Happy Birthday!

There's no better Birthday surprise than a package in the mail

 

It seems like only yesterday that we picked her up from the hospital, when she was only 2 days old.  Has it really been 3 years?  Jaqueline has brought so much joy to our lives.  The smiles…the giggles…and the never ending stream of energy.  Don’t ever think that you might not have enough love in your heart for a child that is not “biologically your own”.  To say that she is loved by my family and I would be a gigantic understatement. She is part of our family and we hope that she always will be.

Every foster child has his or her own story.  Jaqueline is no different. Do I believe that her birth mother loves her? Absolutely!  But sometimes life takes a turn and the children are left to pick up the pieces.  Problem is, the pieces are often out of the children’s reach.  That is where foster parents come into the picture.  If you’ve ever thought about foster parenting but have never taken that 1st step; I say go for it!  The rewards of loving a child like your own by far out-weigh the lies that your mind could tell you otherwise.

 

 The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.
 

 Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 

If you are considering foster parenting OR if you are current foster parents, check out these links:

Foster Parenting .com

National Foster Parent Association

Should Act One become law? ACLU takes on Fostering & Adoption

Does every child deserve to have a mother and a father?  Lets take a look at nature itself.  It takes a male and a female to reproduce. Well dah! You say.( but think about it)  If the DNA from either is missing, there is no child.  So why should we than take a child conceived out of a union between a man and a woman (artificial or not) and put him or her in a situation that defies nature. Don’t get me wrong, children do and can grow up in various family situations without the traditional mom and dad. But is this ideal? (This is the question), lets shoot for IDEAL!Aren’t there enough fragmented families in this world?

ACT ONE seems like a totally logical way to approach the whole issue of adoption and foster parenting.  Voters in the state of Arkansas spoke in an overwhelming majority. The results of the initiative vote: in favor 57.06%  and  42.94% against, thats over 14 percentage points apart. But the focus of ACT ONE even goes as far as banning an unmarried heterosexual couple.  Why do they need to be married?  Stability, yes stability.  Why do people living together not get married?  Fear of commitment, perhaps? Commitment in a marriage relationship between a man and a woman creates the stability that a child needs.  Just knowing that mom and dad took a vow “till death due us part”, not “when the going gets rough, I’m out of here”.  Every child needs to know that he has a mom & dad with that “till death due us part” commitment to him as a child. 

So the BIG question is: Do foster & adoptive kids really deserve a chance to have a married mom and dad?  YES!

Check out these links to some related articles:

How Healthy are Cohabiting Relationships?

ACLU Taking Act One to Court – from arkansasmatters.com

ARElections.org – Arkansas Secretary of State – 2009 election results

Thinking about adoption ?

Have you thought about adopting , but don’t think you have the funds?  This article penned by Adam Webster may just change your perspective on the whole issue of adoption. I personally know people within the states that have paid less then $2000 in legal fees.  I know nothing of the links on the page, but I do agree with the article.

Adoption Costs: Still High But Now Affordable

California foster care system – Broken?

I recently came across a blog that has some interesting insight into the case of the 16 year old boy in Tracy, California. According to police the boy had been missing since May 2007, when he fled a Sacramento foster home. It seems disturbing that all of what happened to this boy was actually under the “watchful eye of the state”.  Isn’t there a better way?  The concept of foster parenting is actually a system that works, at least when there’s common sense involved.  It seems though, that common sense has left the building and the red tape and bureaucracy of government have stepped in.  Not to say that the people within the welfare system don’t have a heart(I think they really do).  It really seems that a grass roots approach would be a better approach.  A system that is truly grounded in the community and accountable to the community.  Churches and para-church organizations would seem like logical and feasible options. I know they work because I’ve seen them working firsthand.  I know these are complicated issues, and there is not a “One size fits all” type of answer.  I challenge anyone with a heart for kids to step forward and make a difference in the life of a child.  My wife and I care for a child whose mother is currently incarcerated,(Believe me) its not the easiest job in the world, but its WORTH IT!

Mercury News Story                     

    A blog by Jennifer Nelson on the Sacramento Bee website

A call to Action

ACTION   –   What is Action?  Movement

something done or performed; act; deed.

 

Do you believe that God has called us all to action?

God has a calling for each of us in life.

 

• Some it’s mentoring youth .
• To some it’s giving homeless a shelter or helping the poor with a food pantry.  
• Some it’s teaching children life skills in school, (education).  
• To some it’s working in disaster relief.  (like CAM , {Christian Aid Mission}, or Samaritans Purse, the organization Franklin Graham is associated with.)  
• To others it may be counseling with a pregnant teenager who may be on the verge of aborting her unborn child.
• Maybe it’s caring for the elderly. 
• Or working with the handicapped. 
• Or maybe it’s your listening ear to your co-workers right your own community.  
• Maybe it’s visiting someone in prison. 
• Or caring for the widows and orphans.
• Or working at your local thrift store
• Or just maybe it’s taking care of babies whose mothers are in prison.

 

The list could go on and on.  Some would see his neighbors calling as being much greater than his own, but the fact of the matter is, one’s calling is no more important than the next if you’re living in the Will of God. 

Christian or not, we all have a calling in life, SO TAKE YOURS and make a positive impact on the world!!

Hello world! Do Kids really Deserve a Chance?

YES!!  This is really my big intro into the world of blogging. So let me keep it short and sweet!  Do you care about kids and the circumstances that surround them?  If you do, I hope that you will be encouraged! Kids really do deserve a fair chance in the world today.