The Intentional Life

It's been awhile since I've posted.  It's not for lack of ideas. I've actually had quite a few things going through my head with this season of thanks and celebration upon us.  I've just usually gave into exhaustion and a cup of tea at the end of the day instead of typing it all out. But what has spurred me on to type tonight has my heart all twisted up.  My emotions on the brink of spilling out. We've had some ups and downs this fall with the different kids coming through our door.  We've gotten 4 new residents in the last 2 months. Each has come with their own baggage.  Their own challenges.  Their own demons. But tomorrow we have to say good-bye.  Good-bye to the kid who sees the Truth laid out in front of him but yet chooses a different path. The kid who is 14 but inwardly feels about 8. The kid who never really knew what it was like to have a mother love him unconditionally.  Who placed his needs above her own.  Who had...

I don't know too many people personally that have gone to war for me. Although I do have some family members who have served in the armed forces. Cousins. Uncles. Grandpa. My dad. I think that is that one that strikes me the most.  Even though my dad didn't know me yet as he signed up to go fight a war. To leave family and security behind. To trade it for nightmarish reminders and medical affliction that still plague him today. I don't know all the reasons behind why he signed up.  But I believe he was wanting to see freedom for others who did not have it.  Freedom that he enjoyed here in America. He went, along with many, many others to fight a controversial war. I don't know many details.  As one could guess, my dad doesn't share too many of the stories of his time oversees in uniform.  But that's OK.  I've seen him suffer physically over the last 20+ years to know that all things were not pleasant. My dad was exposed to disease an...

And just like that.....we are in November. October has been a month of lessons learned on love. What does the Love of God look like in our lives? How are we showing this to those around us? So often I fall into the pit of believing that I can show other's God's love on my own strength and will.  I try it and I find myself exhausted and wrung out and sitting in my closet, crying on the floor. You might think I am exaggerating.....I'm not. But God, in His patience and mercy, shows me how I am not capable of this.  It is only when I allow Him to work through me that other can start seeing God's love in my life.  Then it is not MY love being poured out to others....it is HIS love filling me up, overflowing into the lives of those that surround me. So let my life be the proof, The proof of Your love Let my love look like You and what You're made of How You lived, how You died Love is sacrifice So let my life be the proof, The proof of Your love  ...

One-third. Owen is 1/3 of the way to 18. Today he turned 6.  I read on a blog a few years back about a guy whose son turned 6 and it hit him that his son was a third of the way done with his time at home. Granted, there are children who live at home past 18, and Owen may be one of them.  But if he trends like his dad....18 it will be. It sobers me to realize that that time is already past.  I pray that we have used those 6 years to God's benefit and that Owen has been taught with that Truth that he needs whenever he does venture out on his own. But, for this time, he is still under our roof.  And we will continue to enjoy the sweet package that he is. Owen, who more easily talks to adults that kids his own age.  Who is more at ease in a group of 5 teenagers than a circle of Kindergarteners. Owen, who's soft heart causes him to tear up easily.  Those feelings are hurt so easily.  Oh, son, I understand it well. Owen, who often thinks ...

I've never had the chance to enjoy a 2 year old like this before. Whenever I had a 2 year old, I had a newborn. But now, Owen is in Kindergarten, Hannah heads to preschool for a few hours three days a week, and I get this goober all by herself for a few precious hours. Madeline is so snugly, often she brings me her blanket and just wants to cuddle up with me on the couch.  She loves to color...almost TOO much. We have had couches, coffee tables, floors, walls, windows, and people colored on by this little Picasso. I also think Madeline's vocabulary is much farther along than either of her siblings were at this age - attribute that to all the bigger people she has around her all the time. She has the hardest time staying in bed, and we go through this little battle nightly.  We were having her recite her memory verses the other day and one that she said was "Children obey your parents.....Stay in bed!"  Hmmmmm, well we know that she knows what to do, it...

Psalm 91:3-6 3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. 5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. Faithfulness. The theme of our September.  Despite the many snares, arrows, and darkness that Satan threw our way, God remained faithful as our Protector, Comforter, and Guide. There were certainly low points: adjusting to having no alternates, just as the house filled up to capacity with 7 residents dealing with hospitalizations with one of our residents a resident running away from campus mourning the sudden death of my cousin Michael But the Lord is faithful, and promises not to give us more than we can bear.  Between the valleys there were highpoints.  Moments ...

"I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land.  I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn't have to destroy the land..."  Ezekiel 22:30 I came across this verse the other day as I was doing my morning devotional.  It stood out to me as I noticed the words "stand in the gap."  I have heard a few people use this phrase when speaking about foster care or adoption and I have always thought it was a way of describing how a person would stand in the gap that is created when a child is found without a home or parents.  But as I read it in this context here, it gave me a whole new perspective of standing in the gap.  Maybe you all have been clued in before now and I am the last to come across this, but I'll share what I have discovered anyway. My Life Application Study Bible has an excerpt at the bottom that helped clarify for me: " The wall spoken of here is not made of stones but...