Heroin and the Life I never Imagined

For a piece I wrote on how heroin has changed our life click here.

That His House May be Full: A Disability Awareness Sunday

     This Sunday Ryan and I, and several other families, will be on a panel for a question and answer time regarding the inclusion of those with disabilities in our worship services. We are very excited for the sensory room, and other aspects of this ministry,  to be fully introduced to the congregation and it got me thinking about one of my favorite parables. Here it is from Luke 14:

The Parable of the Great Banquet

"12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16 But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’22 And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”

This parable was featured at a conference that we attended with my in-laws a few years ago and it has stuck with me ever since.   My Sunday morning includes diaper changes on our teenage daughter, giving her meds, feeding her, dressing her, leg braces, and keeping her clean and out of trouble while I get the baby fed and dressed and in a car seat. The boys are thankfully pretty self-sufficient at this point. To be honest, there are many Sundays I don't really feel like putting in the effort to get there.  My husband is a pastor, and I usually do Sunday morning alone as he is out the door before we are even awake. Our church is big enough I could probably get away with it if I tried! (Although, my pastor/husband would probably notice....haha) But then I think about Abbey and how she is so vital to the body of Christ. I think about how the way she worships brings people to tears if they haven't seen it before, how she is pretty much the world's-best-greeter, and how I don't have the right to keep her all to myself.  Oh yeah, and I'm a part of the body too! 

Anyway, the point is that Lord has a heart for the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. I hope that you will find some small way to make sure that these people are invited to the "banquet" this Sunday.  There are about a thousand ways you can make that happen, and I encourage you to seek the Lord as to what way you or your family might be able to do. I don't know about you, but I can't wait to see His house full!

Where am I?

Lots of writing these days is happening at the following sites:

A Different Dream

Comfort in the Midst of Chaos

PreemieBabies101

BIG news about our Tiny girl!

I just wanted to share with you all that our adoption was finalized in Indiana this month!  This has been such a rollercoaster of emotion, and I can now officially speak freely about Ellie (her brand new official name is Elizabeth but we call her Ellie).

Everyone has been asking about how she's doing.  I've been very shy to post on social media any photos or medical updates.  It is a delicate process when you have social workers in your home and life and I wanted to be cautious about all of that. Although I have to say, we completely LOVED our social worker.  I really felt that she was FOR US, and that I could ask or say anything.  She saw a lot of tears across our kitchen table as we talked about Ellie's lack of developmental progress and growth, and shared our tears of joy that we feel so blessed to be her parents.

Little Ellie is still VERY Little Ellie.  She is almost 11 months and still wears a size 1 diaper and 3-6 months clothes.  She sees several specialists: gastroenterologist/nutritionist, cardiologist, neurologist, and her pediatrician.  She receives developmental intervention and physical therapy at our house.  We are now stocked with a living room full of therapy equipment.  She has dropped into the "severe developmental delay" category, but is working hard. She is now full of smiles and coos, and has started to babble with consonant sounds.  We are really encouraged by that because Abbey never made any consonant sounds. She can't sit up, can't eat baby food yet, and takes a high calorie formula condensed to add even more calories per ounce.  But, she sleeps great, still naps, and really loves to eat her toes.

Her big brother had to write a personal narrative for school.  When I got to see it, it was all about her adoption. He talked about how hard it was to wait to meet her while we were flying out to Indiana, and that sometimes he couldn't sleep because he was so excited and sometimes he couldn't sleep because "my stomach was in knots." He talks about going to court, getting spit up on, and how much he loves his little sister. He is quite determined to teach her how to say his name! Sometimes when she's cranky I will give her to him and he walks her around a little and she falls to sleep.  He gets a big kick out of this and is sure to tell me that HE is the one with the "magic touch."  I love seeing God shaping his heart and using his sisters to make him, and his little brother, into a man of great character.  I don't care what jobs/careers my boys end up having in life if they know how to love God and love others...it's all that matters to me.

How am I?  That's a whole different post. LOL  God is shaping my heart too.  Sometimes it's hard and I don't want to change or surrender my plans and hopes and dreams for this sweet girl.  But I trust that the God who created her, sustained her in the womb despite the trauma of drugs and alcohol, and then saved her life after a traumatic delivery and lack of oxygen at birth HAS HER IN HIS HANDS.  Before she was my little girl, she was his.  I believe he has great big plans for this tiny baby. She's a miracle, you know? 

But now she's officially OUR miracle, and that feels really great.

No Guilt Allowed

Today I'm over at the Different Dream website discussing my sigh of relief when Abbey goes back to school after break, and why I don't feel bad about it anymore!

Click here to read this post NO guilt allowed

Abbey and Ellie update..it's been so long!!

Hi friends!  It's been a LONG time.  We finished our book last summer and have been working hard at the editing, marketing, and pre-publishing process.  I can't wait to share it with you! Here is the link for it on Amazon.  It's on sale right now, so grab a copy to share with a parent who needs to be encouraged!

Refresh: Spiritual Nourishment for Parents of Children with Special Needs

 After such a long time without blogging, I'm excited to get back into it and share life with you again.  I thought you might enjoy an Abbey and Ellie update. Here's a picture of the two Sisters!!!

Abbey turned 14.  WHAT!!???  She is turning into a young woman in every sense of the word, and hormone swings are in full throttle in our house.  It's been a difficult year in some ways because we are all learning how to adjust to what she is feeling but can't express.  We had one morning where she walked out of her room at the same time as Jayden and just grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him back into his room.  He threw his hands up and said, "What did I do!??  All I did was wake up!"  But we all had a good laugh after our firm talk with Abbey about keeping her hands to herself.  She is still full of joy with lots of love to share with anyone.  She's always teaching me what real love looks like.

Ellie is a tiny tot!  I've been hesitant to talk much about her online because our adoption is not final.  You can keep praying for continued growth and brain healing.  She has a long way to go and we are moving much slower than this momma would like.  I feel like I'm learning all the hard lessons all over again....I wonder sometimes if God is like, "Seriously Kimberly??  Didn't we already cover this one?" haha  I know he is a patient father and I'm incredibly grateful for that. He not only understands my tears over this, but I know in my heart he has compassion for me and for my girls. 

My girls...plural. I never, EVER thought I would say that.  God had other plans, and I'm so glad.  My heart is so full of love for our little surprise.  I'm being so stretched...sometimes too thin, but I ask you to pray for me and for our family as we work hard to surrender to His plans and purposes.  I've been listening to that new song Thy Will on a regular basis.  WOW  is it powerful!   Including it after this for you.  If you haven't heard it, grab some tissues first!

Thy Will by Hilary Scott

BACK TO THE BLOG

I am excited to announce that my break from the blog has resulted in my first book being published with my co-author Jocelyn Green!  Here is the link for the pre-order on amazon

Refresh:Spiritual Nourishment for Parents of Children with Special Needs

Thank you to everyone who has supported us, and contributed to this project.  It was a very emotionally fulfilling, and occasionally draining, process. But my heart is out there for the world to read, and I'm really praying that it encourages people in their walk with Christ.  Or better yet, that hurting families might find hope, joy, and  peace in a relationship with Jesus. Also, I will be getting back to the blogging, and would LOVE it if you would subscribe to the blog for future posts!  The link is in the upper right hand corner of this page! Thanks!

I'm still here!

I'm still here!   I am spending all my writing energy either on our book or over at the Different Dream website!  We are having a great summer, and I covet your prayers as I approach my Sept. 20th deadline for our first draft.  VERY EXCITING!!

Today I'm over at the Different Dream website, please read and share if you have the time!  Don't forget to subscribe to this blog in the upper right hand corner!

Home is Not Where We think it is

New House, New Book, Same Smile

Hi friends!  Guess what, after many months after selling our house we are finally in the new one!  We've been settled for about a month now and finally have the internet. With the exception of my computer, we have all settled in very well.  I have a serious space bar problem with my keyboard (among many other issues including the battery) and it takes me forever to type because it doesn't work most of the time and I have to go back and manually insert a space between words.  A new computer is on the horizon since I have a NEW BOOK to write with my friend Jocelyn Green!! If you missed that announcement, you can read about it here:

New Book Contracted for Parents of kids with Special Needs

I'm trying hard to get back to the blog though and came across this picture the other day that I had to share.

This is Abbey at her school's winter concert.  She was OVERJOYED to be "singing" at her concert and dancing with the movement group.  She put on quite a show! This picture really captures the best of her and I felt it was a perfect example of  Psalm 28:7  which reads, " The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him."

More to write and tell you about soon, but I would love to leave you with a question.  What is just one reason you have for great JOY in your life?