A big change...

It's 10:27 pm and I just got 6 children to sleep on my couch and floor. My life has taken an unexpected turn this weekend.

What would you do if a single mother of four children called you asking for help? Help because she was facing eviction with nowhere to go, help because she didn't have a car and she couldn't keep walking/finding rides to her job anymore, while trying to manage 3 kids in school, plus homework, plus a 4 year old. Who could handle that?

For quite a while now I have had itchy feet. For many months, maybe over a year, my heart has been very open to whatever God might like to do with my/our life. I have felt very frustrated and complacent lately, praying so often for God to give me some "orders" for where to focus my life.

I still don't feel like I have the answers to all of those questions that have been stirring in my heart and mind for the past few years. Previous entries on this blog reveal a small part of the process God has led me through in recent years, landing me in a place where my heart is open and ready to serve the world in any capacity he may call me to.

And Friday there came a call. I guess it was a call to serve, but I didn't really see it that way at first. It was just a call out of desperation, from one mom to another, asking for a reference for someone who did Foster Care or Temporary Guardianship, because it was probably only a matter of time until CPS would come knocking. I had watched her daughter for her over the summer, and I suppose she felt like perhaps I could be of some help. She was trying to stop a bad situation from getting worse, trying desperately not to lose her children.

So I said I'd call around. And I did. I called Jeremy first, then made a call for some legal advice, and the next day I picked all four half nervous/half excited kids up, squeezed them in my car after kissing and hugging their mother goodbye (knowing she was only doing this to get herself to a point of stability), and drove off.

If a call for help can be planned according to God's perfect timing, this one was. I drove them that day an hour away to Cambridge City where my family had made plans to stay for Labor Day weekend. That's right, I crashed the party and showed up with 4... no 5 extra kids (we picked up their cousin too, just for the night). And what was my family's response to adding 5 mouths to feed to an already jam packed house for a short weekend?

Beautiful, Christ-like love... that was their response. Five kids were greeted with hugs like their arrival had been anticipated for weeks. Five kids were loved and played with and treated like one of the clan (our family contributed 6 kids already). Eleven kids played together for 2 days, mine hardly even asking any questions about why they were staying with us or where they came from. A good 2 hour soccer game took place (led by my brother Luke), a short and disorganized kickball game (led by Hillary and I...hence the disorganization), and a lot of time wondering around the 5 acres, driving the Barbie Jeep, playing Croquet, and swinging on a tree. A better weekend for this situation to be dropped on our laps could not have been planned by any human's effort. I believe that God hears us when we call for help, and Friday a scared mother called for help, and He answered.

As the kids were being kids, there were many, of course, discussions happening on our end as well. Jeremy was extremely supportive, finding no other way to make this whole thing make sense other than the fact that God had put them in our lives. My parents, sister and brothers all felt the same way. God reminded me of a conversation I had with someone months earlier about an organization that works through churches to arrange stable homes for families that are in crisis. I knew this is what we needed, and after a bit of work, I found Safe Families who assured me that we legally do this, keeping the kids out of Foster Care, yet placing them with a family or families while the mother makes better arrangements. I was so thankful that God had brought this conversation to mind as they are handling the legality of things, and looking for a "safe family" in our area to house the 2 older kids, as we have committed to taking the 2 younger ones. My family pulled together to support us through this week by opening their work schedules, homes and wallets to help us do this. I don't believe I have ever been so thankful and felt so loved by my entire family as I did this weekend.

If you think of it, say a prayer for this week. Pray these great kids (did I mention they are AWESOME kids?) and Jeremy and I, plus our own two survive the week, and are able to get everyone to school on time! Pray that the right family comes along to house the two older boys for 90 days at least. And pray for mom who is trying very hard to turn her life around. I can't imagine being 9 and 10 years old, and being "ok" with changing families and school systems, but amazingly these kids are. They are nervous I can tell, but know it is for the best, and they know that their mom loves them and is working hard to make a stable life for all of them.

Meanwhile, we have been having fun. Today I made macaroni with peas in it (and NO ONE ate it because of the peas), rode bikes and skateboards and roller blades in the rain, played twister, the Wii, got pooped on by Addi's guinea pig, and ended the day with all 6 crashing out to the Cosby show. There have been many, many times today (especially when attempting to walk with 6 kids, 2 wagons and 1 dog to the Chinese Restaurant) that my mind has flashed back to the ways of the kids at the orphanage at Mission Haiti, ran by the 74 year old Ms. Phyllis. Those kids aren't your normal kids, they are incredible kids that love each other like family and are thankful for every meal and bed they get. The kids sleeping on my couch hold a piece of the same perspective; they are thankful, I heard it time and time again this weekend, followed by, "Your not even family and your treating us like we are..." They understand hardship, and they are thankful. If Ms. Phyllis can handle 30 plus, I can handle 6.... for a week :)

There are a lot of needs here, but God is incredibly meeting them in a timely fashion. I am blown away by how perfect his timing actually is.

Will continue to update as things progress.