I have never been one to make New Year's Resolutions.  One year I tried, but was disappointed when I dropped the ball around March... That was the end of resolutions for me.  Now, I pick a word that I want to focus on.  A word that comes up throughout the year as I grow in that area.  It started about four years ago when I moved to Texas.  Fresh out of college and the world awaited me.  Back when I had all the answers and knew how I was going to save the world.  Back when I thought I knew.

2008- It was this year that I realized that I was not the end-all, be-all.  This year I cried a LOT.  I realized that I wasn't the solution to the hurt and pain my kids faced.  In fact, I couldn't do much of anything except love on them and point them to Jesus.  This year was a difficult year for me.  One that was all about SURVIVAL.  That was my word for the year.  I could not do much other than figure out how to put my feet on the ground in the morning and withstand the onslaught of Satan's attacks.

2009- This year I began to grow in the work.  I figured out how to make the schedule work, to get as much done in as little time as possible.  I began to GROW as a Teaching Parent, GROW in my relationships with my kids, and GROW in life in general.  This was not easy, but each step was worth it.

2010- I realized that the little things were slipping away.  It was easy to focus on getting my checklist done instead of building relationships with my kids.  This year was about learning to be INTENTIONAL.  This is also a focus that needs to be every year.  I struggled a lot at this throughout the year and it will eventually make it back onto my list of focus areas.  But I strove to make the most of those little moments with my kids.  I planned for activities to teach them more.  Planned occasions to show them how special they were.  This is the year I really began to teach them to cook and made them learn it.  I also took them to coffee in the mornings and wrote notes to them.

2011- This year has been really difficult for me.  The end of last year, one of my very close friends moved back to Mexico, then I had a falling out with a good friend on campus, and to top it off there was several staff changes in both my houses.  It rocked my world.  And I've struggled all year to gain PERSPECTIVE.  It has been an ongoing battle to realize that this little world that I am in right now is not the end all.  That this part of my journey is just difficult, but will not last forever.  It has been a struggle to step outside of the daily battle and see the big picture.


2012-  This is the time of year now that I begin thinking and praying about next year.  What word will describe it?  What area do I want to grow the most in?  Contentment?  Endurance? Perseverance?  

Lord, I give this next year to you.  Change me.  Transform me.  Make me less and you more! Guide my feet.  Prepare my steps.  Show me your plan.  Lead me where you want me to be.

You might be a teaching parent if...

Please imagine your best Jeff Foxworthy voice as you read these…

1. If every time you get in a vehicle, you do a head count to make sure no one is left behind… (even when not working)

…You might be a Teaching Parent

2. If you can name at least 5 psychotropic medications off the top of your head in under 10 seconds…

…AND

3. If while naming the psychotropic meds, you smack your forehead trying to remember what the large gray one with blue lettering is… (It is Depakote, by the way.)                     …You might be a Teaching Parent

4. If you are off duty, and your cell phone/PDA/internal anxiety alarms all go off reminding you it is time to give out meds…

…You might be a Teaching Parent

5. If you know more hiding places in the house then most of your kids combined…

…You might be a Teaching Parent

6. If the alarms in your house are used less to keep people OUT then to keep the kids IN…

…You might be a Teaching Parent

7. If grocery day is reminiscent of a UN food shipment to a small third-world country…

…You might be a Teaching Parent

8. If the most common conversation in your house starts out, “When you follow instructions, you look at the person…”

…You might be a Teaching Parent

9. If you spend more time teaching “Stop, Look, and Listen” as opposed to “Stop, Drop, and Roll…”

…You might be a Teaching Parent

10. If you are a couple with kids, and your kids get excited when it is time to go off duty…

… You might be a Teaching Parent

11. If you use the word “Consequence” as a verb, despite the poor usage of syntax…

…You might be a Teaching Parent

12. When you are standing around with a group of your peers, if a boy walks up and says “Mister…” and all of you look to see who he is talking to…

…You might be a Teaching Parent(Since we rarely are standing with anyone OTHER than other Teaching Parents.)

13. If you begin to wonder if a kid is trying to send a message through Morse code after the 6^th time of the door being slammed…

…You might be a Teaching Parent

14. If you consider coffee and other caffeinated sodas a food group… (Especially around day 7-8.)

…You might be a Teaching Parent

15. If you believe that ALL brass instruments are some kind of sick joke by the Public School System…

…You might be a Teaching Parent

16. If you consider Summer Vacation a combat tour…

…You might be a Teaching Parent

17. If dinner starts to be prepared right as the kids get on the bus to go to school, and your preparations are for 8-12 people at a time…

…You might be a Teaching Parent

18. If you are out to eat on your days off and you see a van in the parking lot, and then wonder what cottage was brave enough to bring their kids out to eat in public…  …You might be a Teaching Parent

19. If you hope you don’t run into them(at the restaurant) until you are at least on your way out…

…You might be a Teaching Parent

20. If when driving around town, you wave to every other van, similar to the way bikers wave to each other…

...AND

21. THEY wave BACK…

…You might be a Teaching Parent

22. If you keep a note pad by your bed to write down new effective and innovative consequences and rewards as they come to you in your dreams…

…You might be a Teaching Parent

23. If When are out in public, you always see someone who looks like they could be a little brother or sister to “so & so…”

…AND…

      24. …you start to think of stories that “so & so” did that make you laugh, but did not make you laugh at the time.

                                    …You might be a Teaching Parent

      25. If you are amazed that God has trusted YOU of all people, with so much…     (Seriously)               .... You might be a Teaching Parent

-list compiled by Micheal Clements

Wildfire

Texas is in the midst of the worst drought in about 60 years!  Other than the blazing hot temperatures this summer we've been relatively unaffected... until this week.  A fire broke out about 30 miles north of where I live and work.  Smoke billowed out over our campus and we were told to implement the first stage of our evacuation plan. Everyone packed a bag of their most valuable possessions and clothes and the vehicles were readied for a speedy exit. This caused quite a stir of emotions as the kids had to pick and chose their most precious belongings.  And the prayers went up.  God covered our campus with his protection.  Right down the road we watched smoke billowing up from the fire.  Officials evacuated the houses down the road from us.  And we prayed again and again. We went to bed fully expecting to get a phone call in the middle of the night telling us to leave.  It didn't come.  In fact, the next morning when we got up, the smoke was significantly less on our campus.  We spent a couple more days on official notice, but never had to evacuate. God is good!  And as devastating as the fires are, it is a reassurance that he DOES have his hand all over this campus.  These are HIS kids and he will watch over them and protect them!

trees...

      I am drawn to trees.  There is something about a tree that is safe, nurturing, strong, wise, and dependable.  Especially those big trees that have been around for hundreds of years.  They have endured so much, from storms to droughts, from spring times to families of animals making homes in their branches.  Those trees have changed with their environment, they have survived the odds.  And there is something beautiful about that.
       So much of my artwork is centered around trees.  And I often imagine my  life is like that of a tree.  I long to be mature, dependable, centered, strong, overcoming the obstacles of this life, and flourishing.  But that road is not easy, nor is it quick.  It is one that is full of storms, full of losses, and times of drought.  Sometimes I wish I could press the speed button and make it hurry through the painful times, but then the growth would not be as substantial.  So I wait through the painful times.  I wait through the droughts, and the seasons of plenty.  I wait and trust that God is pruning what needs to be pruned, that he is watering when I need it, and he is withholding the rain when it is right.
 in the mean time... I dream of trees.

Broken promises, broken hearts

I've learned something along this journey in orphan care.

Everyone has family.

even orphans.

Seems like common sense, but I always thought orphans are like Annie- kids who had parents, but has never known them.  But everyone has some family.
(I learned this quite a while ago, but am reminded of it every day).

Traveling to Mexico reminded me that my kids are orphans too.  See, these kids have families.  Each one of them has a mom, or dad, or grandparent, or some relative along the way.  But for various reasons they still end up at a children's home.  Sometimes they are able to eventually go home, sometimes they stay here until they move out on their own.  But each one has heartbreaks along the way.

In the past two days I've been on the forefront of those tears and it tears my heart open for them.

The first is Thelma (name changed).  She arrived a couple of months before I did, but I've known her longer and worked with her longer than anyone else.  Thelma has endured so much and was passed around to a couple of different relatives before ending up at this children's home.  Last year her mom relapsed into alcohol addiction, right as Thelma was planning to go home.  Things got progressively worse until a several weeks ago the mom was put in rehab by the state.  Thelma has not spoken to her since.  Mom has not called.  Stepdad has not called. No one has called to tell Thelma how her mom is.  In a couple of weeks Thelma will turn 18.  She has two more years of school before she graduates.  I pray that she will stick it out here and make it.  Last night she sat in my office crying because she was so worried about her mom and no one would answer her calls.

The second is Sue (name changed).  Sue came a little over two years.  She was expecting to go home this summer, but was told no by her family.  See, dad and mom don't want her and Grandma can't take care of her.  Sue seeks her father's affection every chance she gets.  She usually returns home from her family visits in tears because her dad doesn't want anything to do with her- but she always hopes.  Today she got a call from her Grandma.  Sue's dad was arrested for drug possession... again... two weeks before Sue's birthday... a week before family visit... and he had promised to be there this year... again. Another letdown.  Another broken promise and broken heart.

I don't have words for these two precious girls. All I could do is hug them through the tears and pray for them.  I don't understand how this happens.  How can families not want their children?  It reminds me yet again why I am here.  God gave me a heart for them.  I'm not sure why, but he has.  It is so easy to get lost in the paperwork, licensing, mundane parts of this job that I forget the ministry side of it.  I am His hands and feet to these kids.  Life is not easy here.  There is so much pain and heartache. I wonder sometimes if I am making a difference, but it is like farming- the work is hard, long, painful, but eventually God makes it grow and fruit develops.

Lord, these kids are yours.  You know their hearts tonight.  You know their aches and tears. You. save those tears. Tonight as they sleep, wrap them up in your arms. Surround their beds with angels tonight.  Put their hearts at peace.  Show them a little bit of your plan for them.  Give them hope.  Whisper of your love to them.   Provide for them, and heal their broken hearts.  Pursue them.  Bind Satan from attacking them.  Lord- these are your kids and you promise to protect them.  Lord, they need you.

God's Promise is as true today as it was the day he said it!

God's promises to the orphan child:

I promise to defend you. Psalm 82:3
I promise to rescue you. Psalm 82:4
I promise to deliver you. Psalm 82:4
I promise to come to you. John 14:8
I promise to hear you.  Isaiah 37:17, Exodus 22:22-23
I promise never to leave you. Jeremiah 49:11, Psalm 27:10
I promise to lift you up. Psalm 113:7
I promise to lead you out. John 10:3
I promise to be your Father.  Psalm 6:5:8
I promise to give you a home. Psalm 68:6
I promise never to forget you.  Isaiah 49:15
I promise to execute mercy toward you. Hosea 14:3, Isaiah 63:9, Romans 9:15
I promise to execute true justice on your behalf.  Psalm 140:12
I promise to provide food and clothing to you.  Dueteronomy 10:18, 14:29
I promise to help you.  Psalm 10:14
I promise to maintain your cause.  Psalm 82:3


Lord, 
I'm struggling to trust you to provide this for the kids I work with.  You have shown yourself faithful every day, but still I doubt.  Lord, overcome my doubt.  Bring the couple you have for these kids into their lives.  Show yourself faithful again.  You are mighty and you can see the big picture and you see every stage and every purpose.  Father, YOU HAVE A PLAN!  Lord, you are so much bigger than I.  It is YOU that take care of these kids.  Show up again. Provide for them.  Lord, follow through with your promises for them.  Be their father, be their provider, their helper, their protector.  Satan is attacking.  He is vicious and seeks to devour these young and vulnerable kids. Lord I claim those promises on their behalf.  You have made this commitment to them- so fulfill it!  Surround this house with your angels.  Protect them.  Tonight as they sleep whisper your promises into their hearts.  There is so much damage and hurt in their lives, they have walls built up trying to protect themselves from more pain.  Lord, restore them.  Make them into the men and women you created them to be!  Father, use me however you can.  Let me be the hands and feet to your promise to them. 

It's the little things...

It's the little things that make me happy....

It's the cup of coffee in the morning before everyone gets up. 

It's getting up to see the sunrise with a friend.

It's the history with friends.

It's finding a new giraffe in the mall. 

And splurging on a piece of dark chocolate...

Happiness is seeing the baby cows at the dairy farm down the road.

and daisies in my bathroom.

It's the Texas sunset, 

and the Flea Market find

Happiness is seeing the value in small things.  It's taking the time to enjoy the little moments of life, for those little moments will add up to the days, months, and years of life!