Springtime

Song of Solomon 2:11-12:

"For the winter is passed. The rain is over and gone. The flowers are springing up. And the time of the singing of the birds has come." 

I love Spring...my allergies/sinuses HATES it but everything else loves it!  I can't imagine how you can look at the change from winter to spring and not know that there is a God.  Everyday this week I have noticed something new growing or changing and I have said, "Thank you God!" Friday on the way home I thought this row of Pear trees that I love every spring had been killed because they just looked brown.  Monday I was so excited to see huge white petals all over the trees.  Hannah said it best when she said, "They look like they are covered in snow." God blesses us every year by bringing trees, leaves, and grass back to life.  He brings the birds and butterflies back and gives us new babies and growth.  When it is so cold and dark during the winter, spring is the light at the end of the tunnel.  Spring brings hope for new life and change.  I can not think of spring, new life, and change without thinking about what Jesus did for everyone on the cross.  This is my favorite part about spring.  I am so thankful that Jesus was willing to give up his life so his blood could take away my sins.  I know that when I die I will spend forever in Heaven because Jesus gave me new life.  If you don't know where you will go when you die find someone to talk to that will tell you about Jesus and what he did for you.  Jesus died for your sins so you don't have to spend eternity in hell.  He gave you new life just like he gives flowers and trees new life each spring.  Thank you Jesus for your beauty and blessings everyday!  I love you Jesus!!!!   

Pray for your children daily and Parenting is hard work

Pray for your children daily and being a parent is hard work.  Jason and I are taking a parenting class on Wednesday nights and this is what the teacher told us he wanted us to learn if we did not learn anything else...parenting is hard and to pray for your children daily.  Jason and I have been foster parents for about a year now and being foster parents REALLY is hard work.  It is very difficult to try to raise a child that has been raised by other people for the first 8-9 years of their life.  I said raised but I guess I should have said failed to be raised by other people.  It is so hard to try to teach right from wrong when they have never been taught it before.  It is hard to teach them not to lie when they spent the first 8+ years watching their parents and the other adults in their lives tell one lie after another.  It is hard to teach them to obey adults when they have been allowed to rule the house for 8+ years.  Sometimes it is so tempting just to let our foster child do what ever she wants, I mean how many times in a row can you say the same thing over and over, but then we have to think about what that would do in the long run.  Four years from now when she is a teenager and we have failed to teach her to obey, tell the truth, be responsible for herself and belongings, how to respect those in charge, etc because it is easier than constantly punishing and correcting her then how would we be different from the parents that she was taken from.  Some family members have told me we are too hard on our foster children but what they don't remember is that foster children are not "normal children" we not only have to teach right from wrong we also have to break years of incorrect raising from sorry parents.  Yes that means that we may have to punish her for a solid year or so but we are willing to do whatever it takes to help her become the young woman God has planned for her to be.  We have told her that she is not going to like us at times but she will thank us one day when she looks back to see what could have been if God had not placed her with us.