Oh Deer!

We hit a bump along the road!

"Nice to meat you, deer." says Harold
Deer: no response

So we literally hit a bump along the road by running over a fresh road kill deer day one of our travels. Fortunately we were not injured and the accident happened 40 kilometers away from our aunt and uncle in Brandon. Who knew being related to angels would come so handy at 2am?!

The van was not drivable, nothing to show on the body as we literally drove right over it, but the van's belly valiently tenderized and seared the venison to rare, very rare at great speed. But we had no appetite for the meat shreds that remained attached to our van. The tow truck driver confirmed that there must be some serious damage as he tried to maneuver the van on and off the flatbed. Steering, brakes, floor panel, and who knows else what, all stopped us on our track in our journey in need for a tow truck and a very gracious aunt and uncle to take us all in. I mean, if you have a home of 2 people, what's another 6 in the middle of the night, right?!

So we sat in our injured rattling and seized up van and waited in the darkness of the night. Out with the glow sticks for the kids, we had a midnight roadside party! :) Turn up the music, make a few joke, but mostly wait and pray in our hearts that God would work all things out for His glory. And he did!

Long story short, God healed our van and we were on the road again the next afternoon! How??

Defying all odds and MPI's lengthy protocol (ok, and perhaps some assertive pro-action), we made our van insurance claim, estimation, and mechanical work done the very next morning within about 4 hours! Our initial advisory was that it could take about 7 days to process, estimation and approval alone, but God had other plans.

Did you know God can heal vehicles, not just humans? The night it was dropped off, the van had difficulty even getting into a parking spot, but next day the mechanic said it was working perfectly. They did a wheel alignment in the process, had several mechanics test it on the road and did various tests and could not find anything other than a dented floor panal (which did not compromise driving or our safety and will be done when we get back to MB). Wow, good to know we have proof that we were in fact in an accident (with the bent floor panal),

 not to mention the hanging meat, tuffs of fur, smell of a butcher shop and blood under the hood - otherwise no one may believe that we got into an accident. We picked up the van and the administrator said she'd never seen something like this and that we must have had many hands laid on this van to be driving off the lot in such timing. So for all you praying ones, we are truly grateful for your prayers as we know this trip is sustained by them.

So after getting the kids new car seats (compulsary by our our insurance coverage) and submitting all our towing and mechanical bills for full coverage, we were on our way, and made it safely to Papa and Mama's (my parents) in Hague Saskatchewan. We are enjoying our visit.

This afternoon Harold and I go into Saskatoon to meet with the ED of the Adoption Support Centre of Saskatchewan.

Tomorrow we "plan" to get to Edmonton to continue our exploration, with the first-hand knowledge that God is in charge of this trip and is our mechanical healer and provider.

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God Chasing

Our life these days has been kind of random, a lot of this and that (kind of like this blog entry), but in midst of pure circumstantial chaos there has been increasing clarity and purpose to this phase we are in. We are embracing ambiguity, trusting God's timing is perfect and we simply need to take one step at a time. From dry-walling and building bunk beds to teleconferencing and chatting with leaders around the world, from rearranging the whole house set-up in order to accommodate more people to planning our itinerary on our upcoming exploration trip. We have been blessed to have Omoni (Harold's mom) out from Vancouver this past month, as she has been a good source of encouragement and help with cooking and bonding with the kids.

...Speaking of trip, we will be letting my tool belt rest a bit while we devote the rest of this month to God chasing. God chasing?! you may ask. Well for us, we have been discovering pockets of activity in Western Canada where people are activating the Church in the adoption and foster care through advocacy, education, and practical support. We have already been connecting with them and will be meeting with them on our trek to get a deeper sense of what God is already doing in Canada and how we are to collaborate with the things God's put on our hearts. Along the way we will also have the opportunity to meet up with family and friends in SK, AB, and BC. Not to worry, we are not taking a U-haul. We will be back, and are not looking to relocate. Much work is needed in our province of Manitoba. Please pray for us while we go on this God chasing exploration trip, for safety and increasing clarity as we meet with others in this field.

You know Kehlen and Mikhala are getting into this whole adoption thing, when they start emulating what we do. The have been pitching in to "help" with the renovations and yesterday they called their own kids meeting to discuss raising funds for adopting their brother and sister. It was cute to observe. Mikhala had a crayon and paper and was "taking notes", Kehlen lead the meeting with a kids devotional and then proceeded to talk to his sister about planning "an expensive" garage sale to raise more than $100. Meanwhile they had their dolls and stuffed animals in a separate room and insisted that their big sister Isinino babysit them during the meeting. Never too young to be part of a movement!

Good news! We finally heard back from CFS and are scheduled to start our homestudy August 21. This is a critical, and long awaited, step in the process of adopting. It will also shed more light into how our adoption journey will take shape. We discovered in April that DRC (Congo) is not a possibility any more, as political winds change as rapid as our Manitoba weather, so we roll with it and are certain God's desire to increase our family through adoption will not be thwarted. We now have another possibility brewing, and the boundaries of our hearts have been broadened. More on this later...

We have enjoyed the addition of Isinino into our family. She is adjusting well, and finally unpacked all her belongings. In fact, she is the only one with a room that is set up fully, as the rest of us are being rearranged into different rooms too. She is working part-time with Youth Peacebuilders, helping in fine arts which communicates with kids her life story and adjustments as a refugee teenager to Canada. Isinino is a very gifted writer, and one of her poems will be presented at Winnipeg's Fringe Festival in a couple of weeks. We are so proud of her! It is a poem she wrote for an English assignment about her connection with me as her Canadian mom. Very special. She is looking forward to going on our trip, as this is her first time out West.

We welcome you to journey with us in the weeks to come as we update you on some of our discoveries.

It's a Girl!

The Park family welcomes Isinino into our home! (Ee-see-nee-no) I won't go on telling you her length and weight and what time she was born, because she would say "Mom, that's embarrassing!" Lol, teenagers.

So many have been asking about this anticipated arrival, and yesterday marked the day we moved our newest member of the family into our home. Although we have known her for several years since coming to Canada and she has become our daughter/big sister quite naturally already, it was right that she would call this officially home. Isinino has just finished exams this week and is looking forward to her final year of high school next year. 

Some say you need documents to validate parent/children ties. We say we are family because God brought us together. Adopted? Fostered? I'm not sure a label is necessary. Besides, would my son go on referring himself as my C-sectioned child? Nope, we are simply family and Kehlen and Mikhala are so thrilled to FINALLY have her move in permanently. She still has her biological family, some in Canada, some in her birth country, which we openly maintain contact with. But for now, God knew she needed us and God knew we had a special place in our hearts for her, so let the good times roll: times of laughter, nurture, building for future, and lots and lots of hope.

We've already enjoyed sharing many memories and we look forward to further discovering all that God has in store for this wonderful jewel. Tonight Harold is being treated to a belated Father's Day celebration, and they are going on a bike ride to get ice cream.

 (At Isinino's high school track meet)

(At Kehlen's Korean School Family Sports Day - missing, Kehlen the athlete :)

Preparing for a New Arrival

This post was intended to be submitted on the 17th, but I was whisked away with family for a much cherished family getaway. We spend a few days in Pinawa, enjoying nature, games, and good food. This was a multi-celebration: our 8th anniversary, the new transition of jobs, Halmoni (Grandma) visiting from Vancouver, and of course celebrating the best Daddy in 'da house!

But Wednesday morning is different... Ahhh, smell the scents of drywall, lumber, and good ol' human sweat. Ok, maybe don't smell, but you get the point. We are in a crunch to complete the remainder of our basement project because word is out that we are anticipating the arrival of a new family member into our home by the end of this week! Talk about friendly chaos, playing fruit basket upset with our bedrooms, family members, and visiting Omoni (Mom Park). It's a team effort and unique memories are being created as drywall competes for space with Lego and diapers.

Today is laundry day, as in working on our laundry room, and as in making our clothes dirty so we have something to launder when I hook up our machines next week. Yay! We've had a wonderful relationship with our next door laundromat (and owner) for the past 2+ years, but it's time this mama gets set up proper for some serious laundry business as our family increases over the next years. We are also working on creating another bathroom downstairs, yay, no more 'gotta go' dances for the kids.

I'm no Micah Holmes and Harold is no Arthur Stewart, but doing renos become so much more doable when you crunch the numbers. It's slow going, but so worth it, and actually looking pretty awesome for rookies.

And it will be worth it! 

Ok, now back to work :)

Season Finale June 16th - and the start of a new Park-King series!

We call this time in our life a "Season Finale" but also the start of a new upcoming "Park-King Series." Coming soon to a Theatre (I mean, Church community) near you. 

Over the past year, God has given us a heart for mobilizing and equipping Canadian church communities and their families to thrive in caring for vulnerable children through adoption and foster care. Through God’s guidance, and while we are in process of adopting children into our family as well, we are taking the next steps in research and development to pursue what our hearts have been awakened to. 

While we are still discovering what exactly this all entails, we do know it will involve taking part in a movement across Canada, with vulnerable children, families, churches, organizations, and government. We do know that God has been at work within us every step of the way, so to this end, we are just simply taking another step of faith. The "Producer" has been good to us, giving us just enough info, the right people and resources for now, and we are accepting the new roles.

As such, Harold has resigned from his role as Pastor, effective June 16. It was not an easy decision, although it was an obvious one for us that we both knew was right. We will miss our home church of 8.5 years, which has been a huge blessing to us all. We will still be living in Winnipeg, but are making intentional steps in clearing our slate for this next season. Can't do both. So to all our Southlanders out there, we love you and will be cheering for you as you run the race marked out for you.

It was 8 years ago that we (Harold and Wendi) covenanted before God in marriage, with a wedding text found in Joshua 24:15 “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Service is a word of action, implying the fulfilling of someone else’s will. As our family seeks to serve God, we have been brought to the realization that God is calling us on from Southlands Community Church to a new ministry. 

We'll keep you posted for each new episode, officially starting June 17th. 

For those of you who like the spoilers, read below... The rest of you, check in with us next week for more :) 

Episode 1: Preparing for a new arrival (June 17)

Episode 2: It's a _______! (OK, can't spoil this one totally, check in June 24)

Episode 3: Exploring Orphan Care in Canada's Wild Wild West (July)

Thank you to all for taking interest in this blog and investing in us through encouragement and prayer. We'd love to hear from you, let us know how we can do the same for you.  

(Here is our self-made fashionista Mikhala taking her Mommy for a walk.)