Romance

Ah!  How we as women LOVE to be romanced!  Romanced defined in webster is :
1. a love affair, esp an intense and happy but short-lived affair involving young people


2. love, esp romantic love idealized for its purity or beauty


3. a spirit of or inclination for adventure, excitement, or mystery

being romanced can mean different things to everyone, some might like dinner, and a movie, flowers and a massage, phone calls during the day just to say I love you!  for me,phone calls through out the day,  hubby making the dinner plans, and oh how I love it when he cleans up the house and all i need to do is sit down and relax!   It can be different for everyone and we think of romance in regards to our boyfriend/spouse.  I read a book about God romancing us!  
Everytime I see a beautiful sunset, a pretty flower, or feel the wind blowing through my hair, I know that God is showing me HIS beauty that he made for me!  I watch Him work in the lives of others as He reaches out for them and tries to draw them to Him!   How He wants to romance each and every one of us!  I am sitting back and watching how He is reaching for my 16 year old foster daughter.  She has come from a past that needless to say is one of pain and heartache, one noone should have to live through.  BUT I see God using  youth group and learning about God and His love for us, and how He died for her! 
Then we go on vacation, and she is hospitalized for an infection.  She was brokenhearted wondering why everything bad happens to her.  At the end of her hospital stay the doctor, said to her, can I pray for you?  Your story has really touched me! WOW!   for a doctor to pray for a patient these days is unusual! He is calling for my daughter, COME TO ME!!!  
Fast forward a couple of weeks to the first week of school, she is lonely and has no friends, just trying to fit in, hiding in the bathroom at lunch, searching to find a place.  After some mishaps with her locker being broken into she was sitting in the principles office, voicing to him why God is letting all this happening to her.  The principle closes the door and says you want to talk about God?  and then continues to witness to her about Christ and His love for us for the next 40 mins.  WOW!  He tells her he will deny telling her anything about God because he could lose his job.  I told Shannon, God is after you and he is romancing you, He is so reaching for her and wanting to have a relationship with her!   It is amazing to watch this play out, and see how God is working in her life. Our God is so awesome!  
We all go through heartache and we always wonder why it happens to us, it is hard to understand why we experience any of this, but God uses it all for HIS glory!  So through all things we should be content because it isn't about us, it's about HIM and how to live for HIM!   
One of the defintions of romance is "short lived", we often times think of love as the giddy feeling we have when we first meet someone, that is not love.  Love is a choice!   I look at the marriage my hubby and I have 10 years later that giddy feeling has faded and through the hard times you wonder why God?  But we choose to love each other and to make our marriage work. We are both sinful creatures, and need forgiveness, It's about being there for oneanother and having unconditional love for each other like God has for us!  No matter how many times we sin against Him, He still loves us and still died for us.  I pray that I can have a love for mankind like He has for me, to see past the sins of others and see into their hearts, that I might be able to love them with a love that is unconditional and forgiving.

Favorite things

My favorite time of the year is approaching! With each day brings new challenges, and at times that can be completely overwhelming. I have learned that it starts with MY thinking and how I respond to certain things, so if you have positive thoughts sometimes the days are a little more manageable!   SO, HERE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS....a cool crisp morning, the changing of the leaves, when our puppy Lucy runs with her ears flapping, a newly vacuumed room, clean kitchen counters, a hot shower, having a "date" with my hubby, a loud thunderstorm, catching up with friends, the sound of the kids laughing, B holding his muhmy, bonfires, watching the "twins" learn new things, a warm cup of chai, curling up with a warm blanket, watching the older girls laughing and enjoying life!  

WHO AM I?

So here it is the beginning of August, where did the summer go?   At the beginning of summer a friend of mine suggested making a list with the kids of things we would like to do, we have done MOST of the things on the list, knocking two big ones out this weekend, the science center and lynn run!  It has been a completely chaotic summer with all the kiddos here, but it has been enjoyable too. 

On July 15th we got our 3rd foster child, a 16 year old girl.  She has been with us for a couple week and I feellike she has been here so much longer!  She is so sweet and a joy to have in our home.  She has been extremelyhelpful around the house, and I am hoping some of her neatness and organizing rubs off on me.  We were told we can't get anymore foster kids, apparently in the state of PA, 6 kids in a house is the limit..?? Crazy and sort of bittersweet!  I am glad we know where we will be in the next year or so, we can now structure our lives around being a family of 8.  When we first started the foster journey we specified we wanted the ages of 2-5, laughing at that now b/c our first referral was a 1.5 and 8 year old, the perfect fit, and then I said I would not take anyone older than the 9 year old, and God gave us a 16 year old!   What can i say?  sometimes His ways are not our ways, but His ways will ALWAYS be better!  Praising God for His grace and mercies! 

Sometimes I sit back and I look at my life and wonder how did I get here?   I have 6(7) kids under my care!   It has taken me 4 years to realize that being a SAHM is God's plan for me, but often I wonder why?  I don't have a calm gentle spirit, I yell everyday, I am not very good at being therapeutic, sometimes I know I am handling the situation wrong, but just can't seem to stop!  I always doubt that i am doing the things that these kiddos need.  There is no manual on how to do any this, every day I wake up and wing it all by the seat of my pants!  I mean I know God is with me, but it is still me in my sinful nature trying to raise these children up to know our Heavenly Father.  I am so inadequate for the job He has given me, and at the same time I feel so blessed to be called to this!  What greater joy is there in nurturing the heart of a child?  Each one of my blessings is so unique, and needs to be tended to in a special way. I am humbled that God has entrusted me with these little ones, and everyday I seek His guidance on how to do it all right.  I just pray that I hear him right! 

 I feel so closed off from the world lately, i very rarely leave my house for any "fun" adult reason and I really miss my friends, I don't seem to have time for much of anything lately and I know it is irritating for my friends that I always say I can't do something, but packing up all the rugrats is sometimes just too much right now.  Once the babies are older and more self sufficient life will once again get into an easier stage. I just hope I have some friends left at the end.....LOL!    Here is the verse I have been meditating on :

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.


May we all serve the Lord with all our hearts and do so without grumbling or complaining!  

Blessings!