Thursday, June 30, 2011
so close! but not quite....
Sooooo.....I got an email and a phone call from our agency today. I finally have some answers as to why it is taking so long to get licensed. Yay!! According to our home developer it is in the final process and should we should be licensed tomorrow. She said they had to take it to the state level to get some answers about my husband transporting our child and having his duty weapon on him. Initially they thought that there was an exception to the rule for police officers, but with all the digging/investigating they now know that there isn't. That obviously would be an issue for us since he is a police officer and is sometimes in uniform when he meets me with the kids, or has to drop them off at grandma's when I work late or get stuck in traffic. They will be getting special permission so that we will be able to have our special circumstances covered in instances like these. She told me that the lady who submits everything had left early, but sometimes works from home, SO, if we weren't officially in the system by end of day today, we will be tomorrow! Yay! Better late than never, huh???
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
His blessings.......
I am going to post this today as a reminder for me and my house that God truly is faithful. I was deleting some "drafts" that I never posted and came across this one. When I wrote it, I held back and saved it as a draft because I didn't want to come across as "holier-than-thou" because I really do NOT feel like we are better than anyone. We might be better OFF than those with nothing, but not better than anyone because of HOW we live our lives or how we spend our money. I had a conversation with a friend today about tithing and God's faithfulness. Let me share with you a little about our testimony....when it comes to "our" money.
~Just DAYS after buying this house, I lost my job. I told Eddie I felt like we should keep on giving our 10% regardless of what bills were due. Our mortgage and car payments left little money to pay for food, gas, electric, etc. But we gave anyway, and God met our EVERY need. We were never late on the house payment, we always had food to eat, and yet the numbers didn't add up. Seriously people, it's a GOOD thing God was in control of our finances at that time because I would have lost my MIND if I were the one trying to work the numbers. (Math is NOT my strong suit.) It made no sense, but sometimes I think that's just how God likes to roll. Let 'em wonder....
A couple years ago I started giving as soon as I felt Him moving me....no audible voice, just a number in my head and a specific need for specific people or organizations. Freaked my husband out a little. Okay, a lot. He was constantly telling me, "You can't save the world Amanda." My reply? "I can't, but GOD can. And we can HELP one person at a time. So when he says "GIVE," we give." Every SINGLE need (financially speaking) from that day on has been met. Every. single. one. Last year we had a lot of big things hit at once. We needed a new roof (thank you Texas hail storm) and found out our deductible was triple what we thought it was, our daughter had to have surgery, our property taxes weren't properly escrowed and we had to come up with basically an extra house payment to keep our monthly payments from increasing....the list goes on. One thing after another worked out. Need after need was met and paid for.
This fiscal year, the department my husband works for announced that in addition to taking ONE paycheck (there are 27 pay periods this year instead of 26), they would also be taking 12 furlough days. So basically my husband's annual salary was cut by one month's pay. OUCH. We walked in the door for his mandatory benefits appointment with smiles on our faces and made it known that only God was in control of our finances. It looked a little tight for a couple months, but God IS faithful. We attended the Wait No More conference in early November and made a commitment to God right then and there that we would follow His will for our lives. Just before the conference my husband got the promotion he thought he wasn't getting, and immediately after, I made a slight career change at my hospital that was supposed to be a lateral transfer. God turned that into a more-than-enough increase. Do you see where I'm going with this? I'm not trying to say that you should give to get. It's not ours. None of it. It's HIS, and it should all be used for His glory, to further His kingdom. THAT is what we are here for. Not to be comfortable. Not to sit around and wait for someone else to do it. GO. Be. Do. I'm guilty of being "comfortable" myself. I don't think God cares for "comfortable." (What does the Bible say about being "lukewarm" Christians? He'd rather spit you out of His mouth...) He has blessed this country SO MUCH, and we all take it for granted. So much so, that there are 147,000,000 orphans in the world, yet 78.5% of Americans claim to be Christians. WHERE is Christ in that?? (Disclaimer: I say all this not to make us look good, but to show you that God IS faithful.)
.
2 Corinthians 9;7
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
~Just DAYS after buying this house, I lost my job. I told Eddie I felt like we should keep on giving our 10% regardless of what bills were due. Our mortgage and car payments left little money to pay for food, gas, electric, etc. But we gave anyway, and God met our EVERY need. We were never late on the house payment, we always had food to eat, and yet the numbers didn't add up. Seriously people, it's a GOOD thing God was in control of our finances at that time because I would have lost my MIND if I were the one trying to work the numbers. (Math is NOT my strong suit.) It made no sense, but sometimes I think that's just how God likes to roll. Let 'em wonder....
A couple years ago I started giving as soon as I felt Him moving me....no audible voice, just a number in my head and a specific need for specific people or organizations. Freaked my husband out a little. Okay, a lot. He was constantly telling me, "You can't save the world Amanda." My reply? "I can't, but GOD can. And we can HELP one person at a time. So when he says "GIVE," we give." Every SINGLE need (financially speaking) from that day on has been met. Every. single. one. Last year we had a lot of big things hit at once. We needed a new roof (thank you Texas hail storm) and found out our deductible was triple what we thought it was, our daughter had to have surgery, our property taxes weren't properly escrowed and we had to come up with basically an extra house payment to keep our monthly payments from increasing....the list goes on. One thing after another worked out. Need after need was met and paid for.
This fiscal year, the department my husband works for announced that in addition to taking ONE paycheck (there are 27 pay periods this year instead of 26), they would also be taking 12 furlough days. So basically my husband's annual salary was cut by one month's pay. OUCH. We walked in the door for his mandatory benefits appointment with smiles on our faces and made it known that only God was in control of our finances. It looked a little tight for a couple months, but God IS faithful. We attended the Wait No More conference in early November and made a commitment to God right then and there that we would follow His will for our lives. Just before the conference my husband got the promotion he thought he wasn't getting, and immediately after, I made a slight career change at my hospital that was supposed to be a lateral transfer. God turned that into a more-than-enough increase. Do you see where I'm going with this? I'm not trying to say that you should give to get. It's not ours. None of it. It's HIS, and it should all be used for His glory, to further His kingdom. THAT is what we are here for. Not to be comfortable. Not to sit around and wait for someone else to do it. GO. Be. Do. I'm guilty of being "comfortable" myself. I don't think God cares for "comfortable." (What does the Bible say about being "lukewarm" Christians? He'd rather spit you out of His mouth...) He has blessed this country SO MUCH, and we all take it for granted. So much so, that there are 147,000,000 orphans in the world, yet 78.5% of Americans claim to be Christians. WHERE is Christ in that?? (Disclaimer: I say all this not to make us look good, but to show you that God IS faithful.)
.
2 Corinthians 9;7
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
tick tock.....
tired, so tired of waiting. all in HIS timing. right? i think the good lord must be teaching me a serious lesson in patience. today marks another day of no answers, no license, and no new face in the house. i was hoping we would have the summer to bond w/our first foster child, but as june is flying by me (seriously, where did june go???), i am beginning to doubt that will be possible. on the plus side, we have our hands full with puppies right now (want one???), and the thought of paying for daycare for another kid during the summer......counting my blessings, i really am. :)
anyway, i got an email from our home developer last week asking for about six random things, most of which she had copies of or should have already known after having four visits to our home to interview all of us. i know we had to drop the ball (take a short pause?) on things for a little bit while we waited for answers, and again for finger prints since the puppies came early, but other than that, every. single. thing. she asked for was sent right away. and i mean RIGHT away. i sent her an email yesterday asking if she had been able to submit our home study after all the last minute things she needed, and she said she had and that we would hear from her this week. goodbye tuesday. maybe wednesday! let you know when i know more!
anyway, i got an email from our home developer last week asking for about six random things, most of which she had copies of or should have already known after having four visits to our home to interview all of us. i know we had to drop the ball (take a short pause?) on things for a little bit while we waited for answers, and again for finger prints since the puppies came early, but other than that, every. single. thing. she asked for was sent right away. and i mean RIGHT away. i sent her an email yesterday asking if she had been able to submit our home study after all the last minute things she needed, and she said she had and that we would hear from her this week. goodbye tuesday. maybe wednesday! let you know when i know more!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
puppies, foster care and germany!
What do those three things have to do with one another? Not a whole lot, but that pretty much sums up our week! The puppies are doing great. Driving us crazy, but doing great! We still have six, healthy pups, so that's a plus. :) They are starting to develop personalities and some of them are working my nerves w/the yelping/barking, but they are cute as ever!
We just finished the last of our paperwork and are now waiting for our home study to be completed. YES, we had four? home studies, however, our home developer still has to "write" our home study and submit it to her supervisors before everything is complete. Then everything will be submitted to Austin, and it is my understanding that it takes 24-48 hours after our license has been submitted before we'll be "open." Yesterday I emailed our home developer asking her for a guestimate as to how long until we're officially licensed and her response was, "About two weeks-ish. Hopefully!" Ugh, really?????? People I have BEEN patient. And I don't just mean patient for ME, I mean patient period. Six months just seems like an awfully long time to complete something like this. I know people who have ADOPTED (not through foster care...just to clear that up!) quicker than we were licensed! Granted, I haven't heard of many that happen that fast, but a few! Pray for me people. Pray for me. I'm running out of patience. I just wanted to be finished w/this ONE thing.
Why Germany? No, we are not going there, and we are not adopting from there, however, we have friends who have been called to the mission field and Germany will soon be their new home! Tonight we got to hang out w/an old friend of mine from back home and hear how God has called his family to Germany as missionaries @ Black Forest Academy. It was nice meeting his wife and two kids and learning a little more about what God has in store for them. If this interests you at all, go check out their blog: http://thesnavelysingermany.blogspot.com/. I've also added them to the blog list of blogs I keep up with.
It has been a very long day of puppies, work and preparing for guests, so I am headed to bed!
We just finished the last of our paperwork and are now waiting for our home study to be completed. YES, we had four? home studies, however, our home developer still has to "write" our home study and submit it to her supervisors before everything is complete. Then everything will be submitted to Austin, and it is my understanding that it takes 24-48 hours after our license has been submitted before we'll be "open." Yesterday I emailed our home developer asking her for a guestimate as to how long until we're officially licensed and her response was, "About two weeks-ish. Hopefully!" Ugh, really?????? People I have BEEN patient. And I don't just mean patient for ME, I mean patient period. Six months just seems like an awfully long time to complete something like this. I know people who have ADOPTED (not through foster care...just to clear that up!) quicker than we were licensed! Granted, I haven't heard of many that happen that fast, but a few! Pray for me people. Pray for me. I'm running out of patience. I just wanted to be finished w/this ONE thing.
Why Germany? No, we are not going there, and we are not adopting from there, however, we have friends who have been called to the mission field and Germany will soon be their new home! Tonight we got to hang out w/an old friend of mine from back home and hear how God has called his family to Germany as missionaries @ Black Forest Academy. It was nice meeting his wife and two kids and learning a little more about what God has in store for them. If this interests you at all, go check out their blog: http://thesnavelysingermany.blogspot.com/. I've also added them to the blog list of blogs I keep up with.
It has been a very long day of puppies, work and preparing for guests, so I am headed to bed!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Real Quick....
Lunch is almost over, but since I KNOW I'll be busy tonight and tomorrow preparing for guests.....we are FINISHED. Done. Nothing else needed. (Now that I've said that, I'll probably get to eat those words!!) Not really sure how being finished w/paperwork/finger prints relates to actually being licensed, but I'll let you know once I get the final word!
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