Thorburn Family

Our blog suffered a near-fatal blow since Facebook entered our lives!  A quick update:  Schooling has “officially” ended for the year and summer is gloriously underway!  Lydia is working part-time for Mount Ascutney Hospital and some for Rich on job-sites, while also getting in her next math course with a TPS teacher in the next three months.   She also looks forward to a three week stint at Camp Good News in their teen service training program.   She’s also–hold onto your airbag–driving..!   Jubilee is helping an expectant (with twins) mom of 3, soon to be 5 children a couple mornings a week.   Valerie is doing some schooling with Benjamin for us, a little every day.   She is also a huge help with Reeve, our 11 week old foster baby.   Jesse is doing a teensy bit of math every day to stay sharp :), and helping to split & stack the approximately 15 cords of wood we need for the winter.   Benjamin is riding his two-wheeler in front of our house and figuring out which boot goes on which foot :).  

The summer is already packed full of projects and company!  The first project completed was the upstairs bathroom.  We had to gut it to the studs, take out a window, put in ceiling, walls, floor.. and you can see the rest below.  Next stop.. the pantry and then the kitchen.  

Baby Reeve arrived home today!   He screamed the whole ride, but as soon as he was taken out of his car seat, he was happy again   Reeve is 1 month old today and doing a lot better than he was.During our little hospital stint of a few weeks, we felt the Lord’s hand close and dear to us.  I could never list them all, but here are a few of the things for which we are praising God:

1. Baby Reeve’s life; he is “fearfully and wonderfully made.”

2. God’s hand of protection upon him in the midst of many trials.

3. Excellent medical care at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.  The nurses and doctors were outstanding.

4. Many, many opportunities to share our gratefulness to God and hope in HIM w/staff and others involved w/baby.  The answer to our hope and strength is simply life lived in Christ Jesus, and the knowledge of all He has done for us.   Forgiveness for sins and being “transferred from death to life” is the answer to all the world’s problems, and the answer for the hope that is within us.

5.  Emotional and physical strength, and the fact that things kept running very well at home!  It would not have been the end of the world if our house and schooling fell apart during these weeks.   But what a blessing that schooling stayed on track, housework got done (including a couple extra projects!), and we remained generally functional and sane beyond our capabilities  That was God’s great grace.  We also were not sick for an entire month.  After a winter of being chronically sick w/everything that came along the pike, we are so grateful that we were not hit w/any colds or bugs that would have hindered our involvement at the hospital.

6. Grace from God in dealing w/the “powers that be.”  We are thankful for trials in this area, as it refocused us on the fact that God alone is in control and holds the “hearts of kings in his hands.”   

7.  The knowledge that God’s will will be accomplished in Reeve’s life.  God will fulfill his purposes on this earth, unfettered.  Whatever happens, whether Reeve is with us weeks, months, or many years, he is in God’s hands.  

“Contentment should be natural to those who are born of the Spirit of God; yea, we ought to go beyond contentment, and cry, ‘Blessed by the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits.’”   C.H. Spurgeon 

We have neglected our family blog in the past couple of months.   Lydia is our primary blog-ress, and while I do a lot of the writing, I don’t usually get around to publishing something unless Lydia is involved, particularly w/pictures.   Lydia has completed her seven weeks in Texas w/my brother Dan’s family, and arrived home a week or two ago.

So, the latest news is that we have a newborn foster baby in the hospital.   He is just wonderful, so perfectly designed by his Creator.   Because he is a foster baby, we are limited in what we can share, especially on the internet, about him and his situation. We can tell you that he is about three weeks old and has been given some significant difficulties early in his little life through no fault of his own, of course.   We expect he will be hospitalized for at least three more weeks.   We are spending a lot of time at the hospital during the day, and have worked out a little schedule that allows school to continue on track, the house to run, etc.   Needless to say, this requires that ALL of us work together and stay on track.   We are thankful that we are in a position to do this, because of the ages of our children and their ability to take care of things here, and their desire to be helpful. This is God’s grace!  Some past experiences with children and medical issues have also been helpful to draw upon in advocating for this precious baby boy.  

We don’t know how long he will be with us.  It could be weeks, months, years.   The “system” seems wholly disheartening, and if we were looking at that, or other aspects of this baby’s world, we would be brought down in despair.  There are moments in which I will start to focus on the wrong things. Our eyes must remain on Christ, who holds the world in His hands, who turns the hearts of Kings, who orders all things after the perfect counsel of His will, and whose ways are higher than our ways. He is not only wholly sovereign, he is wholly good.  

Rich and I always wondered how we would “process” a situation like this if it ever came up. We’d said in the past, “We just couldn’t deal with that, it would be too hard, too discouraging.” Seeing the general results of a world that does not love or obey God, in this situation and others can start to be overwhelming, but we don’t want to hide ourselves from it either. “As your days, so shall your strength be;” He gives grace to keep our emotions straight day by day. We reminded ourselves recently that our duties remain the same today as any other day:  to “do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God” for His glory on the earth, no matter what happens.  Pray for us to keep our eyes looking up and to not “lean on our own understanding,” but to “acknowledge Him in all our ways, trust in him w/all our hearts,” and to “be still and know that He is God.”    

As I mother our five outrageous, delightful kids, I am always trying to examine and test my inner “starting place” for my impulses, feelings, and decisions (both big and small). Sometimes I have to correct myself on a daily basis!  I have done “good” things for the wrong reasons, and the same thing for the right reasons, at different times. This little blog post by Nancy Wilson so clearly articulated something I have been thinking about that I thought I would post it. 

Smother Love

Love thinks of the other person, not of itself, and unfortunately, smother love is all about mom and not about the child. The mother who cannot bear to part with her child for any reason (say when it comes time to send him to school) is not thinking about whether the separation would be good for the child; no, she is thinking about how sad she will feel and whether she can handle the separation. She may have deluded herself into thinking she is more essential than she is.  But the mother who sets her child free to grow up and learn will find that her children count her very essential indeed.

One last thing. Grandmothers can be smother mothers as well. In fact, they can be notorious offenders.  They can be guilty of all these same things, but they express it by being critical of the parents who are trying to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. What an opportunity grandparents miss when they become critical of their kids and sentimental about their grandchildren. 

On Ben’s “Signed and Sealed” day, he was given a special quilt and a cute stuffed bear. He named the bear, “Mary,” which is the same name he gave the fish that Valerie recently gave him. Either he is short on creativity, or he is naming these gifts after his fabulous Nevada Social Worker, Mary! We think it’s the latter, and are glad he remembers her, after all she has done in his life. We continue to praise God for the great adoption story He’s given Ben, and for adding him to our family.

Though Benjamin has been “ours” since he arrived home on May 31, 2008.. our adoption finalization was not signed till yesterday in Claremont District Court, family division.  Yay!   He is now officially, to all on earth, “Benjamin Samuel Thorburn,” and his birth certificate will read as though we gave birth to him.   We’re so glad that the day finally came!  Benjamin was given a special stuffed bear and a beautiful quilt by his permanency worker, Darcy.   We were a little sad that Lydia could not join us for this special appointment b/c she is in TX right now, but we did our real celebrations months ago, and she’s with us in spirit.   These pics didn’t transfer to the blog very clearly, but you’ll get the jist. 

Last Saturday, Lydia left for Houston, TX!  She’s going to help out w/her 2 yr old cousin, Danielle — the daughter of my brother, Dan and his wife Kerilyn b/c of a medical emergency in the extended family.   She could be there about six weeks!   We  miss her already, but are thankful for cell phones, email, and facebook!

What a momentous day!   I watched the inauguration online and was unexpectedly moved by the significance of this day.  I’ll tell you right off the bat that I didn’t have to think twice about the decision to not vote Obama, though I find him to be charismatic, inspiring, and as presidents go, he’s not bad looking either  ;-).   I am thankful to live in this country where we have the right to vote for the man or woman whose policies most closely line up with our own values, and I did that on election day.   The nation has spoken and ultimately, God himself has placed Mr. Obama in the position of our new president (Psalm 75:5-7; Daniel 2:20-21; Daniel 4:17; Proverbs 21:1) for His own good purposes.  We’ll happily honor and respect him as our president, and pray for him, his family, and his presidency.

Since adopting Benjamin who, like Mr. Obama, is half-African American and half “white,” the matter of race and race relations has taken on a new light for us.   I never expected it to be something we thought about much because a lot of people assume Benjamin is Latino and “he’s not that dark,” but we still find ourselves tuned-in to racism and the history of black Americans in our country.   In some areas, being of mixed race is even worse.   Friends of ours who have AA children through adoption have been assaulted by blacks and whites alike!   Sometimes when I hear little racist comments by others, especially under the guise of a twisted version of “Christianity,” I have to struggle to keep my “Mama Bear” in check.  I was watching Ben sleep in his nap a few minutes ago — he is incredibly beautiful!   He doesn’t even notice race at this point, though I know that will change eventually.   It amazes me that, based only on the color of his skin or the biological heritage he has been given by his Creator, someone could hate him or think he was less than another person of a different race.   This story is as old as the world, of course… African Americans are not the only group of people who have been segregated and limited in a society based on the color of their skin.  Still, they are the ones our country has discriminated against the most in recent history.

So, the Thorburns are rejoicing this Inauguration Day that our country seems to have come a little bit farther in one area at least, and that is of race relations. I think what this day must mean for all the elderly soldiers of African descent who fought for our country but were never acknowledged, who were treated better in a German prisoner of war camp than they were when they finally made it home.   I think of the mothers who had to explain to their little children why they could not attend college or even ride in the front of the bus, but who can dream of bigger things for their grandchildren. It was good to see a brown hand on the Bible today and know that when my son memorizes the presidents someday, it will include one guy with skin similar to his own.  It hits us much more deeply than we anticipated.

God knows what He is doing with this country of ours and our duties remain the same as they were yesterday. Our confidence rests in Him alone, regardless of who is in the White House.   There are two things we wanted to include in this post.   First a prayer for our new president, so beautifully written by Al Mohler:   http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=3113

Second, a plug for the book One Blood — The Biblical Answer To Racism  by Ken Ham.

Micah 6:8  ”He has shown you, oh man, what is good and what the Lord requires of thee:   but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” 

May God bless America!