Today you can hear my radio broadcast on Focus on the Family! I loved being there with my co-authors Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges. They were awesome in the studio, and I had a great time inserting practical applications with their awesome wisdom.
Other fun behind-the-scenes stuff:
-Meetings with editors, marketing people, and ministry leaders
-Video shoots to talk about the book
-Dinner with my co-authors
… and of course time in the studio taping these broadcasts!
And while all that was all very exciting, there was something even more exciting behind the scenes. After waking up at 3:00 a.m., flying to Colorado, having lunch with two amazing marketing people, and spending the afternoon in a video shoot I came back to my room to find this message on my cellphone from my husband:
Hi hon, call me right away. A social worker has information about kids … and they need a home by Thursday.
This was Monday. I was in Colorado. And KIDS … with an “s”.
I called John and got the scoop on “Sissy” and “Buddy.” (We can’t use their real names online.) I opened me email and saw their photos.
Lord, are these the little ones you’ve chosen for us? Do you want us to make them part of our forever family?
John and I had felt the call to open our home to kids from the foster care system one year prior. We took steps to get our home studies, we went to the trainings, and we prepared our family. (But how can you really prepare for something as big as that?) And, then, when I’m in Colorado, talking about Leading Your Family on Focus on the Family, God placed these children before us. {Strike up the soundtrack.}
Hmm, I don’t think it was any coincidence that the next day, at the studio, I was able to talk to John Fuller and the producer John Tracy—both of which have adopted kids. And both promised to pray.
It was also no coincidence that I was able to talk to Katie, themanager of Focus’ Wait No More foster-adopt outreach. Hmm … I think God was telling us that He was going to surround us with people who would pray and be there to give advice. (And they have done both!)
So … when you listen to the radio broadcast, imagine how my mind was spinning as I thought about the decision John and I were having to make. And as I thought about the possibility of adding a 5-year-old girl and 2-year-old boy to our home in just a few days. (I tried to stay focused, I really did!)
And the outcome? I finished the broadcasts and returned back to Arkansas that night. John and I prayed about the decision, talked to social workers, met the kids (and started the falling-in-love process), and then we welcomed them home!
It’s been two months now, and it’s been quite an adjustment … but what a gift! It also reminded me what Lead Your Family Like Jesus is all about: Loving God with all our heart, and loving others as we love ourselves. Sometimes that means loving kids who need a forever home.
If you’d like more information about adopting from the Foster Care system go here:
If you’d like more information about the book, go here: www.leadyourfamilybook.com
Also, you can get Lead Your Family Like Jesus FREE with any donation to Focus on the Family. More information is here: my radio broadcast
If you’d like to continue to pray for our adjustment, please do! We know God listens to those prayers. We can feel them!
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| Sissy, Buddy, and our 3-year-daughter Alyssa |
I love your story because your eyes were so open to the work God was doing. I am adopted and would love to adopt. We have a three-year-old daughter who would be a great sister, but we aren’t there yet.
Thank you so much! I know that God put that adoption on your heart for a reason. Continue to pray about it and he will lead your path!
My husband and I have just been approved by our county for foster care!! We are so thrilled to be taking this step. It’s not something we jumped right into. My mom is adopted and so is my aunt on my dad’s side. I always knew I wanted to adopt someday. I kind of put it on the back burner for years. We kept meeting people who were foster parents over and over again. We knew our home wasn’t big enough to have more kids in, we already had 3 teenagers living in a 600 square foot house. We felt it was just a dream and wasn’t God’s plan. But you know that still small voice you hear all the time? I kept hearing it tell me, keep praying and preparing your family for foster care. Within the year of praying each day we were blessed with a 5 bedroom home!! Right away we began the process to become foster parents.
We are SO honored God has chosen us to be His voice to these hurting and forgotten children.
Jen, that is SO wonderful! I know God has a blessed adventure in mind for you. We’ve had our kids a short time, and it’s been both hard a good. God is faitful!
Tricia,
I heard the broadcast this morning on my way into work. You sounded great and did an awesome job of sharing your testimony of faith in parenting. I had the honor of meeting Ken Blanchard last year at a writer’s conference in San Diego so when you spoke about how his One Minuute Manager principles could be carried over into parenting, I had both a moment of “Awww..” and “Ahha!” And to think you were praying over such a huge parenting decision even as you spoke! Like you, I know the journey of being a teen mom as I once was one too. And I also know the prayerful decision and committment of fostering/adopting a child. Our youngest daughter came to us through the foster system when she was 4 years old and is now in her second sememster in college. Please keep sharing your story, your life and your wisdom with others. God is so good indeed.
Thank you so much, Tammy! I’m so glad you enjoyed the program. It was great working with Ken & Phil. And that’s awesome about your adoption, too!
Tricia,
What an amazing blessing it is to read this! We adopted our youngest two through the foster care system (our oldest is 19 and the younger two are 6 and 3). We did emergency foster care in 2011, and had a little girl for 3 months. It was SO hard on our family when she went to live with a relative, that we had to ask to be taken off the list for awhile. Then, in November of 2012, I was feeling like God was putting emergency foster care on my heart again.
I kept thinking “No way! Life is good right now. No diapers, except night time diapers. Kids are self-sufficient. No getting up in the middle of the night to feed a baby or soothe them. We’re good!” I am 42 and my hubby just turned 44. I have Hashimoto’s Autoimmune Thyroide Disease which makes me tired, and keeps me in pain much of the time. I didn’t need anything else in my life! But I still felt it. I told my husband and he said we would pray about it and then talk about it in December. In December, he said we’ll talk about it in January. So, around the 2nd week of January, he said “Ok, here’s what we’ll do. If THEY call US and say they are desperate for homes, then we’ll say yes.”
A week and a half later, we get a call from our caseworker who helped us with our two that we adopted. She said “So, are you all ready to do foster care again? We are DESPERATE for baby homes.”. WHAT???? I guess we couldn’t get a more clear answer than that!
This happened on a Friday. The following Tuesday, we got a call about a baby who had just been born the day before!!!! Everything happened SO quickly that we had to scramble to get a crib, a stroller, a car seat, clothes, etc. We thought we were done, and had given everything away! Our church and other people whom we didn’t even KNOW rallied around us and blessed us with SO many things!
Baby Girl had to stay in the hospital for 10 days because she was 6 weeks premature, and had lost weight from birth. We had to wait and wait and wait for her to gain weight. We prayed every day with our kids, and we visited her in the hospital a half hour away, nearly every day until we could bring her home.
We don’t know if we’ll get to keep her, but for now, we are taking care of her as long as Jesus needs us to.
Thank you for sharing your story!
Angie
Angie, what and amazing story! I love what God does. I’m so thankful you had open hearts and prayed!!
Tricia, just heard part two of your interview, this morning, on Focus on the Family. Your comment this morning on how women need to learn to let their husbands lead was Awesome! Our marriage went through some purifying fire-like trials a few short years ago, and that was one of the needed lessons God gave me (among several)! I could write a book on that, so if you want to partner on that….I’m available! God bless you!
Thank you so much, Michelle! It’s one of the hardest things to do … isn’t it?! My writing schedule is currently full, but you should pray about what God wants you to write!!! 🙂
I have Focus On the Family playing and then I heard, “Tricia Goyer!! I missed it!!” but I will download the podcast later 🙂
I hope you enjoy it, Samantha. We were on March 25 & 26th!
How like God! Thanks for sharing “behind the scenes.” What a beautiful story. <3
You’re welcome Jenni!
I am a bio mom of 2 and adoptive mom of a sibling group of 3. Our adoption has not been a bed of roses in anyway. It’s been 13 years and our youngest two still struggle early abuse issues and Reactive Attachment Disorder. Their older bio sister is estranged from us, her choice and her actions. But in the midst of great heartache, God is faithful to carry us through. There are few women who blog about the realities of adoption when hearts are broken and only God can heal. I try to be transparent without harming because my ministry is one of encouragement and hope. If you ever want to stop by I blog at http://www.martysmusings.net
God bless you and be real to you as your family surrenders to God’s will.
We’re only 4 months into having these kiddos and it is not easy. I will check out your blog!
Wow, how amazing! Congratulations, Tricia!! So happy for you.
Hi Trisha, this is my first visit to your blog, and has I read post after post of yours I am so blessed! This particular story of your meeting your new children reminds me of our own. After many years of trying to conceive in various ways and praying for funds to adopt, God opened that door last January( 2013). We originally thought we would go the international route, then led to domestic and a newborn. Well, God had other plans!! 😀 one unsuspecting night just after completing our homestudy and even before we had completed our profile book, we received a call from our social worker that changed our lives. A 3 yr. old brother and his 2 yr. old sister needed a home ASAP. Permanently! This was actually not through the foster system. We had no pictures to go by, and very little information, but God quickened our hearts and to pursue them as our children! Long story short and just a few days later they were in our home as our children! They are gifts from God, and we’ve come a long way in nearly a years time, but it was down right hard in the beginning to go from no children after so long to two toddlers!
Thanks for all your loving advice for parents you share here! You have a wonderful ministry!
Blessings,
Leslie
Leslie, WOW! God is good!! That’s how I feel too … He had to surprise me otherwise I might have over thought it!! Hugs,
Tricia