to our home being his for however long he needs it to be

Other fun facts:

• this boy is precious. he says "yes ma'm" and "no ma'm" way more than my own kids
• he thrives in environments with other kids (and seems to get along well with cash kids!)
• he's just the age we were hoping for when we were first considering adopting (to be fair, we were hoping for any age younger than eli...so that's a pretty broad range!). 
• we know it's not going to be perfect.  nothing about this earthly life is perfect.  but we know it's going to be beautiful. isn't that what God does?  He takes our meager offerings and makes them beautiful...makes beauty from ashes...turns our weakness into strength...makes possible things that seem impossible.  

If all goes as planned (which we never really know if it will or will not), this fun and fabulous boy will come to live with us after he finishes his school year (in just a few weeks!).

If you're a friend or family member and this is the first you're hearing about this, I'm so sorry (the Malagasy "Azafady" suits this situation perfectly).  We haven't been keeping secrets or holding anything back...but it doesn't just naturally come up in conversations either (or at least it hasn't for me).  Also, everything has really just picked up speed and steam in the past week or so.  

There are lots of questions.  (well, maybe not lots...just some). Those questions will have answers in time.  No need to worry or fret.  No need to be anxious or fearful.  

Who knows where this will lead?  (it's a rhetorical question but it has a very real answer: God does.) Maybe this will be the only child we ever foster...or maybe he will be the first of many.  Maybe this will somehow lead to adoption...or maybe it won't.

For now, for always, we want to be God's love to whoever He connects us with and in whatever way He asks us to.  And we are always open to others joining us on that journey with friendship, support and prayer...

Things to pray about:

• pray for this boy - may he finish the school year well and transition smoothly into our home
• pray for the process - would nothing about paperwork or people get in the way of this boy coming into our home (another "for the record": he is in a very good home right now - well taken care of, provided for, loved...but the folks taking care of him know that they can't do it long term....)
• pray for the cash kids - they are all open to this...but it will be an adjustment.  may we walk in grace and peace.  

**I actually just found the blog where I posted about the vision that Jessica shared with me - I am remembering it slightly different...but the heart of it is the same. It's amazing to think about how God used that vision to confirm Mercy Ships - and now it is being used to confirm the foster care/possible adoption process.  I love and appreciate that  God speaks through visions.

So that's where we are.  There are about 4 other blog posts rolling around in my head and heart...hopefully they'll get out of my head and into a post soon!

I'm officially stealing my closing line from our Mercy Ships' blog 'cause I like it and want to continue using it ...(can you steal something from yourself?).

Surely there will be more to come.