Truth.
God has woven my path
through some pretty incredible places.
No, I have not traveled the world or even seen much of the beauty in our
own back yard, but I have journeyed to places I could never have imagined!
After parenting 11 incredible human beings who taught me
more than I could have learned in as many lifetimes, I was sure that there was
nothing that could challenge or excite me more.
David and I knew we hadn’t seen it all, but parenting had come at us
full force with things like severe health
issues, drug addiction and mental
illness on top of the usual bag of tricks parents who deal with trauma
affected kids see.
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| Missing one :) |
When all was said and done, I wasn’t sure if I even knew how
to live life at a normal pace. Let alone
have friends, talk about things like pedicures, Nordstrom sales and exotic
vacation places.-what were those? (My
idea of a vacation was the 10 minutes of quiet I stole in our 15 passenger van
while waiting for the kids to finish baseball practice. And ‘NO’, I did not participate with the other
families in their tailgate parties…cuz, how on earth do you fit food for 13 on
a tailgate??!)
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| Missing many, but included the one :) |
In the Spring of 2013, as our 15 year old was just
recuperating from a bone marrow transplant and I was beginning to adjust my
eyes to the light at the end of the tunnel, when I was presented with an offer
I could not refuse.
Ibsen Adoption Network had received a small grant to fund
some post adoption support programs and they were looking for someone to head
them up, would I like to have the job?
Part-time, not great pay, but something to really sink my teeth into as
my kids slowly seeped out of the nest?...Absolutely!!!
Fast forward to 2017…
I’m just recovering from a brain aneurysm ( I wouldn’t have
minded skipping that little detour!), my kiddos have all (almost) moved on, the
Post Adoption Support programs have grown from basically nothing to several
thriving support groups, a robust Women’s retreat, parenting classes, online
presence, quarterly events, etc…Ibsen finds itself in need of an Executive
Director, would I take the job….why not?!
So here I am…
Absolutely NO experience in leadership other than parenting
a passel of kids BUT what I do have is this-
A sold out, 'no holds
barred', un-relenting passion for the people we serve!
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| Some of the self-sacrificing, courageous, loving women we are honored to serve! |
- They have stepped up to fill a need that is not being met. These kids are in care or orphaned by no fault of their own, what would become of them without these families???
- They have laid down their comfort for the a child in need
- They have given up ‘normal’ so that a child would have a chance to know it
- They have done an incredibly scary, difficult thing because no one else wanted to. (just saying…)
- They have changed the trajectory of a child’s life from hopelessness to hope (that is not easy to do, and comes at a great price)
What is my
point?
We
want to do more!
We
want to stand by these parents and let them know we will walk that journey with
them.
We
want other potential foster and adoptive families, who see the need (over
400,000 children in foster care, 153 million kids in the world) and are afraid
to take that leap, to find their courage because we will be there with them!
But we cant do it alone…. Yes, this IS a cry for
money…for help…YOUR help…because we know that not everyone can take a child,
but EVERYONE can do something.
You
come with us on this journey and we promise you will not be disappointed!
How
can you join us?---
-Pray-
pray for our organization, our direction, our financial needs and most of all,
the families we serve
-Contact
me personally if you want to be on a team that provides practical needs for a
foster or adoptive family- we would love to have you on our team!
-Give-
these programs that support families doing the hard work of taking care of kids
that have fallen into desperate places by no fault of their own
Please consider showing your appreciation to these
incredible families (and at the same time encouraging others to consider
following their example) by donating
TODAY!
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