Spoonful of Imagination

Add it to a Family for Something Beautiful

When Life Happens

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It’s been over a week since my last post. I don’t think I have let a week lapse without at least one post, since I started this blog.

Life is happening. There are few moments in life when I actually take the time and space to slow down and just live. I am one of those crazies that loves to constantly be creating, dreaming, and playing. Rarely do I just sit and enjoy a movie (without having a craft or something in front of me at the same time). I multi task. At times I love this about myself and at times I hate it. I need to learn to be still and let things go.

Foster care training has been more emotionally draining than I ever expected. It’s forcing me to be still in a way I have never known. I knew it was going to be hard, but I didn’t think the work and hard aspects would come UNTIL we had kids in our home. I was wrong. Hearing stories, being presented situations and possibilities, and the level of introspection that has come from these meetings, conversations, and paperwork…has been a toll.

I can honestly say, we are more excited and the anticipation for what is to come is greater than ever. At the same time, every week that we walk into our class and leave (without withdrawing) I feel victorious that we have not quit yet. In my flesh, I would have given up a long time ago. We are half way done!

In the midst of this craze, we have been encouraged and seen God move. We were given a bed for our foster care room, and I will be sharing more of that soon.

In the last week, we had our best friends in town and it did our hearts good to be able to hang out together.

best friends

Going to the pool

We also traveled this past weekend to Indiana for a close friends wedding, and in the process got to hang out with more dear friends.

DIY wedding

corn field beauty

kids in a corn field

superhero poses

It’s funny how God works in your life to encourage and build into you in the midst of hardship and tribulation. I never thought a quick weekend away (with driving so many miles and traveling with three young kids) could be so encouraging, but it was.

lake boat fun

I am thankful that we are not ever alone in this life. We have a God that has not left us and friends and family that build into us.

I am trying to figure out this balance of blogging, processing our training, preparing for what is to come with foster care kids, and gearing up for starting another homeschool year. I wish I had super powers and could do it all, but learning to balance, let things go, and rest can be a hard thing. Where to give and invest is the question on my heart.

What about you? Has your summer flown by too? Are you questioning are you living or is life happening and you are trying to keep up too?

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Faithful Steps

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Many of you know that we moved in order to pursue being foster care parents. The last update came through my interview with Jill. Its been a while, so I thought I’d share the latest.

I am so excited to tell you that things are progressing and we continue to be presented with the next faithful steps forward. Tomorrow, we will be attending a one day informative conference about foster care through Living 1:27. We are so excited to learn more about the process as we gather with hundreds of other people from all over the state. I’m especially intrigued by one of the breakouts, “how to not get burned out.”

if it scares you-facebook

I’m not sure what we’ll hear on Saturday but as we’ve talked to other foster families the idea of community and support continue to come up. We feel so blessed that once we moved into our new home an incredible community opportunity was presented to us. North Point Community Church in Alpharetta is very active in helping families get involved in foster care. The Browns Bridge campus, our new church, is starting a new foster care group and training session in about two weeks. If we went through DFACS and the state’s training we could be certified after a weekend of classes. Since we’ve heard such a strong push towards community, we’ve decided on the 11 week foster care training through Browns Bridge instead. That will fully certify us with the county and equip us to be able to open our home to kids in need. We are trusting and believing this longer process will better ready our family as well as help us build a community with others on a similar path in our area.

So, as of now it looks like we will be spending the summer preparing and hopefully continuing to set up house and getting the bedroom ready to feel welcoming and safe. Like we’ve said from the beginning, we don’t know what’s after that. Right now we see the step that is in front of us for this summer and are thrilled to take it!

Thank you for being in this journey with us as so many of you have asked and encouraged us! The above image is a printable quote that I made and is my challenge to you. Please feel free to download it and print it!

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