No More Pen & Paper

After some encouragement from some friends (old & new...you know who you are!), I am starting a blog. I have journaled off & on for a few years the old fashioned way (paper, pen), but maybe now I will feel more accountable to be faithful with it. I really want to do it consistently because I love looking back to see how God has worked something out or answered prayer. As I look back on some of my journaling, I am AMAZED at the work of God's hands!

It seemed fitting to blog for the first time ever on this day. Two years ago on this day, God ROCKED my world, and it will never be the same.......

Joe & I have always wanted to adopt. In the fall of 2006, we attended a ceremony for a boys' school that Joe was involved with. I sat there the whole time with a lump in my throat and an ache in my heart because so many of these boys were permanently placed in foster care and they had no families. It was gut wrenching to me. I realized I could no longer ignore what God was putting on our hearts. We began searching and asking questions about how you go about adopting a waiting child from foster care. In order to get our homestudy done for free, we had to get licensed as foster care parents. This was fine & our agency understood that we had absolutely NO intention of doing foster care...we just wanted to adopt. We were matched twice with teenage boys, but unfortunately neither boy ended up in our home.

Fast forward to August 8, 2007. It's one of those days that will be etched in my mind forever. Out of the blue, I get a call from our Christian agency that a county an hour away from us is looking for a stay-at-home foster mommy for a newborn. In my mind, I'm thinking ya, right, our agency never gets newborns as foster placements...I'm sure this county will find someone in their own network. But, just in case, I lifted up my usual prayer to God, "Lord, please open the door wide, or close it tight. Just don't let me go anywhere I'm not supposed to." My phone rang again about an hour later, and when I saw that it was my agency, I figured they were going to tell me "nevermind". Instead what I heard was, "Dardi, you're it. The intake worker from the county will be calling you to make the arrangements." Huh? Are you kidding me? I didn't have one single thing in my house (except for two cans of baby formula that mysteriously arrived in the mail two weeks prior, but that's another God story for another blog post...don't want to shove too much into one!), and not only was I getting a newborn...SHE (not a teen boy like WE planned) was preemie to boot (4 lb. 15 oz.). My next call was from the intake worker at 4:00 asking me if I could meet her at the hospital by 6:00. Um, ok...today? The amazing thing was God's provision through the generosity of others. By the time I got back home, I had a fully stocked nursery including preemie girl clothes from a friend who had saved them from when her daughter was born. It was unbelievable!

Two years ago today, God called us...we took the leap. Honestly, it's been one of the hardest things God has ever asked us to do, but also one of the most wonderful. I have been stretched in my faith in ways I could have never imagined and blessed beyond measure at the very same time. I have hit my knees in fits of gutwrenching sobs because the fear of the unknown would consume me. And yet, I would have moments of peace that surpasses all understanding and marvel at the enormous love I could feel for a child that I did not physically give birth to.

There's so much more about what God has done that I look forward to sharing. In time as things come to mind, I will. For now, know this: We serve an awesome God whose timing is perfect. He knows us better than we know ourselves, and when we finally surrender to Him, He calls us to places we cannot conjure up on our own. We have embraced our little "Punkie" with every fiber of our being and loved every moment of being her family. We have just recently learned that we will be able to begin the adoption process in the very near future. I look forward to the day that I can introduce you to her. I hope to post pics of the other kiddos soon. In the meantime, I so appreciate continued prayers for our family and that "the process" go smoothly (and quickly, please!).

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." ~Romans 8:28