Growing!
Word is out that we are expanding the FitzFam once again!! This time by way of adoption, which is so unbelievable that we're here - doing this - for real.
Where do I begin?
After we had Addison we wanted to adopt but (BUT GOD) I found out I was pregnant with Troy. After Troy we wanted to adopt but (BUT GOD) I found out I was pregnant with Mia. This time around I've pretty much been whispering "adoption" in fear of getting pregnant again. But (BUT GOD) here we are, adopting, and I'm not pregnant.
I was all about international, really it's all I knew. My friends who've adopted have gone overseas, and I had huge fears wrapped up in doing a domestic adoption and having a birth mother to contend with. For some reason I thought for over seas adoptions - out of sight out of mind. (Clearly a naive and immature rationale.) But (BUT GOD) my mind was slowly changed and my heart grew softer and softer and all of the sudden domestic didn't seem crazy and fostering became, dare I say it?, beautiful.
Mark and I attended a meeting for people with hearts for orphan care on September 13th. (This is open to everyone! Next meeting is in January.) In the car on the way home we both said we should look into fost/adopt. Nothing magical was said at the meeting. Nothing specific happened, but (BUT GOD) at some point God spoke to both of us and confirmed this is what he wanted for us.
There have only been a few times in my walk with the Lord that I have felt I am exactly where he wants me to be, doing what he wants me to do. This is one of those times.
That night we got online and researched Olive Crest. We sent in the pre-application to find out more information and a week later received the Main Application in the mail. Two weeks after that we had our first in-home meeting that basically laid out all of the intricacies of Olive Crest fost/adopt program and we signed a commitment letter stating we are in this for realsies. They don't want to waste their time if many man hours of training and interviewing later we decide it's just not really for us.
This is really for us. For realsies.
Today we had our homestudy. It was basically a three hour marriage and family assessment. I think everyone should have a homestudy done! I love answering questions about my marriage and family! At one point - when I was struggling to find serious faults in Mark - Mark pointed out that I would've had no problem finding a plethora of faults a year ago. One year ago, in the thick of him working an insane amount of hours and me being in a new house with four very little children, we would've answered a lot of the questions very differently than we did today.
"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. BUT GOD, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:1-10
But God walked through the thick of it with us. He saw us tired and weak and knew it wasn't time. Then he moved us. And he reduced our stuff and increased our trust. I looked at our kids and was filled with a lovely fullness, but God said there is room for more.
I was a sinner, blind and lost, but God said he had room for more, and adopted me.
It is our joy to love sacrificially in the name of Jesus who so greatly sacrificed for us.
What are the "But God"'s in your life?
Where do I begin?
After we had Addison we wanted to adopt but (BUT GOD) I found out I was pregnant with Troy. After Troy we wanted to adopt but (BUT GOD) I found out I was pregnant with Mia. This time around I've pretty much been whispering "adoption" in fear of getting pregnant again. But (BUT GOD) here we are, adopting, and I'm not pregnant.
I was all about international, really it's all I knew. My friends who've adopted have gone overseas, and I had huge fears wrapped up in doing a domestic adoption and having a birth mother to contend with. For some reason I thought for over seas adoptions - out of sight out of mind. (Clearly a naive and immature rationale.) But (BUT GOD) my mind was slowly changed and my heart grew softer and softer and all of the sudden domestic didn't seem crazy and fostering became, dare I say it?, beautiful.
Mark and I attended a meeting for people with hearts for orphan care on September 13th. (This is open to everyone! Next meeting is in January.) In the car on the way home we both said we should look into fost/adopt. Nothing magical was said at the meeting. Nothing specific happened, but (BUT GOD) at some point God spoke to both of us and confirmed this is what he wanted for us.
There have only been a few times in my walk with the Lord that I have felt I am exactly where he wants me to be, doing what he wants me to do. This is one of those times.
That night we got online and researched Olive Crest. We sent in the pre-application to find out more information and a week later received the Main Application in the mail. Two weeks after that we had our first in-home meeting that basically laid out all of the intricacies of Olive Crest fost/adopt program and we signed a commitment letter stating we are in this for realsies. They don't want to waste their time if many man hours of training and interviewing later we decide it's just not really for us.
This is really for us. For realsies.
Today we had our homestudy. It was basically a three hour marriage and family assessment. I think everyone should have a homestudy done! I love answering questions about my marriage and family! At one point - when I was struggling to find serious faults in Mark - Mark pointed out that I would've had no problem finding a plethora of faults a year ago. One year ago, in the thick of him working an insane amount of hours and me being in a new house with four very little children, we would've answered a lot of the questions very differently than we did today.
"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. BUT GOD, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:1-10
But God walked through the thick of it with us. He saw us tired and weak and knew it wasn't time. Then he moved us. And he reduced our stuff and increased our trust. I looked at our kids and was filled with a lovely fullness, but God said there is room for more.
I was a sinner, blind and lost, but God said he had room for more, and adopted me.
It is our joy to love sacrificially in the name of Jesus who so greatly sacrificed for us.
What are the "But God"'s in your life?
Comments
We are so happy for you, and get to share these great joys with you once again, though separated by miles this time. It's a long read, but I cannot say it any better than the words of Paul below, and is my prayer for you & Mark:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to ADOPTION (my emphasis) as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both[a] which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who[b] is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Prayer for Spiritual Wisdom
15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding[c] being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
I'm praying for you guys and the potential for you to have a 5th Fitz.
Sarah Schuyler