Finding a new Normal

So we've had our beautiful little girl for almost 3 months and I cannot believe how blessed we are!  Josie has brought so much laughter and joy to all our lives.  Having said that, there have been some adjustments to make.


I have discovered the our small community grocery store is not very accessible for us.  It's a small store that doesn't allow you to take the shopping carts outside and when you are carrying a 3 year old who can't walk and you time it perfectly that you are done shopping just as the bag boy/receiver is unloading a truck, it's very hard to get your groceries outside.

I was very grateful for nap time for the first two months, ( I think we needed the nap more than she did!)

Tickle time is the best time of the day!

Finding a family doctor is next to impossible! Still looking for one and all I need is a referral to a paediatritian.  I've called every doctor in town and they all say to call healthcare connect.  Healthcare connect says they will look for us but no promises so don't discontinue my own search.  If my search was at all productive I wouldn't need their "help".

Special needs equiptment is bloody expensive!  Just got a stroller/wheelchair for $2000 and yes, there are supposed to be 3 zeros in that!  A small table to with a cutout for a wheelchair is $700.  Thank goodness for funding!

I am finding a whole new community of special needs parents out there.  Hi Y'all!

Josie was dedicated at our church 2 weeks ago.  I didn't realize how big our family was until I saw us taking up 2 rows of chairs in church and we were missing a couple people.

I am looking forward to my sister in law coming home from China and meeting her niece.  I know they will love each other.

Josie got to meet Rick Hansen when his Man in Moth 25 Year anniversary tour came through Belleville.  I was more excited than she was but hopefully some say she will appreciate how cool that was!

I am blessed beyond what is "normal"

Wow.  WE are adopting a child.  They are actually willing to give US a kid.

There has been a lot of information exchanged in various ways. There have been telephone calls, visits from workers, pictures, video, filling out of forms.  There will be more telephone calls, more forms, more meetings.

We have two more weeks of "adoption course" left  and our home study will be started in April, though we have already been filling out paperwork for it (references and medicals).

We will go to the child's CAS on April 7th to meet all the people involved with him, (workers, foster parent, daycare workers) and have a "Formal case disclosure" meeting.  We will get to have all his information and history and after the meeting we get to go meet him.  We imagine pre-placement visits will be set up at this point and then in a few months, he would be moving in with us.

As excited as I am, I sometimes still can't believe this is all happening.  Matt and I are discussing things like "Do we change his middle name to something of significance to our family"  "Which car seat do we want to buy".  It's so out of what our norm has been for the last several years. We will have a toddler in the house!

My heart sometimes feels like it is going to burst wide open.  Just seeing his pictures and video, I love him already. 

Disclaimer attached

I know this one will probably offend someone...Sorry in advance but like you are entitled to your feelings and beliefs I also have mine.  Here is your chance to navigate to a different web page....


So you are still here, don't say I didn;'t give ya chance to go.

I am struggling with the concept of grace lately.   The definition of grace is "unmerited favor given by God"  Ok...so let break that down a bit.

Unmerited  something we do not deserve, it is not given by merit.  Fairly straight forward.
Favor a gift, overgenerous preferential treatment, an attitude of aproval or liking. God gave us favor. I can't count how many times in the bible and in the time since that God has shown his children favor.  Delivering the Isrealites from Egypt, allowing His Son to die for our sins. Need I say more?
Given by God it comes from God.

I don't belive that I can give grace to a person.  But that is subject to my interpretation of the word.  I believe that I can still love a person even though I do not agree with their choices. I believe that part of loving them is letting them know that what they are doing is sin. I don't think that doing that is judgment. I don't think that when I stand firm in my beliefs that I am condeming anyone.  I have a responsibility to show my kids what is right and wrong and that it is a fine line to traverse between showing love and condoning sin. The line is finer still when small eyes are watching and learning by my example.

Grace is not license to sin.  God is not going to say "oh dear.  John is sinning again and sleeping with his friends wife.  Well, can't do anything about that because he is to be given grace"  God might give you a slip up or two.  He might see how you respond to his corrections but he isn't going to sit back and let you sin with out giving you a swift kick eventually.

And don't we justify our sins so creatively?  We pretend that the sin is what God wants for us or how He created us.  If that's the case then I am just big boned!
My favorite one is God wants me to be happy.  Yes!  Yes he does. BUT if you have to sin to be happy then there is a problem. I've said it before and I will say it again.  My God is big enough to fix the problem and have you happy at the same time. If your sin is making you happy I am pretty sure it ain't gonna be for long. He might ask you to do some work to get you back to happy in your situation but I can promise you that if you continue to refuse Him and what he wants from you, you will soon find out what the belly of a whale smells like (metaphorically speaking).

I am certain that I have more to learn about grace, academically and practically, and I may change my view somewhat at some point, but this is where I am at right now. So in the words of the great philosopher, Forest Gump "that's all I got to say about that"