Children are a Blessing

Last night, I was exhausted.
Too exhausted to remember how much I love being a mom.
Too exhausted to enjoy the interactions during our bedtime routine.
Too exhausted to appreciate a child who shares from the heart every chance he gets, who wants to tell me all he is learning in life and ask for my involvement and feedback.
Too exhausted to acknowledge that the Lord has given me exactly what I dreamed of...a loving marriage, the opportunity to foster and adopt, a houseful of children.
So I gathered my youngest into my arms, and pulled her into bed with me.
My heart is still entwining with hers.  It has not been an easy journey.
She smiled sleepily and asked me to hold her hand while she fell asleep tucked right up against me, as close as can be.
As we lay there in the dark, I whispered Truth, for my ears more than hers.
"Children are a blessing from the Lord."
"This precious daughter is a gift from Him."
"I was blessed with this precious child because the Lord plans to equip me, day by day, to raise her well."
"Lord, please help me to love my daughter well and be a blessing in her life."
Whatever the Lord laid on my heart to pray for myself, my children, our family, I prayed.
In those moments, I found peace and desperately needed reminders of who I am, where I am journeying, and Who picks me up when I stumble.

Inaugural Post

What a day to start a new blog...five kids when it's 115 outside and I can't walk through my house without tripping. I have reverted to yelling today. And not a firm, strong, in control General, trying to get attention of the troops, but mom who feels she is terribly outnumbered. Some days we have terrible trauma symptoms, severe acting out. And other days we have regular kid sin - disobedience, lying, back talking, not listening, ignoring the parents. did I say NOT LISTENING!!!???

Why this blog and who are we? We are moms and we are lovers and followers of Jesus. We have kids who have come from hard places. We have large families. We are in love and we are usually exhausted.

We are exhausted from the noise, the physical clutter, mental clutter, struggling children and the the constant, constant, constant of it all. If we could clock in and clock out like a worker at a group home it might feel more manageable. But it's 24/7 and it doesn't feel manageable at all. And it can't feel maneagable. It's not. That's why we need Jesus.

So this blog is formed with the belief that Jesus was telling the truth when He said "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my burden light."

We are here because we cannot escape the constant chaos. But we can find calm in it. To that end, the conversation begins.