God's Clues

Our youngest kids like to watch the adventures of a blue puppy and his enthusiastic friend in a green striped shirt. Ok, actually they LOVE to watch these thrift store VHS finds - Blues Clues. I'll admit, the videos have been known to even captivate me regularly as we search predictably for blue paw prints, record the clues in the Handy Dandy Notebook, and of course go to the Thinking Chair where all mysteries "unknown" are revealed, followed by an awkward victory dance of sorts. Go on, admit it, you likely could sing along with the song. "We've just figured out Blues Clues, we've just figured out..."

We've just come back from our own version of "God's Clues": Where are we seeing people respond to adoption and foster care needs? Who are active in adoption and foster care ministry? How is God stirring the Canadian Church? What are some common threads seen from those we encounter? What are some of the most prominent gaps?

We didn't wear green striped shirts, although we did carry around our handy dandy notebooks and jot down lots of clues regarding God's activity in adoption and foster care. Now that we are back from our 2.5 week Western God-chasing journey, we are sitting in our "Thinking Chair" as we reflect on all the many finger prints of God so evidently seen and experienced in the lives of individuals, couples, churches, and organizations throughout random places in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and BC.

While hitting a deer only hours into the trip was not our idea of a good start, the miracle of a healed van (read previous post), being blessed by family and professionals in Brandon, and being back on the road within hours--not days, only brought added delight to our journey. We call that clue in our journey "God has our back." Not a single whirring or thunka-thunking or honey-its-smoking to be reported for the entire rest of the trip. Thanks to all those who were praying.

Let me highlight just a few of many other clues of God's activity, seen on our trip:

• People from random places, with unique backgrounds and stories, have independently been responding to God's call on their hearts to personally get involved in ministry related to adoption and foster care in Canada. If you ever want a pick me up, just go out asking advocates on what gets them up every morning. While we have yet to see roaring flames of activity sweeping over Canada, we were greatly encouraged to discover sparks, flickers, and some more established flames that are emerging: Focus on the Family, Abba Canada, Spirit of Adoption Alberta, Centre Street Church, Rockpointe Church, Home for Every Child Adoption Society, individual pastors and families, to name a few. We also had meaningful encounters with ED's of secular non-profit organizations who gave insight and further resources: Adoption Support Centre of Saskatchewan, Adoptive Families Association of BC. So many "blind dates" (about 12 in all) as we shared meals and coffee with people that felt like long lost relatives with the same Abba God. Canada definitely has some dynamite people in the West to champion the cause of kids in need of care, although all would say more the merrier.

• We left our driveway July 9 not sure how God was going to blend our distinct, yet somewhat fuzzy, sense of direction with what is already happening on the Western Canadian front - if our Holy Spirity hunches and vision truly represented gap fillers that were in fact desired by those we were about to meet or if we would receive more understanding of a different direction we should rather be taking. The words "movement" "networking" "advocacy" "marriage and family support" held our interest and curiosity but we are just two Manitobans, coming out of nowhere, discovering how we are to join in with what God has already been doing. Now, as we roll back onto our driveway, we clearly see that only God could have placed those things on our hearts as they were continuously affirmed and clarified by those we met on our trip as much needed. Turns out, the clues we discovered along the way were far from random but perhaps, ok, not perhaps; rather something clearly orchestrated by God. We did not come back with a plethora of entrepreneurial ways to get involved, but a more clearer perspective of what has been distinctly stirred within us from the onset. We see God is on to something. "So what exactly are you looking to do?," you may be asking. I wish we could give you a nice glossy pamphlet, but we are learning to take one step at a time and allow development to occur as our partnerships and next steps become clear. As an ENTP (Myers-Briggs Assessment), it would be easy to try to jump ahead and lay out the whole strategic plans and vision, but I'm working hard not to jump ahead of where God has placed us in the moment. Keep checking in on this blog, as we will be sure to keep you posted.

• Another interesting discovery, thanks to encounters with some of the speakers, was of an upcoming NACAC (North American Council of Adoptable Children) conference being held in Toronto, August 8-10th  http://www.nacac.org/conference/NACACregistration.pdf.  What a great opportunity, only happening in Canada every 5 years. One thing leads to next and we find ourselves quickly repacking our bags to head East this week, giving opportunity to meet with up with Evangelical Fellowship Canada, and some others we anticipate connecting face-to-face with at the conference. While email, Skype, teleconferencing, etc is great progress in being able to broaden our circles, we continue to experience the value of meeting face to face and building deeper relational connections. An emoticon : )  doesn't always cut it. We look forward to more new connections to be made across North America and a wealth of informative and cutting edge presentations. Thanks to support from family and friends, whom God is using to supply our needs during this trip, our kids are looked after and our travel and accommodation needs met, just so. We are humbled by the generosity of time, financial resources and hospitality of those who willingly pull this one off in such short notice. You are part of our "God's Clues" story, which we are so grateful for.

So in essence, our "God's Clues" is not over. I only take this moment in my Thinking Chair to reflect on the sizable finger prints of God seen in recent weeks. The game's not done, only begun, although we can predict the challenging but ultimately victorious outcome. I look forward to the victory dance we can all share as a result of seeing more children in loving homes, more churches involved, more legislation in favor of building forever families, and more people understanding the heart of Abba God. We strongly believe brothers and sisters from across Canada will rise up and sing "We just figured out God's heart, We've just figured out God's heart..."

*(Stay tuned, we'll do another blog entry to share some personal family highlights we were able to balance our road trip with.)