My Life- it's as fun as puttin' lipstick on a squirrel

So many people have asked us how is the adoption going? I think it's going fantastic. Now if you asked the tween we are adopting she would tell you otherwise! A year ago today we were going to " adoption classes" . Today we are 30 days into 180 days of adoption. The trial period if you will. But as soon as the paint was dry on the hot pink walls and the last tote of miscellaneous have nots was moved in it was done. I don't need papers to say I am a Mom. My heart breaks for a child who has been disappointed over and over and over again for 12 years. The abuse/neglect did not end when she was taken from her birth parents, not the first time, nor the second. The hurts continued. In the form of many placements, residential centers, disrupted adoptions because people could not put up with what she put out. Failure after failure after failure. Ball dropped...too many times to count. So here we sit with a grenade. A fine product of the foster care system. Full of anger,...

Do you remember being a child and playing a game called Hot Lava...maybe all the carpet in your home was HOT Lava...and the only way to survive was to jump from couch to chair to end table without touching the BAD STUFF! My daughter is now 5 and her favorite thing to say is oh...that part of your Bed is HOT lava...as she flings herself thru the air and lands next to me! I love her imagination. However. Hot Lava exists...I avoid it every day. It's the snarky remarks about others, the eye rolls at a neighbors new car, the up and down looks at a "bit too tight" outfit, the "not so walking with Christ" moments that all Christians have. These are my HOT LAVA moments. I try not to fall in. I skip from Small Group, to Service, to serving others...but there are days when the gap is too large. I fall right in. I get BURNED! Let me break it down for ya...our family is going through the adoption process. We started back in September 2011. Fast forward to June ...

Do you ever get Bible-slapped? I do quite often and it's usually by complete surprise. God can be a Ninja of sorts when it comes to dealing with little old me. Here's what happened: Last week a struggle that I thought was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind me came up and hit me square on....you know the kind. You have all these great plans and then whammo life happens. Well this person is very near and dear to my heart and forgiveness has been an issue for oh...let's say my lifetime. 2 years ago I totally forgave this person. I worked really hard in a program called Living Waters offered by my church and we had nearly complete restoration in that relationship. (or so I thought) Well then this person faultered a bit. This person is a human just like me. They made a mistake. They are lonely, they are sick, they are tired...they tripped and fell. But you know what. They got up and promised not to "fall" again. And what did I do? What did I say to this person ...