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.”