One

Yesterday I sat in a courthouse with friends as they celebrated the finalization of their adoption. The journey has not been easy, and that sealed certificate does not mean smooth sailing from here. But God is good and trustworthy and is writing a beautiful story of redemption in their family. He is big enough for this. Today we sat in a different courtroom and wanted to scream as the system see med to fail our foster love yet again. The system. The system is not a person who has wronged her. The system is a broken collection of human beings- forgetful, distracted, budget-constrained, doing-as-they-were-told people who sometimes lose sight of the bigger picture but rarely is it malicious. The system is not a person. But the system is broken. This week I’ve been thinking about how often people come to us and express that they are considering being foster parents. Should I tell them the truth? The truth, my friends, is that adoption is not charity- it is war. (Quoted from Russell Moor...

As I read Matthew 2, this particular aspect of the Christmas story- one that never gets much attention during the beauty of our Christmas celebrations- jumped off the page this morning. In the middle of the wonder of the Christ-child’s long awaited coming, in the middle of magi traveling from afar to present lavish gifts and worship to this child-King, Herod is senselessly slaughtering children in   his fury. If there’s something I’ve seen vividly in foster care, it’s that Jesus loves little children - and the enemy hates them. You cannot enter in to a ministry of loving and caring for vulnerable ones without being roughed up in the fight. It feels senseless. And evil. Because it is. But Jesus still came. He comes to us. He came into the midst of this brokenness. He is still redeeming and restoring and His presence is all the more wonderful because our world is so very broken. Jesus, we are aching in the midst of this broken evil system today. But we know You are good. Y...

I used to do all the things. Cloth diapers. Homemade baby food. Homemade laundry detergent. Grinding my own wheat. Fresh baked bread. Homemade yogurt. Good grief, overachiever. Calm down. Tonight I fed my family dinner that a friend graciously dropped off and we ate on paper plates with red solo cups. I buy disposable diapers in bulk at Sam’s club and am grateful Aldi sells Greek yogurt. And those baby food pouches? What a glorious invention. I still do all the things. The list is just different. And as different things come on the list, something’s gotta give. Hey you, mama, feeling like a failure because you can’t do what you used to do, or can’t do all your friend does, or what your Pinterest board says you should do- stop it. Stop trying to do it all. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you, right? Don’t forget the context of that verse (Philippians 4:13)- Paul is saying he has learned the SECRET of being CONTENT- in any and every situation. What’s the secret? ...