Footprints in the Sand

During a recent trip to the beach, I wanted to get a picture of my boys' feet in the sand. This would be the first time I had actually put the baby's feet in the sand because it was just too windy the last time we were at the beach. I was so excited to see how he would respond to the wet, gritty shifting substance under his feet. As I was taking the pictures, the poem Footprints in the Sand came to mind. It was then that I realized that that poem describes our journey with this little guy. Several of you have asked me to update the blog with news of where we are in the foster to adopt process. Taking this picture and thinking of that poem has given me the inspiration I needed to post this update.

For a while it appeared that the baby's mom was not going to do the things she needed to do to be reunited with him. There have been several hearings and at the last hearing a relative came forward and wanted the baby. This crushed us. We thought we would lose him that very day. However, in order for that relative to take custody of the baby, they must complete a home study and be approved by the court. So, our concerns over this diminished.

We became comfortable with where we stood in this process. Until recently that is. For the past month or so, the baby's mom has been doing everything she is supposed to be doing. During the baby's visitations with her, I have been reminded by my God that I need to pray for her heart and her success. As much as it hurts to imagine losing him at this point, I have to be obedient and pray for her. If trying to get her baby back leads her to Jesus, then I need to be her biggest cheerleader. We love this little guy as if he is our own so if he is going to be going back to his mom, we want her to know Jesus and be the best mom possible, so please help us to pray for her to fall so in love with Jesus that she will be forever changed by His grace.

As for us and our pain...we are confident that we will look back one day and see only one set of footprints in the sand.

Nine Months Cancer Free

It was exactly a year ago this week that Billy underwent his first week of chemo. It is with enormous gratefulness that we learned last week that he is still cancer free! At his check up in May, the CT scan showed that his adrenal glands were swollen so we were anxious to see if this had resolved itself. Thankfully, everything looked good! We are thanking our Great Physician for taking care of all the details!

A Dilemma

I decided to pack up the boys last week and meet my mother-in-law at her beach condo for a few days. My plan was to go to Billy's appointment at Duke with him and then the boys and I would continue on to the beach. This seemed like an ideal plan because Duke is about an hour and a half away so that would give us a good "rest" point and then the drive from Duke to the beach is only two and a half hours. This would make it possible to do our bathroom breaks and feed the baby at Duke and then not have to stop again until we got to the beach. This plan was working well until I took an exit to run through a drive thru to grab lunch for Little Man and me. It was then that I realized that I did not have any hand sanitizer. (Now, those of you who know me know that that is a dilemma in and of itself!) So I decided my plan to keep the kids strapped in would have to go by the wayside and we would have to go into a store to get some handsanitizer. I took a quick peek in my mirror to make sure the baby was still awake as he had been the entire trip only to see that he had finally fallen asleep. There was no way I was going to wake him up! This is where the real dilemma arose. Did I leave both kids in the car with the A/C running and the doors locked and risk jail time or do I send my 8 year old into Food Lion BY HIMSELF?? (Those of you who know my little man, know what a dilemma this was for him!) I had no real choice. A few moments later, armed with a $5 bill and strict intructions to go straight to the cashier and ask where to find the handsanitizer, my 8 year old cautiously walked into Food Lion BY HIMSELF! Thankfully, the entire front of the store was windows so I could see him and he could see me. I watched him stand in line to speak to the cashier and then he made his way to the aisle to which she had directed. I was thanking God that this aisle was in my view! He slowly made his way down the aisle looking carefully for the ever so important handsanitizer. Then it happened. He went beyond my range of vision. This may seem trivial to some of you, but I immediately started praying in earnest, "Lord, please don't let anyone snatch my baby. And please help him find the handsanitizer by himslef so he'll feel good about himself." After what seemed like forever but was really only a matter of minutes, my little boy reappered. Bounding back up that aisle looking in my direction with a look of sheer joy on his face, he waved the bottle of handsanitizer in the air from side to side. I came out of my skin with joy for him! He was so proud of himself and it shined from every pore! He has a new sense of confidence and I could not be happier for my little man! As you can see, we celebrate every victory!

Summer Sessions

I have not been able to do as many sessions as I would like due to having a little one again, but here are a few of my favorites from the sessions I did this summer.