"Hey I'm invisible you can't see me!"
"No but if someone else is invisible they can see you, so I'm invisible too, that's why I can see you."
Our beautiful family, our wonderful life.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
me want Gum Gum
Lucy said, "Can I have bubble gum?"
I gave her a piece of bubble gum.
She chewed it up and swallowed it and said,
"Can I have another one?"
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Oh How He Loves Us
He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.
And oh, how He loves us oh
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all
He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
We are His portion and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking
So Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way
And oh, how He loves us oh
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
By David Crowder Band
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
When Our Eyes Are Open
Sunday we had lunch with Gary and Tammy Webb of OCJ Kids(Opportunity, Comunity and Justice for Kids). They connect churches and businesses to group foster homes here in Arizona. I just sat and listened shocked at what I heard. These group homes have children ranging from babies to teenagers that are largely ineligible for foster care or adoption because the parents won't sign off to get them into family units.
Their living conditions sound very similar to institutionalized orphans in other countries. They have people that rotate through the homes in 8-9 hour shifts to do housework, paperwork, doctor appointments, whatever needs to be done to run the home. These people stay very busy, and God bless them for a very difficult job, but they have little time to interact with the kids. The children go to school and come home. That is the extent of their experience outside of the homes. Once they are back in the homes they stay. They cannot go out without an adult supervisor, which they don't have.
The group homes have white walls, 4 kids to a bedroom and no doors on the bedrooms for safety reasons. The kids don't really have anything that belongs to them, they share clothes, even underwear because the budget for clothing is so low. There is a budget of $27 for each child to celebrate birthdays, holidays and special occasions.
There is a 60 percent school drop out rate for these kids. When they turn 18 they are given a gift card with $300 to $400 on it, a trash bag for their few belongings and they are sent out of the house. As the Webbs put it, they know who they are, they know they are not set up to succeed. They drift into the streets. They drop out and sometimes run away right before their 18th birthday rather than face the depressing deadline of the end of shelter and safety for them.
This should not be.
I don't blame the government, they are doing the best they can with an overwhelmed system and a low budget. But the Church... Church this is our responsiblilty! These kids are desitute and have no one. Some of them literally grow up in this environment never knowing a family, never experiencing normal childhood activities. When Gary and Tammy started getting churches into these group homes, rooms started being painted, houses started looking homey. Kids were taken out of the 4 walls of the homes to go to the zoo, to camps, churches, restaurants, shopping... stuff that our kids get to do all the time. Church people are going in to these homes and developing relationships with these kids, giving them life skills, love and encouragement to succeed. This is a beautiful thing, but there needs to be more. There are over 200 group homes in Arizona, and about 20 churches involved in a few of these homes.
Look in your own state, see what is being done for the kids in your group homes. These kids desperately need light and love in their lives.
Psalm 10:14 “But you have seen, for You observe trouble and grief, to repay it by your hand. The helpless commits himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.”
Here is a poem a boy wrote who lives in one of the homes, It's a little hard to read, so here's what it says:
Their living conditions sound very similar to institutionalized orphans in other countries. They have people that rotate through the homes in 8-9 hour shifts to do housework, paperwork, doctor appointments, whatever needs to be done to run the home. These people stay very busy, and God bless them for a very difficult job, but they have little time to interact with the kids. The children go to school and come home. That is the extent of their experience outside of the homes. Once they are back in the homes they stay. They cannot go out without an adult supervisor, which they don't have.
The group homes have white walls, 4 kids to a bedroom and no doors on the bedrooms for safety reasons. The kids don't really have anything that belongs to them, they share clothes, even underwear because the budget for clothing is so low. There is a budget of $27 for each child to celebrate birthdays, holidays and special occasions.
There is a 60 percent school drop out rate for these kids. When they turn 18 they are given a gift card with $300 to $400 on it, a trash bag for their few belongings and they are sent out of the house. As the Webbs put it, they know who they are, they know they are not set up to succeed. They drift into the streets. They drop out and sometimes run away right before their 18th birthday rather than face the depressing deadline of the end of shelter and safety for them.
This should not be.
I don't blame the government, they are doing the best they can with an overwhelmed system and a low budget. But the Church... Church this is our responsiblilty! These kids are desitute and have no one. Some of them literally grow up in this environment never knowing a family, never experiencing normal childhood activities. When Gary and Tammy started getting churches into these group homes, rooms started being painted, houses started looking homey. Kids were taken out of the 4 walls of the homes to go to the zoo, to camps, churches, restaurants, shopping... stuff that our kids get to do all the time. Church people are going in to these homes and developing relationships with these kids, giving them life skills, love and encouragement to succeed. This is a beautiful thing, but there needs to be more. There are over 200 group homes in Arizona, and about 20 churches involved in a few of these homes.
Look in your own state, see what is being done for the kids in your group homes. These kids desperately need light and love in their lives.
Psalm 10:14 “But you have seen, for You observe trouble and grief, to repay it by your hand. The helpless commits himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.”
Here is a poem a boy wrote who lives in one of the homes, It's a little hard to read, so here's what it says:
I Need You
You don't understand
Understand who we are
Understand why we do what we do
Hardly anyone does
You won't ask
You won't say a word
You're scared
Scared to say the wrong thing
We are who we are
We all have problems
Everyone handle them differently
Everyone wants the same thing
We all want to be loves
When things get hard
You shut us out
And we dont' know how to say
How to say, "I really need you"
We're human
We're the same person inside
We just need your love
We just need your help
We just need you.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Antelope Canyon
I've seen pictures of this magical place and it has been on my to-do list for a while. A sweet friend watched all of our girls overnight and Brent and I took a little trip. Antelop Canyon is in Page, AZ on the border of Utah. It is in Navajo land and Navajo only let you go through the canyon with a guide since they consider it sacred ground. Just beautiful. You need to put this on your Bucket list. SO worth it.
This is the hole in the ground you jump down in to reach the slot canyon.
And this is what you see underneath.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Happy Birthday to our Jason
I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.
So now I give him to the LORD.
For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.”
I Samuel 1:27,28
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