Seasons Out of Sync

It has been just a little while since I blogged last not to long but long enough I think.  would just like to say thank you to all those who have been reading the blog, I hope it brings you some insight or comfort, and as we go through this time to come I hope it continues to do so.
I had a strange question the other day,  it was "why did you choose to use an autumn leaf back ground"

I know it may seem like a bit of a silly question to be answering but I think its important..
We all, no matter what things we face in life go through seasons of change, sometimes:

•  its new and bright and fresh and exciting like spring,
  
• sometimes its cold and quiet and feels like it goes on forever like winter,
  
• then there is summer when things get hot and sometimes difficult to understand and or bare,
  
  
• and that just leaves us with autumn, a calming time when we look at the changes that have happened and are happening, when there is a dramatic shift in how things are around us, when the bare truths are exposed and (for any one who has ever worked or an orchard  out there) its a time to prune back all that is in the way so the new growth can come through.

Well right now we are in our Autumn, dealing with the bare truth of things, trying to see and explain clearly what is ahead. looking and what has fallen our way already and appreciating everything as it comes. gathering up and pruning the things in our past that are no longer required and removing them from our life so we can focus on the future.

As I said everyone has a season
ours at this moment happens to be Autumn.. we know there is a summer just around the corner then possibly a long cold winter after that but then will come the Spring with all the hopes and joys it holds.

Hope and pray you are all well no matter where you are on your path, or where you have been.
Don't forget to take time to stop and smell the roses, appreciate what is at hand, and never forget that God has a plan and a purpose for all things even if you don't know what that plan is God does, so be open, prepare yourself, your heart and your life to the possibilities that may be ahead.

Kat xx

Enhanced Prayer, and Off to School

So I am a firm believer in prayer, and I tend to spend much of the day in prayer over one thing or another.. I have been finding more and more though that it has become more intense in these past months. Yes granted this could because of the place of complete surrender I have been trying to keep myself in. But I also believe it has something to do with the type of prayer.

Some times we can get so caught up in the world and activities around us that we get into auto pilot of what we are thinking and praying about.  These past 2 months with the move, there has been a dramatic shift in location, emotion, situation, and I believe this has given birth to a definite shift in prayer, both in the doing and the listening to what God is saying.

And I must admit I love it.. its been a really interesting change, rather than a constant prayer in desperation for Jesus to move in my heart and in my life, to take me out of the complacency that I had settled into and really stamp a mark in my life that I could not deny. Well again in an answer to prayer he has done that, He has enriched my time of prayer, shifted my thoughts to look more closely at what is really important, And I believe that through others He is encouraging us to open our hearts more to the children He is surrounding us with in a matter of preparation for the future adoptive children we have enter our lives..

My Prayers have turned from desperation to thankfulness. I was looking through my old prayer journals a while back and a constant theme that ran through them was Please Lord, Please,  to now saying Thank you Lord, Thank you,  for even the smallest things from the sun coming out in the day, to the blessing of my mum still being with us, from tea tasting great, to Matt being home safely.

God is good all the time, all the time God is good!

So its the 20th of July by this time next month we will have been to 2 of the Permanent Care Training Sessions , and as silly as this sounds I feel excited like a kid going to school for the first time. Does anyone else feel the same, its all exciting with new people/friends to meet who will be looking at the same information as us, who are all hopeful to become parents too, where there will be lots of information for us to learn and take in,
just minus the uniform and packed lunch. hahahaa

But seriously while it is very important and will be difficult along the road ahead, it is so exciting to know that at the end of the road will be our children waiting for us to bring them home.  :)

So going back to study again next week, at The Salvation Army Training College,  real school work and assignments, it will be interesting to see how that all pans out. I am hopeful that God has worked in me this past semester and prepared me for Mission Foundations and that He will continue to develop me further.

anyhoot can't sit round here all day blogging ..

Hope everyone has a spectacular day..

Kat xx

The World Still Spins

So while we wait, the world still spins and there is work to be done.
Matt is working like crazy to get  things established with his new role in a new town, and I am loving that he is up and gone at a decent time of  8:30am-ish and not while its still dark, returning home to me again by 5:30pm-ish each night its just fabulous to be able to spend quality time with each other.

And I to am trying like crazy to get things off the ground with my business as a Lorraine Lea Linen consultant. I truly am loving my job, and it was great having it running so smoothly before the move and now its just a little hard to get it up and going in the new town, its like starting from scratch again but in the mean time I still have parties to do from where I was so thats good to know.. the flexibility and the fun I get to have with this Job is so worth the struggle and the time and energy to kick it off the ground over here and not just rely on the other parties that are now such a distance to travel for.

As I speak with the people around me to drum up business, I am getting an albeit small glimpse into our future. Fitting in life around the kids and social/sporting commitments, it really makes me glad that I am in the job I'm in and even more that Matt as a Youth Worker is in the new role he is in.
I see the free time that we now have being filled with all manner of activities, Homework, playtime, stories before bed, getting ready for school. And as silly as this might sound to some I look forward to the tantrums too, the I don't wanna eat that, or have a bath, or do my homework, or pick up those toys and clothes.

It's a little funny actually when we sat back talking about it last night.. we could just imagine our kids sneaking out of bed asking for a drink of water or for another cuddle just so they could see us and maybe even be like the grownups and stay up past bedtime.. you know all the things we used to do when we were kids.
Also us going past the bedroom door to hear them still awake and playing with flashlights under their doona's making up imaginary worlds of their own..

Also with my work you heard the word Linen, well for me at the moment they have the sweetest and coolest new designs to go on beds and I keep looking at them going I wish I had someone to tuck up in that at night and read a story too, and even Matt last night said he loved the new Boys ones and thinks we should get a bed that looks like a race car so we can put the boys designs on it.

All of these hopes and dreams we know will one day soon come true. But for now like so many others out there, we wait, and dream, and hope for the day when our kids can come home to us.
So that we can share with and encourage them to seek out their hopes, and dreams for the future.

Lord I pray this not just for us but for all those who are waiting, that you will make us all ready for those angels that come into our lives. Please give us the patience and joy we seek, and guide us to help them live happy, healthy, supported lives of their own. Help us be prepared for what ever twists and turns this journey takes us on. Lord I pray with is your name  AMEN

Reading in Tears

I have been up for a number of hours already this morning.. and have been reading documents and articles that honestly bring me to tears... one Article I was made aware of was of a young 12 yr old boy called Christian
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/07/03/greene.boy.missing/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

in the linked article it outlines the sickening and distressing conditions in which he was kept for the last of his few short years..
It is in these words that my heart is stirred into action...

Following this I was presented a link that is a colmination of over 200 submissions to the Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption Policies and Practices  and again I have been moved further to write this...

I feel sick to know the practices of the past and the damage that has been caused through these "Forced Adoptions". And also I am distressed and hurt to read of the inability to find issue with the care of children when abuses have been reported, that after years of supposed investigation, action was not taken to secure the safety of these children, was the workers heart really that cold to no notice, or so blinded by the lies of the Parents (in the case for Christian, his Father and Stepmother) that they failed to see the begging looks in the eyes of the child..

my heart aches for those children and women that have been so mistreated by thier government,  and also because of the actions of harmful adults and departments that have been unable to see or to step in fully and assist in situations that have been made know..

Our Journey to parenthood we do not see as a divine right to have a baby but as a humble blessing to be able to help in a situation where we feel God drawing us too.. we look at permanent care as an opportunity to share our love, care, hope and comfort in parenting a children that will hopefully come into our heart and care

We are both grateful to know that the processes that are now in place are for Open and sharing adoptions and guardianship's, rather than the cloak and dagger methods from decades that have past which did and still do cause so much heartache and pain for all parties involved... That the agencies are acting in the best interest for all and not just one party.  we look forward to becoming parents, to sharing with hopefully our own biological, and adopted children how much we love and care for them. Also sharing with the birth parents how much we care for them, and hope that we are here as a means to support the future relationship with their child and not hinder them.

We also understand that there may be situations surrounding our "heart born" children that prohibit contact with their birth parents in those cases we will endevour to support and help raise them to be healthy productive members of society with a knowledge that they can become what ever they want in life and will have our love and care and support every step of the way.

We don't know what the future holds for us but we know that in faith, God will guide our every step, that he alone knows the plan and purpose for us, and in everything we do we must trust that everything is being done for His will.

Dear children that come into our lives, if you ever read this know we have been praying for you all along.. know that in our hearts we have been rejoicing ever since we thought about bringing you into our life, and we will be grateful every day for you. No matter what has passed, and no matter what is ahead we love and care for you and will support you the best that we can each step of the way through life. God has a plan and a purpose for each of us.. Jeremiah 29:11

Your Future Extra Mummy and Daddy
Kathryn and Matthew

Kids Cartoons ... One Day

You know what, I really used to like watching kids cartoons growing up. and it hit me... we have a child out there somewhere, maybe not even born into this world yet, who will one day be home with us. I can imagine them curled up in their blankets, in front of the TV eating breakfast, giggling at the different programs, and later on acting out the scenes they saw.. coming to try to coax us into buying another toy...  I must admit I like day-dreaming about the "One Day" possibilities..
Cooking and baking in the kitchen with them, running round being silly in the back yard, going to the park and watching them playing on the equipment. making a cubby inside with blankets and pillows and chairs..

and I remembered that it is going to be a long wait.. So as I sit here daydreaming about our kids I wonder to myself are they born yet? are their hearts getting ready to love us too? are they wishing and praying  for us like we do for them?  the truth is we may never know, but the day we bring home our "heart born" child/children truly is one we feel blessed for...

And we have already been blessed.. with the love of each other, and a joint love for a child that is yet to come home... with the support of family and friends around us.. and also with the new contacts we have made through support groups of others that have and are going through the adoption process locally..

so many blessings and this is only the beginning..

and I have a question to ask.. with the July Kids sale coming up would it be ok to go shopping... :)