Expecting

I've started this post a dozen times and countless different ways, but here's the bottom line:

We have an extra bedroom in our house with two unused beds.
I drive a Suburban with a couple of empty seats.
My husband & I have hearts that break over the crisis of foster care in our community. (We are the worst in the state of Georgia per capita for kids in care AND worst in the state in terms of the ratio of available foster families for the number of children in need of placement.)
We are knee deep in kid mode.
We have margin in our lives to share with others.

So, after years of conversation and prayer, mounds of paperwork and days of training we are entering the final stretch of our home study process to become foster parents. (And our kids are onboard "as long as it is not a baby.")

We have been told to expect placement of a child or two before the end of April!!

I have learned SO much through this process and have felt confirmation in my Spirit over and over again. I have been pondering so much in my heart and enjoying private time to really explore the commitment with my little family without a lot of outside input.

But, at this point I am like a very pregnant Mama ready to burst in anticipation (except I don't know the age, gender or number of additional kids in my home!) I am ready to talk about it.

Due to the sensitive and personal nature of these cases, I won't feel free to write once there are children in my home--it will no longer simply be my story then, it will be theirs.

So, I hope to use these next few weeks of waiting to record some of the stories of how God got us here. On the hard days and nights I don't want to forget how assured we feel of this call right now. We've been circling the pool for years with toes in the water. Now it is time for us to dive in.

It's been a long journey, but little by little God removed all the obstacles until the only thing that was holding us back from saying Yes was fear. In the last several weeks God has reminded us that He's never considered fear a good reason to avoid anything.

Like a hope-filled young bride, I want to record this chapter. God has really shown Himself to Ryland & me as we have considered this for NINE YEARS, but I can't fit a decade in a single post. So stay tuned.