The Adventures of Foster Care Part 2

The evening before our foster care information meeting Steve suggested we we watch a sermon on adoption to get us pumped up. He was right It did pump us up. (If you're interested in watching it you can find the link here) We also spent time praying over what the next semester would look like as we began this process.

Tuesday night could not come fast enough as I began my day of going through the normal tasks of class, lunch, picking up the kids I babysit for and shuffling them to activities. As time ticked off the clock I realized my boss was going to come home late and I started to panic. We had already waited 3 months to go to a meeting that would work for us. I didn't want to wait another 3! Finally my boss came home and I rushed out the door with a pack of fruit gummies for dinner. Next stop was picking up Steve from work. With about 15 minutes to spare we found ourselves pulling up to what looked like a low income neighborhood in San Rafael. The reality of what was about to happen started to hit. This night would mark the turning point of our family growing from 2 to 3. I'm not sure if I was outwardly smiling but my heart sure was.

We quickly found the meeting room and were greeted by a sweet lady named Cindy. Cindy is a social worker in our county that helps potential foster parents become certified and then helps to place children in their homes. Three other ladies were in our meeting. After introductions we learned that one was married and also looking into the fost-adopt program while the other two were single and looking to get certified to provide foster care. The presentation informed us that even here in one of the wealthiest counties in America there are on average 70-90 children in foster care. They come from all different backgrounds but most of them have undergone some type of abuse.

Cindy explained in detail the fost-adopt program for us. Children are assessed when they come into the system on their probability of being reunited with their family. Since that is the ultimate goal of foster care. If their prospects are not likely then they give the next of kin an opportunity to pursue adoption. If the next of kin is unable then that is where we come in. They place a child with us and when they come up for adoption we get the opportunity to pursue that adoption first. There is some risk involved with the child being able to reunite with their family. The great thing about this program, however, is that the state will pay for all court fees. We are also given the chance to apply for financial assistance to be given to the child until they turn 18.

After Cindy told us what we could expect as foster parents and how to apply we were blessed to hear from a current foster parent. Claudia has fostered over 90 children in 15 years of her family foster parenting. She told us of the trials but overwhelming joys of the opportunity. It was such a great encouragement.

We ended the meeting with filling out some paperwork to take the next step. Because Steve and I are interested in the fost-adopt program our journey will look a little different than the normal foster care process. We will also be working with a man named Rolph. He does the northern California adoptions and will help us match with a child.

We are looking at an age range of 0-12. I know this may seam strange to you but that is where we feel God leading us. We have no preference on girls boys or race. We are shooting for a child to be with us in January or February of next year after I graduate.

So that's kind of where we're at right now. We will keep you all posted as we go through the process. Please be praying for us, Cindy, Rolph and of course the child God is leading us to. We know that this is all in his hands.

The Adventures of Foster Care Part 1

As most of you know by now Steve and I are passionate about adoption. This past Tuesday might be considered a turning point in our family's journey. Steve and I started the BIG BIG adventure of looking into the Fost-adopt program (foster care to adopt) in our state.

 For those of you who might not be as familiar with our heart for adoption I feel I should back up and tell you a little about our decision to pursue this. Back in college we were very blessed with the preaching and teaching and personal examples of pastors Dr. Tony Merida and Dr. David Platt. Both of us were convicted through sermons of theirs on the needs of orphans around the world (one I would highly recommend can be found here). So from the time we were dating it has been on our radar as something we wanted to do in the future. One day during my last year in college I found myself walking though our church bookstore and a found a table with recommendations from the pastor. A book caught my eye and I found myself almost through the first chapter before I realized I should purchase the book if I was going to read it. This book is called "Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian families and Churches" by Dr. Russel Moore. It talks about our adoption into the family of God and how that should move us into action. You can find this wonderful book on Amazon for under $11 here. This book pushed us that much more into taking the act of adoption seriously.

 From the first night of marriage during our family bible time we began praying for the Lord to bless us with children and the ability to adopt. The question wasn't ever if it would happen but how the Lord would accomplish this in our lives. As we began to look at the practical aspects of adoption the financial aspect seamed almost impossible (with international adoptions being a minimum of $20,000). Looking at full time ministry as the being the rest of or lives we were tempted to put it on the back burner and stop looking at adoption seriously. Thankfully the Holy Spirit continues to work even when we are discouraged and managed to spark the idea of Foster Care. A quick google search on foster care in California quickly felt like a dead end too. Somewhere I found that they look for people with at least 10 years of parenting or childcare experience. That is clearly not us. We've never been parents and certainly don't have 10 years of childcare experience each. However, even when we are not expecting it God is always working everything together for Good for those who are called according to his purpose. Randomly I met a guy at church who had worked for a foster care agency (on a night I almost skipped out on!). I shared with him our desire to adopt but the lack of experience. He quickly shared that somehow I had found miss information and that I should look into it again....

Low and behold I found the official website for our county and we were more than qualified!

We found out that there was a monthly informational meeting so we picked April 24th to attend.

Stay tuned for Part two with what we learned and where are we going from here!

Getting Crafty

So despite the fact that I have a paper Due on Tuesday I managed to put that to the side and make a craft... and then blog about it. (As my mother told me I have to keep my priorities in order "Craft first and then stay up all night on the paper")

My Sweet Friend Cynthia informed me that she was hosting a craft party and that I was invited. Of course I excepted the invitation without hesitation. Then came the problem. What do I make? I have been working on a knitting project (which I will post about in another blog) but had come to a stopping point and run out of yarn. I knew the project had to cost me little to no money so I turned to Pintrest for inspiration. After about 10 minutes of looking I decided I would make a wreath.  Thank goodness for creative people because I managed to find an idea that used strips of material and a coat hanger. As luck would have it I came into some free material a while back and  was the owner of a coat hanger!

So I wanted to share the results with you of how it turned out...

Not bad for a coat hanger, material, and a little bit of time if I do say so myself!

The inspiration for my wreath came from this blog: http://smilemonsters.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-burlap-wreath.html

If you want to make one too this blog gives a really great (easy!!) step by step. The only thing I did differently was I added a hanger to the top and knotted strips of red checkered cloth in between the strips of material for a touch of color.

Well I guess it's time to get back to writing that paper now.

Holy Week

I have always known of the idea of Holy Week but have never really had a church (that I remember) celebrate it before. Aside from our normal weekly activities we also added two additional services to our church week.

The first was Maundy Thursday. As a kid I am embarrassed to admit I always thought they were saying Monday Thursday. I was educated at this service, however, that the word "Maundy" comes from the Latin word commandment. At the passover dinner Jesus gave a final commandment to his disciples

In John 13 we read:

¹² When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

So each year the day before Good Friday we celebrate the last supper where Jesus gives us a missional speech as Maundy Thursday!

This service was one I'm sure I will never forget. It was totally different from any one I have been to. We had a guest artist come and paint a picture in front of us as we took communion. Remembering the last supper and the words of Jesus to his disciples. As the painting progressed it brought different thoughts and images to mind.

Here are a few pictures from the service:

We also had a special Good Friday service at our church. I learned a fun fact on the radio this week about Good Friday. One possibility of where the word "Good" came from is that it came from being called "God's Friday." For our service our choir members did a cantata and scripture reading performance for us. Steve even played hand bells! I knew all of you would want to experience that so I recorded a little of his playing for you.

Finally to end our Holy Week Steve and I had a great Easter. Taking the time to reflect so much on the sacrifice of Christ and the resurrection day earlier in the week really made Easter that much better. Our church was full the first service and packed out for the second one. After our second service some of the ladies of the church put on a free Easter Lunch for everyone. Steve and I enjoyed fellowshiping and then headed home for a nice relaxing afternoon after a very busy week.

Steve and I hope you had a wonderful Holy Week this year too. We pray that Christ's gift of eternal life has continued to impact your daily thoughts this week. We love miss you all!

25 Cool Ways to Share Your Faith

Many times when people hear the word Evangelism they panic. They think I can't just walk up to someone and share my faith. It's weird and awkward! Well I want to help you over come your fears. I too am not always confident talking to a complete stranger but lets face it in the end it's the only thing that matters.

I'm not sure how many of you know but since January I (Laura) have had the privilege of Teacher Aiding for one of my favorite classes (Evangelism) and professors at seminary to date. This week I was tasked to read through an assignment where students were asked to come up with 50 ways to share the gospel. Some people were very creative! Out of the 1750 ways I read about I wanted to highlight 25 of my favorite.

I hope they will inspire you the way they inspired me! Some of these are so easy!! Not scary or awkward at all!

So, get out there and tell someone the good news!

1. Turn church parking lot into a skateboard park one Sunday a month. Invite youth to bring friends to church and stay for the event.

2. Donate your old Christian books to the public library.

3.When you make your grocery list add share the gospel to it.

4. Foster a child.

5. Book trade offs with non believers. You can read something about Hinduism while they read a C.S. Lewis. After the trade meet back to talk about it.
6. Have the cooks of the church prepare meals for new moms who are not believers. Collect a list of non believer expectant moms from church members.
7. Add the link to your blog on your business card that will take the person to your testimony.
8. Host a father daughter dance night and invite the community to come. Give a short talk on the Father's love.
9. Buy a bunch of bus tokens and offer a free token in exchange for an interview on religious beliefs while they wait to catch their bus.
10. Host a monthly bike clinic at the church. Teach kids bike safety while serving coffee for parents. Build relationships with parents and children.
11. have a nurse or trained member of the church offer a free CPR certification course at the church one Saturday. Share with people during the breaks.
12. Allow your children to decorate your driveway with scripture and christian images using sidewalk chalk.
13. Offer a scrapbook making class at your church. Talking about memories often lead to spiritual conversation.
14. Stash tracts in all the pinatas at a party supply store (haha)
15. Flash mob a location using the Jesus Christ Superstar (haha)
16. Preform oil changes for single women in the community have someone building a relationship with them while they wait.
17. Restore a classic care with the church youth group and then take it to car shows.
18. While waiting an eternity at the DMV start conversations with others around you and share Christ. They have no where to run or hide.
19. Put an add on Craigslist in the "free" section for the gift of eternal life with your contact information.
20.  Become a crisis negotiator so you can witness to people in life threatening situations.
21. Donate a kidney with the condition that you must be allowed to speak to the recipient before the transplant.
22. Have a free sale and post signs in your local dollar store to advertise. People will want to know why you are giving things away for free. Share Christ's free gift with them.
23. Offer free funeral services at your church. Make sure to preach the gospel.
24. Bible study at a coffee shop. Free coffee to the first 10 people who show up for it.
25. Set up a Photo booth at a local park. Give people who try it their pictures for free along with a card with information about your church.

Laura's Easy King Cake

Happy very late Fat Tuesday everybody! Steve and I decided after missing king cake season last year that we couldn't do it again. So I began to search for an easy recipe I thought I would share my experience here in case any of you are far away from King Cake Land too and want to give it a try too!

I will begin with a disclaimer. It's not a perfect replica but it's pretty good! My plan was go easy. If you are a professional baker you may want to try something more challenging. I am not, so that's why my plan was to go easy.


Laura's Easy King Cake

Ingredients: (I know easy right?!!)
3 cans of Cinnamon rolls
1 container of cream cheese icing
1 box of food coloring
(1 king cake baby if you can get your hands on one)

Begin by greasing your baking sheet well. Next lay Cinnamon rolls in a circular shape on pan. This is when you would hide your baby if you can find one.

After that search your kitchen for something round that you can fit in the middle so that your cake will keep it's shape. I used a oven safe bowl for mine.

Bake using the time and temp on your Cinnamon roll packages. While you're waiting for the king cake to cook it is the perfect time to make your frosting. I took the packets of icing that came with the Cinnamon roll packets and poured them into cups. I added additional cream cheese icing for flavor and so that there would be enough. I then added food coloring and mixed well. ***Note for the purple add more red than you do blue!

Once your timer goes off you'll have a pretty good looking king cake.

The only step left is to get the frosting on....

And enjoy!

Happy Mardi Gras!!!

The Jewelflower

If you know anything about Steve and I you know that neither of us are nature lovers. Sure we appreciate nature and even take the rare hike but in general we really arn't "Green." Why then you might be asking are you titling this blog: "The Jewelflower?" Well that is a good question because it has very little to do with this blog...

One of the things that defines Marin County where we live is being Green. Some churches in the area (a few years ago) got together and decided that a way we could show the local community we care is to do some service in the parks around the county. So last weekend about 200 church volenters went out all around the county to do just that. Steve and I felt like it would be a good way to reachout in our community and signed up to help out at the Tiburon work site.

After a nice worship serivice that morning all the volenteers headed out to their sites. Our site director gave us a printed discription saying that our site was known as the home for the endangered Jewelflower. We decided to make a game and guess what color the Jewel flower was.

Steve guessed it was going to be blue. I thought it was going to be purple. We invite you to guess too! We'll let all you other non green people know at the end of the blog.

Once we arrived at our site we were given the task to remove the weed called Broom. Behind Steve in the picture is tons of Broom. I being my non green self thought it was pretty and would have guessed it was a flower not a weed.

We were given very heavy orange tools to help us pull out the Broom. It was hard manual labor and slow work. We hope that even though we were quite far off the beaten path that someone was affected by our work.

We decided if we do it again we will try and pick a more public place to go. We were a little sad we didn't get to meet anyone to tell them why we were doing this work but we still had a lot of fun trying something new.

So is it killing you to know what the Jewelflower is yet? Yeah it was killing us too... because we never saw it the whole time we worked. Once we realized we weren't going to find it we looked it up online. Scroll to the bottom of the blog to find out if you guessed the color right!