Prayers Answered

Court was today, we picked N, Tand X up at 7:45am and headed downtown. I can tell you now that it all worked out for the best and I feel great about things, as good as I could imagine feeling, Frank does too. They will go back to court in July as a follow up, and to MAKE SURE things are moving in a positive direction. T and X really have to pull their acts together at school and we are going to do what we can to support them and N.


The best part about today was that we all got to see A! She was a part of the court hearing today too. She is in a foster-group home and is really struggling there, not anywhere near being close to coming home. Today was good though. It gave her the chance to shake her "tough girl" image and let her guard down in front of those of us who know and love her (us and her siblings and mom). I think she really needed to see that we are all still here missing her, loving her, and believing in her. I can imagine she felt abandoned by us all with so little contact. X broke down in sobbing tears admitting how much she misses her, and A responded with MANY tears too. After 4 years of knowing these girls, it is the first time they have ever truly expressed their deep love for one another. God is moving mightily in them, it's beautiful. Even T hugged A at the end and at one point was "scratching" her arm (you know, in a nice way). He showed several signs that we haven't seen in awhile as he and his sisters were all together: smiling, laughing, talking, touching, hugging.
We gave A a HUGE pep talk and really tried to encourage her to get on the right path. We have promised to come up and visit her and take her shopping (she has outgrown everything she owns) once she earns her visits (could be anywhere from 3-4 weeks of she stays on track). She needs a whole new wardrobe (if anyone wants to donate money for this, please let me know as we are beginning to save for it!). We asked her to make some promises to us and to X especially. She wouldn't at first but by the end she really admitted to wanting to try. Pray for her to have the strength she needs to get through, behave, be respectful, and persevere through the pain she has been through. Her birthday is this weekend, N and the kids are planning to go and celebrate with her on Sunday (I will be in NC this weekend).


It's been a long time since this shot was taken as we celebrated N's bday when we first moved here in 2004. We are so thankful for God bringing this beautiful family into our lives and asking us to be His hands and feet on this earth. We hope we can serve Him well by loving them well. Pray for us as we make daily decisions of how to be involved and pray for the many needs they have as individuals and as a family.