#2: WILL YOU BE MOVING?

We want to thank all of our family, friends, and acquaintances for taking an interest in our lives, and for asking some really good questions. We think good questions deserve good explanations. These weeks we are posting the top 10 questions you are asking and our responses. Feel free to message us questions you may have. They may just make the top 10 :)


#2 WILL YOU BE MOVING?

Well, yes and no.

Let me first explain the NO.
We are not looking to relocate out of Winnipeg. We love our community and do not see a need to relocate, as much of our work can be done from virtually anywhere. We are praying that our Heavenly Daddy give us a larger home so that we can better meet the needs of our growing family, growing ministry, and ongoing hospitality.  So consider praying with us for a larger home. When that will happen is not on our watch, and how that will happen is on His provisions, so we continue to live contently in the home we are blessed with. Let's just say, we are cozy. Aside from our 5 family members, we enjoyed the company of at least 7 overnight guests this past month (ranging a few days to 6 weeks overlapping) and not going to try to even count others who came for a visit. Thankfully our guests are gracious to accept Mikhala's princess bedroom and Kehlen's bunkbed for nights, extended folding table for mealtimes, and all share the same bathroom. We are blessed, what can I say. All I know is that God is not hindered by a small home when it comes to hospitality, creating a national movement, and growing a family. We still love it here!

Aside from staying put with the same postal code, we ARE moving!
That brings me to the YES. We are being moved by the increased clarity and opportunities presented to us. (say awe here, and enjoy my serving of cheese). But seriously, we are seeing God move throughout Canada and we have been honoured to be part of the rippling effect that we see happening throughout our nation. The Canadian Church ain't seen nothing yet, and we truly believe that God is about to create a movement throughout Canada in response to Him and the needs of unparented children. For now, we celebrate the little things: like a 2 hour coffee with a lady filled with compassion who is stirred to do something within their church and wanting support; like a couple from across the country who is reaching out and taking the first steps in adopting children; like the church leader who says "tell me more"; and like the light bulb moment with a lady who wanted to know what version of the Bible we used in a sermon and we could tell her that ALL versions translate the same thing about us being adopted by God and how the Church is commanded to care for the fatherless. These may be but ripples, but a tide is coming :)

So in short, I suppose we are not moving but we are being moved.

#1 WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU DOING?

We want to thank all of our family, friends, and acquaintances for taking an interest in our lives, and for asking some really good questions. We think good questions deserve good explanations. Over the next few weeks we will be posting the top 10 questions you are asking and our responses. Feel free to message us questions you may have. They may just make the top 10 :)

1) What exactly are you doing?
Good question. In 2013 we left perfectly lovely employment in both our dream fields of work with people we loved, but to do what?! Well, sometimes its not so much about job fulfillment that should guide us as is it is about willingly laying what we love and are comfortable with on the alter. We honestly have no regrets but only relieved that we did not escape the journey we were invited by God to go on. So what are we doing?

First of all, we are parenting our 3 kids. We are privileged to have the flexibility of juggling our roles around the kids routines and we take turns in parenting and our other work responsibilities. While we have school and church routines, we are blessed to make our ministry somewhat of a family ordeal. They come with us on trips and have been able to meet many of the people we work with. After all, we are promoting thriving families, so we also need to figure out how to do this without sacrificing our own. And sometimes it means one on one dates with the kids trumps other opportunities.

We are pioneering a new ministry that has yet to be launched. It's hard to explain things that cannot be seen yet in full. Just like a baby takes months to form in utero, this "baby" is going through a much needed process of healthy development. It's a...        We have no titles yet, no name of the organization yet, no defined job descriptions yet, no glossy brochure yet, nor impressive website or display to wow you. What we do know is that God has gone before us and is leading us into creating a national Christian network for churches, families and organizations to be networked and supported in the area of adoption, foster care, and other forms of caring for the unparented. How did this come about? Well, it's been a process, but clearly something we were thrust into. It may drive those wired for routine and predictability crazy, but it works well for us. But then again we are crazy ;-o

So day to day...

Harold is heavily invested in research and developing practical tools related to his doctoral work around parenting and attachment in adoption. He is getting training, resources, and professional connections and certifications to practically be able to equip others in building thriving forever families. Later this year, he plans to offer guided support groups for parents desiring support, as part of a pilot in his doctoral program.

I am focusing on leadership of the new ministry network being developed, strategic planning, and networking. We have been blessed to work closely with Focus on the Family Canada, ABBA Canada, CAFO (Christian Alliance for Orphans USA) and others, as we work together in developing this ministry. Because starting a non-profit ministry involves more than simply setting up shop, we are giving time and opportunity to form solid strategic relationships across Canada, USA, and other parts of the world. My office can be found at home in pajama's, at Tim Horton's, the Library, at a friend's office or where ever "Mommy!" is not on demand :).

Most of our work at this stage is done from in our home, at our computers with Skype, and occasional face to face opportunities meeting with others. This has been a great blessing for our family life, albeit a new challenge to balance work and play. We have been saying yes to speaking in churches, teaching a course on the subject, and meeting with leaders both within churches and those in government. A highlight is also simply connecting with parents and families who have so much insight and passion to see supports developed. We do this both face to face and over the internet.

While this answer seems somewhat vague, ambiguity is lifting each step of the way and we actually experience increased clarity in the day to day process of working towards the vision that God has planted within us. Harold stated it well to me yesterday when he described our ministry as not an aimless mystery that has swayed us from here to there, but thankfully looking back over 2013, we can clearly see that we are on a trajectory like an arrow that God is keeping on course. Please pray for us, that we would not get in the way of what God is doing but understand how we are to prioritize and plan our days.

School Daze

September to December has flown by, largely due to a whole gamut of school related involvements:

• Surprise new arrival of Wadzanayi Magaba, our Zimbabwean University student, who has joined our family and is living with us until the New Year. She just finished her last exam today and is one happy girl! I've been warned that beds will be jumped on :) We are going to send the older two to watch a movie to celebrate tonight. They have both worked hard this semester and we are so pleased how well they get along as sisters.
• Kehlen began Kindergarten - so we have a new school bus schedule, food to pack, backpack to get ready, concerts, fundraisers, etc. He is doing wonderful in French, and is starting to speak in full sentences as well as sing songs in French.
• Isinino began grade 12 - and this year we get to be more involved in her education in parent-teacher meetings, career expo, etc. Now we are being enlightened with all things grad, like grad dresses, scholarship applications, etc.
• Korean School! Perhaps the most unexpected bunch of students showed up for registration day in September, when whity mom (me), Caucasian looking biracial Asian kid, and Ethiopian older daughter sign up together for the family discount. After we got the initial "Wha?!" and "What brings you here?" Isinino proudly tells them that their dad (my husband) is Korean and we are a part-Korean family. But you know Asians and their dedication to academics - we have been getting lots and lots of Korean homework every week! But we are loving the experience together!
• And after the language class, Isinino is in K-pop dance - a Korean hip-hop class.  Kehlen and I are both in Tae Kwan Do. I am the oldest in the class, including older than our instructors - but cherishing every minute as Kehlen is still at the age he things its cool to do it together. Don't mess with this mommy & son ninja duo :)
• Harold has finalized his thesis topic for his doctoral work and is fine tuning his rationale and research. Look out 2014! We are going to conquer this project once and for all! :) I say we, because where there is a spouse doing his doctorate, there is a spouse to edit, research, and keep the pressure on.
• Harold completed his training certification for Circle of Security, something helpful in his counselling of families.
• Harold and I (Wendi) also went back to school this Fall - this time to team-teach an intensive course at Steinbach Bible College related to adoption and foster-care. What a great experience for us to engage approximately 40 students and community members on a topic we have grown so passionate about. We realized that we enjoy teaching together, and are finding other opportunities to work with churches and families seeking to be informed or supported.
• Mikhala is the only one not in school, although she and Kehlen have started Sunday School in our new home church of Gateway. They are loving it. This past Sunday she wrote the letters of her name on her poster project by herself, which surprised us as we have not taken the time to teach her. I guess all this school stuff in the family is rubbing off on her. She has also enjoyed playing at the Family Centre, which happens to be right across from Kehlen's classroom.

As our school daze winds down for 2013, we are gradually taking our noses out of books and focusing on the blessings we have gained in the process. Things like: greater awareness, deeper comprehension, greater appreciation, and the possibilities in the future. By far, the greatest Teacher who has overseen all of our educational pursuits and Who has made these opportunities possible, is God himself. In hindsight, these past months suddenly don't seem like a daze, but with clear purpose and on a positive trajectory for His glory.

The Month of Hyphen

Soooooooooooooo... it just so happens that 2013 forgot to include the month of August. Gasp! Did you notice? Gone! Vanished! We must report this to the Missing Month's Unit! There was July, and then there was September, with a very quick hyphen in between. I'll call it the month of Hyphen, the pseudo-month that replaced the good old 31 day calendar page of August. :)

Let me share a few highlights of this past month of Hyphen:

1) NACAC: Within days of arriving from our road trip throughout Western Canada (see previous post), Harold and I found ourselves boarding a plane for Toronto to attend the NACAC (North American Council on Adoptable Children) conference and meet with more representatives within the adoption and foster care field across North America. All the kids enjoyed holiday time with family in Manitoba, so it made our trip that much more enjoyable knowing they were having a blast. 

The conference was a royal feast of information, resources, and ah-hah moments accompanied by hundreds of experienced professionals (gov't and non-profit), parents and teens whose interactions left the fingerprints of Christ on our hearts as we were further guided in our research and development. As mentioned in my previous post, the clarity is coming one step at a time and we know God is up to something big. 

I'm not hiding anything from you, honest, when I say we are still in discovery mode and that we value your prayers in this ambiguous, yet ever-so-clarifying journey. It's easier for us to be in a position of the learner now, rather than delve in and concoct a quick fix over-inflated ministry that could soon end up as "they meant well, and now they are burned out trying." No, if anything of God-size magnitude is going to awaken the Canadian Church to live the gospel through significant involvement in adoption and foster care, its going to require more than what is humanly possible on our own timeline. We are along for the ride, learning, asking, probing, yet with all hands on deck, as we experience God's Spirit move even within this month of Hyphen.

2) Celebrations: (we just kept the balloons and streamers up)

• After about 11 months of waiting, Kehlen turned 5! He enjoyed the company of his friends to celebrate this much anticipated day. 
  
• Isinino celebrates her first birthday with us, turning 21! By request, a Korean birthday dinner was prepared for her friends (with chopsticks), followed by a sleepover and henna.
  
• We celebrated the arrival of a new puppy with our friend Javad, along with many other guests who filled our yard for the surprise puppy shower. 
  
• We celebrated a surprise visit from Harold's mom and sister Shirley, who blessed us with a week of good cooking, spoiling the kids, and memories. So we couldn't resist the opportunity to celebrate Omoni's 70th birthday, coming up now in September.
  
• And, surprise! It's another girl! (well at least for the short term) We welcomed the arrival of Wadzanayi of Zimbabwe who has just started university and needed a place to call home for this semester.
  
• Last year we had no kids to send off to school. This year we have 3! Kehlen is thrilled to start Kindergarten at our local French immersion school, and counts it of highest honour to be one of THREE household school kids. This is Isinino's graduating year from high school, and Wadzi is taking her university 1. 

3) Homestudy!! Yes, the much anticipated milestone of doing our adoption homestudy with our assigned social worker is in progress! With about one more meeting to go, our report will be ready for her to write. And then we wait... Could be days, months, years - but quite realistically the latter, only God knows. You can never get too good at the waiting game when adopting. It's a virtue that really should've been included in Proverbs 31 - that is, if the woman was an adoptive mom! But God's timing is perfect, and we really are not sitting and twiddling our adoptive thumbs for things to happen. Significant things are happening, and its mostly within us as our hearts and minds are stretched in ways we couldn't have imagined - allowing us to further grasp, even if just a wee bit - "how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -- that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:18)

4) Epic Yard Sale: Inspired by Kehlen's desire to have "an expensive" garage sale to help raise funds for the adoption of his brother and sister, our month of Hyphen was further hyphenated by the collaborative efforts of family, friends and the neighbourhood. Thanks to all of you who gave so generously! Kehlen was director of operations, and also ran a lemonade and cookie stand. He must be catching the adoption fever, as he came up with the idea to have adoption information sessions at his lemonade stand for customers.

This past Hyphen, the obscure blur between July and September, reminds us that its not about how much we accomplish or do within our own control or strength. It's about how we embrace the One who gifts us each day in that indefinite hyphen that He gives us, from here until eternity.

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.)