Cohen’s been snoozing on the couch behind me for a couple of hours while I switched back and forth on my computer tabs, working on LitFuse announcements and writing a training on The Culture of Poverty.
While waiting on some pertinent info, I found myself browsing through a website that never ceases to break my heart. Its a photo listing of children in the state of Ohio who are waiting to be adopted. There are literally thousands of children. Little red hearts flag the far right column denoting the children who have potential families located. From infants through age three, the pages have lots of red heartts, but the higher the ages get the fewer the hearts. If you see a child under the age of 3 without a red heart, you can almost guess the child will be listed as ‘medically fragile’ which is a nice way of saying they will need lots of expensive treatment and that they aren’t going to look like anyone’s version of the perfect little baby cherub. You can read the bios the caseworkers have written and almost audibly hear the desperation in each syllable.
Like I said, it always breaks my heart. Today, though, it felt like a slower death. I might lable it torturous. I got to age 4 and clicked the red “x” at the top of the screen. I couldn’t look at one.more.photo. Not one more.
Foster parent is a hat I always assumed I’d wear at some point in the ‘future’… now I am starting to wonder if the future might not be that far away? I am asking God to unveil the real desires of my heart- so should this sudden stirring be more closely examined? I think so, friends. I think so.
As I kept working, switching back from writing to updating, my thoughts drifted to an old dream (circa 1999-2000-ish). I had wanted to work for Crisis Pregnancy Center or run a home for young moms… hmm… the thoughts are churning… I wonder if one can foster teen moms?
With questions that will go unanswered tonight and work finished, the Lord reminded me of His heart for the orphaned…
External religious worship [religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.
James 1:27
I want my faith to express itself in ways that are pure and unblemished…I want to have an unblemished faith. As expressed by James, that means two things in my life:
-to care for the most vulnerable in their time of need
AND
-to keep my heart uncontaminated by the world at large
Today is my brother Matt’s 21st birthday. Matt is a 6 year old living in a grown man’s body. At times he’s the happiest person any of us know, giddy over the most simple things and easily satisfied with a childlike game of cat and mouse or a new toy. At other times, he feels the weight of all the things he will never do: live alone, drive a car, have a regular job, go to college, have children….the list goes on. He was born with a horrible cleft palate and had few teeth of his own because of the gaping whole. His nose and lips are the handiwork of a plastic surgeon who would take a medical card. He speech is slurred and his train of thought often impossible to follow.
Tonight he ate ice cream cake and his favorite pizza and played his new PSP with delight. He came down the stairs and waved and told me goodnight and then seeing Co sacked out whispered ‘oops!’ in a way that made him almost shrink down to a small child in my mind.
Had my parents not taken him in- medical issues, developmental delays and all -he’d have been one of the photos in the vast arrray of children waiting for a family to call their own. He wouldn’t have been picked first or one hundred and first.
You know, I think those two elements of an umblemished faith sort of go hand in hand… being a Helper of the weak, the disenfrachised, the unattractive, the needy has a way of keeping one uncontaminated by the world. When you’re knee-deep in caretaking its kind of hard to have time to keep up with the Jones’. And having an unspotted heart is a prequesite to being able to roll up your sleeves and get in there.
I’ve blogged plenty enough about the selflessness of my parents’ choices and lifestyle. Its certainly not glamorous, but it is admirable. I thank God for their example about how to walk that out. And I am thankful for the warning James gave just a few stanzas up from this description of true religion,
“22But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth].
23For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror;
24For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like.
25But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience).
So this evening I pray that God will make us all active doers with an unblemished religion, unspotted by the pitfalls of the world, blessed in our lives of obedience.
G’night friends.
G’night Moon (anyone else love that book as a kiddo?)
You absolutely can foster pregnant teenagers and teenagers who are new mothers! I can’t even begin to explain the need for foster parents who will do that – every quarterly meeting I’ve gone to we’ve been asked to shamelessly recruit families who will help with special needs cases. Check out http://www.bethany.org – the local office probably does foster care services as well as adoption services.
Loved your post Kate, good stuff…
Oh, Kate! I love this post! I feel like I have felt similar things…wondered about taking and discipling pregnant teen girls (I mean, someday…at this point I’m still technically a teen! 🙂 I think you might be interested in something my dear, dear friends are starting…the Zoe Foundation (www.thezoefoundation.com) They want to take care of/provide for birth-moms, have a running database of families with home studies who are ready to take in babies at a moment’s notice, a database of professionals (doctors, lawyers, etc.) who are willing to help… They themselves have adopted three (www.randybohlender.com — that’s his blog). Anyways, I thought you might be interested!
I know somebody who is a CASA worker, and her last case was a teen mom who was taken from foster home to foster home. Without going into any details, I can tell you it was very difficult to find anyone who truly cared and showed her the guidance that she needed. There is a huge need for someone with the heart to take these teen moms in and care for them.
Да,aleks,побороть лень, действительно иногда очень сложно..
This is breaking my heart.
Read this at such a perfect time. Thank you.
Hi Kate~
I wanted to say that I thank the Lord for your heart that has been so gently molded and lovingly grown through the hands of our Father.
I randomly stumbled across your blog a few years back (well, maybe not so randomly – I have always been a huge fan of Bethany and Shawn) and have been faithfully visiting it since! Your words never fail to touch my heart in a meaningful way. I have always wanted to comment, but then I would be leaving way too many footprints on every post and that might be creepy, esp. because you don’t even know me! 🙂
I am POSITIVE that Jesus speaks through you, and HE DELIGHTS IN YOU! Thanks for your honesty, humor, humility, and willingness to share the awesome morsels that recognize the beauty of life! I am still digesting your “Jesus Tell Me What I Want” series. SUPER SPIRIT-FILLED.
Happy Friday 🙂
This is a really thought-provoking post. Thanks for it! I’m going to be a teacher for teenagers soon and it totally resonates with me that “care-taking isn’t glamorous” or trendy- but something far more important!
Love it!! We are so honored to be in the process of adoption. Our family wants to be Jesus’ hands and feet!! Yeah for you for praying about foster care, I am sure it will be amazing!
Hi Kate –
Sweetness! I love this. Brett and I have been praying over the same verse.
I had two websites I wanted to share with you, but low and behold, Annie 🙂 posted one of them. Definitely check out the Zoe Foundation and Randy’s blog – excellent stuff.
The other Blog that I love to read is Tracie Loux’s blog – http:tracieloux.wordpress.com Enjoy – be blessed.