Summer fun

My summer resolution was to write a blog entry every day.  Ha!  I don't think I'm doing so good with that one.  Looks like I've got a bit to catch up on in the last week and a half.

Let's start with David's camp.  He left the morning after school got out and came home the following Wednesday.  He absolutely loved it and found himself surprised at how much more freedom you have at a middle school camp than at a kids' camp.  He loved the food, came home with a larger appetite than before, and has mentioned several times how much he liked the speaker and the worship team.

Here's a picture of the Firewheel group.  David is kneeling down in the second row.

 

He had an awesome time, but I'm glad to have him back home now.  He came home to his brand new room and absolutely loves it.  It turned from a little boy room into a tween/teen room that he can be comfortable in for many years now. We rearranged it just right so he has a separate study area, too, which he really likes.

 

June 13--Gotcha Day

Today is our first anniversary of Gotcha Day.  It's the day that Juan David's social worker brought him to us and placed him in our care.  This time we knew we wouldn't have to give him back. We still had to go through Integration a week later, and then wait for the adoption to go through the court process before officially signing the adoption decree a month later, giving him his new last name. Making him officially part of our family forever.

June 13, 2013

Five years of waiting. Fighting. Gaining contact with him, losing contact with him. Grieving. Gaining contact again. Losing contact again. Finally, the day came that we didn't have to give him back. 

Here is a poem that appears in the second book (whenever I get around to finally publishing it--those issues are for another post). Seems fitting to share it here today--the day God gave him back.

I felt compelled to ask

A surrendered heart,

a tearful plea,

so stuck in my misery.

Then I heard a tender whisper,

“Child, give them back to Me.”

I let them go,

I held them high,

Open hands up to the sky.

He convinced me I could trust Him

even if I never knew why.

Life went on,

Hearts on the mend,

Yet I felt compelled to say,

“If you would do one thing for me,

let me hear from them someday.”

A letter written,

a phone call arranged,

Sweet messages soon danced between us.

Then they whisked her away, left him alone,

Our hearts left again to fuss.

A sister gone,

a brother forced to leave,

Not even a future family in sight.

“I'm all alone,” he cried out to me.

So my heart once again began to fight.

Life stood still.

How could this be?

I felt compelled to ask boldly.

“Oh, God, if it be Your will now,

would You give him back to me?”

A year ago today

A year ago today, Juan David spent his last night in the orphanage.  His last night away from his forever family.

Summer Bible Study--Starting soon!

I made a decision toward the end of the spring Bible study that I will most likely not teach a study during the 2014-15 school year.  I overcommited myself last year and felt the effects: burnout.  What once filled me with joy soon became a burden.  I guess that's when you know it's time to take a step back.

However, summertime is different for me, and I look forward to teaching a shorter study and to growing close to another set of women.  In the fall, I will just join a study that someone else is teaching so I can still enjoy the fellowship. 

Here's the study that I wanted to teach this summer:

 

No matter what study I've taught in the past, most of the women seem to be seeking the same thing. A greater intimacy with Christ.  They dig into Bible study after Bible study, increasing in Biblical knowledge but never really finding what they're searching for.  The study ends, and they fall back into the same routines as before.  I've come to this conclusion:  Bible study and intimate prayer cannot be separated.  I felt a strong calling to teach another study just on prayer.  

I bought the participant book, went through it myself first, but then I couldn't find it on the list of studies that the church owned.  I also couldn't afford to purchase it myself at the time and then donate it to the church.  So, I scanned the list and found this one instead:

 

Living Free: Learning to Pray God's Word

I dug it out of my studies at home and started to go through it again. Both studies are very similar in that they teach you to pray Scripture.  This one is a bit shorter and has no weekly video sessions to go with it.  I kind-of like that because sometimes a video session can be so long that it takes too much time away from being able to get to know one another and build relationships.  

The three things I love about teaching Bible studies are:

1. Seeing women get serious about opening their Bible every day.
2. Seeing women grow closer to Christ and to each other through prayer.
3. Seeing women develop relationships with other Christian women who are serious about the same thing.  We need each other.  I take for granted all the relationships God has given me through these studies until I see a Christian woman who is struggling through life without that.  It's heartbreaking to know what they've been missing.

I look forward to starting this study with a new group of women just two weeks from today.

It's SUMMER!!!

Okay, so maybe not officially on the calendar.  But if school is out, it's summertime for me.  I am already soaking in the beautiful mornings.  Yesterday I sat on my porch in the rain (yes, can you believe it? RAIN in Texas!).  Today the temps were absolutely perfect.  What a great way to start my summer.

David's been at camp for three days now, and I miss him. :(  I've been following all the pics and videos on the church's twitter feed, though, so I know he's having a blast.  We are doing some repainting and repairing within the house this summer, so we started with David's room while he was gone.  We began immediately after he left, and now I am anxious for him to get home to see how incredible it turned out.  New colors (that he picked out).  New floor.  New furniture arrangement.  It looks amazing. So amazing that we're itching for Juan David to go to camp so we can tackle his room and other parts of the house. (Sorry, no pics until after he gets to see it first).

With David being gone, though, I've enjoyed spending some much needed time with Juan David.  It's been good bonding time and has given us a lot of time to just talk about life.  His heart is sad right now because he had to say goodbye to most of his friends from school, knowing that he won't see many of them again, and knowing that the daily routines and friendship he developed with the others won't ever be the same. The realities of traditional high school and the expectations to speak English are starting to hit him.  He's excited about going to church camp in Colorado in two weeks, but he's scared at the same time because it will be FULL English immersion.  I reminded him that he makes friends very easily, and I know he's going to be just fine.  He's a happy kid who is always looking on the bright side (an attitude that he developed while in Colombia, determined to not let his circumstances define him or direct his life.)  I could stand to learn a thing or two from him.

David will be back tomorrow evening, will have a day to chill out and do laundry (and enjoy his new room), and then we're headed out on a family camping trip for a few days.  Mike and I had already decided that we wanted to go camping a lot this summer, and God just began dumping opportunities on our lap.  I take that as His blessing to devote time together as a family. No big travels or international trips looming overhead. We're staying in Texas and enjoying each other's company.

We also made the comment that we needed to go to Austin, where we met Juan David, to visit some key people on our journey to him. So, we found a campsite in Austin, and all of those details fell into place. Looks like we'll be able to visit with the family that hosted him and his sister back in 2008, our friend who helped connect us with our lawyer (his lawyer) in Colombia to reopen JD's case, and now we also get to meet one of JD's friends that he grew up with in Colombia who was adopted in 2011.  They're all coming (at separate times) to visit with us right at our campsite, so we're really looking forward to it.

We survived!

Our 2013-14 school year officially ended yesterday, and I am happy to say that we all survived.

I survived my first year teaching Pre-K.  I didn't expect the change or even know about it until shortly before school started, and I started the year without a clue about how a year with four-year-olds might actually go.  I flew by the seat of my pants, playing trial and error over and over again.  We all survived, though, and my kids learned more than I ever imagined they could learn.  I gave them structure, consistency, and high expectations.  For the most part, they rose to the occasion and met those expectations.  At the same time, a really neat friendship developed between my assistant and me, making the year an even greater blessing than I ever could have asked for.

Here is a pic of one of my little girls whose dad happens to work at my church.  I'm gonna miss her sweet personality!

 

David survived his first year of middle school.  So much newness in that boy's life.  First year to change classes and have a locker.  First year at an Academy.  First year with a brother.  First year to share Mom and Dad. He definitely struggled his way through and is more than happy to have sixth grade behind him! At this very moment, he's on his way to Austin, Texas for five days of youth camp.  

Juan David survived his first year of high school and his first year of school in the United States.  He absolutely loved his school, his teachers, his classes, and he also made some amazing friends.  Mike and I had our doubts at times throughout the year regarding whether or not he should have stayed in the newcomer program all year, but we are thankful now that he did.  He'll have some extra catching up to do later if he wants to graduate with this year's freshman class, but I'm sure God will guide us through those steps later.  For the moment, he's not a bit hesitant to share how sad he is that his year at that school has come to an end.  All he can talk about is how much he's going to miss seeing his friends.  

Lots of newness for all of us.  Lots of changes.  But we survived. :)

What if we'd never tried again?

I look at these recent pics, and I catch myself thinking, "What if we'd never tried again? What if we decided our hearts and wallets couldn't handle going through that process again? What if....?"

Life this year has kept us so busy with all of the changes, but every once in awhile, I have these moments where I just stand back, take it in, and have to realize that the reality we waited so long for is staring us straight in the face.  

Love that boy.