Introducing Parker Jeremiah!!

On May 5th, 2011, we added a new addition to our family: our little boy Parker Jeremiah Smith! I was scheduled to have a c-section at 1:30 on Thursday, May 5th. Everything went very smoothly. We spent the morning at home with Logan and then dropped him off at my in laws house. We got to the hospital at 11:30 and got all hooked up to the monitors. Ray enjoyed watching the monitors and trying to get Parker to move so he could see the changes on the screen. At 1:15, I was wheeled into the operating room, shaking because I was so nervous! I was given a spinal that kicked in very quickly, and then Ray was brought into the room. He did such a great job keeping me calm and talking to me the whole time so I wouldn't be thinking about what was going on. Finally, at 1:42, they held up a mirror and told us we could watch as our sweet boy made his way into the world! This was especially exciting for me since I was put under general anesthesia with Logan and didn't get to see him or hear him cry. Parker had a very high pitched cry, and as soon as they took him out and began cleaning him up, he stopped crying and was totally calm. He weighed in at 7 lbs, 13 oz and 20 1/2 inches long, a whole pound smaller than Logan! They brought him over to us and Ray got to hold him by my head while they put me back together! He was so sweet and so calm.
We had an excellent hospital stay with many family and friends coming in and out to meet Parker. Logan loves his little brother and tells everyone we see that he has a baby brother. When we got home, we found out that Parker was quite Jaundice and we had to go back to the hospital and stay overnight until it got better. He is doing great now and we are hoping that at his next doctor appointment he will have passed his birth weight. We still plan on being foster parents but are taking a little break while we adjust to being a family of four!

Blessed Beyond Measure

Wow, I am really bad at updating this blog! Life as a mom and foster mom has been very busy, but I am thankful to have lived every minute of it! Over the past year, our family has been through a lot of changes. We had a wonderful summer with Logan and our foster son, and in September had the joy of seeing our foster son start 1st grade in a mainstream classroom rather than special education. He was, and still is thriving so well. At the beginning of September, the 5th to be exact, we found out that we were going to be welcoming a baby into our family in May! Logan was going to be a big brother! Than God gave us another blessing that we were not expecting... On Monday, September 13th, we got a phone call from our foster care agency saying that they had a newborn at the hospital who was in need of a foster home. My heart melted at that moment at the thought of having a baby in the house, so my husband and I talked about it, and we decided to go for it. On Tuesday, September 14th, we went to the hospital to pick him up. I will always remember that day! I remember walking down the hall toward the nursery, and seeing through the window a little 7 lb baby look up at me, and I just knew it was him! We got him dressed and brought him home, and then the real fun began! At now 6 months old, he is such a sweet and happy boy!
In February, we had a new experience as foster parents. It was time to say good-bye to our 7 year old foster son, who was being adopted! We were able to work very closely and build a great relationship with his new family, but it was still very hard to see him go. We are so grateful and happy for such an awesome family for him, and watching him go to his "forever family" makes fostering such a joy! He is missed, but we get updates from his family and we are even getting to visit with him this week!
It's now almost April, and our baby BOY is scheduled to arrive on May 5th (I am blessed to know the day since I will have a c-section)! We are in a tough spot right now trying to figure out where our foster son will go, as we feel a strong desire to see him get adopted to someone who cannot have children or has a big desire to adopt. We feel blessed to have a baby coming, and would like to watch as someone else gets the joy of accepting our foster son in their home. As much as God has given us this desire, I am very attached to the little guy and am having a hard time letting go, but I know that God's plans are much greater than my own, and His glory will be shown through this time!
Ray and I have learned through this time that the hardest part of fostering is saying good-bye! However, it can also be a joy to see these children move on to wonderful, loving families or go back home to their birth parents. Fostering has been a terrific ministry for us, and our goal is to live the gospel out to these children and families. We will fail, but we know that God will be glorified through this ministry.
Logan update: Logan is almost 3 years old! He is the most curious little boy, and loves taking things apart to see how they work (just like Daddy)! He is a healthy eater, always trying to steal fruit out of the fridge, but I guess that's better than sweets! He is great at adjusting to all the changes, and so excited to be a big brother! He loves to talk and has an amazing vocabulary, and is non stop on the go ALL THE TIME!

Long overdue update!

So, I started this blog in order to share our journey of being foster parents to give others an idea of what a foster family looks like. I failed miserably at updating, but hopefully now that life has slowed a little I will be able to update a little more. Since my last post, God has blessed our family with a wonderful foster son! He is six, and seems to be adjusting really well to our family. We were so excited when we got "the call" and received him into our home. A couple of days into having him there, reality hit for both my husband and I. We reached a breaking point that caused us to evaluate what we were doing, and why. It was hard having another child in the house, and we weren't sure if we were up to the challenge! As we cried out to God for direction, we were comforted in knowing that he has called us to "look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world". (James 1:27). We realized we were trying to be comfortable, when in fact as Christians we are not called to live an "easy" life. A verse that helped me through this is 2 Corinthians 12:10: "That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong".
So here we are, three months later, a happy family of four (and a turtle)! Our foster son is progressing in ways that we could not have even imagined and is fitting into our family. Logan just turned two and is talking up a storm! Our foster son and Logan are the best of friends, and our foster son calls Logan "his baby". We foster through an agency called Bethany Christian Services, and our social worker is excellent and has been there for us through all of our questions and concerns. We have a decent relationship with our foster son's birth parents, and have realized that praying for them and treating them with kindness and respect can go a long way. Ray and I just try and remember that this is a ministry. We are doing this to advance Christ's kingdom, and we want to minister not only to our foster son, but his parents as well. They need Christ just as much as any of us!

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers for our family. We love the support from our family and friends!


Ways to pray for our family:

• pray for our foster son as he is awaiting answers for what will happen next in his life.
  
• pray for our family to grow in this journey and direction as far as excepting another child into our home (we have not gotten a call, but are possibly considering taking in another child)
  

2nd Home Visit is today!!!

Today is our 2nd home visit for foster care!! So far, everything has went very smoothly, and we hope it continues to do so. All of our paperwork is in except for our medical reports. We all have appointments scheduled for this week so those will be taken care of soon!As the time draws near to accept children into our family, we have been hit with a lot of emotions. Around the holidays, I started doubting if this was a good idea or not. I want what is best for our family, and I wasn't sure that a decision as big as this would be beneficial. When I started thinking through my reasons for backing out, I realized that I was being selfish, and my reasons were all about me and not about others. God doesn't call us to live a life of luxury or to take the easy road. He calls us to "GO, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you" Matthew 28:19-20a. Our role as foster parents isn't just to provide a safe and nurturing environment for kids in need, but it is more importantly to share the gospel to the families we will be working with and showing them Christ, who is way more important than any earthly need or possession! The second part of this verse really comforts me when I am in doubt : "and lo, I am with you ALWAYS, even to the end of the age." Matt. 28:20b. We are not in this journey alone. Our God is always with us!
We have also been able to experience a lot of joy through what has been provided for us! All of the furniture that we need what given to us, we haven't had to pay for any of it!! God is so good, and we are thankful to serve an awesome and mighty God!!!
As we approach this time in our lives, please pray that we will remain focused on what we have been called to do! Please pray for the children entering our home that their hearts may be opened to hear and receive God's Grace!! Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers!

Welcome to our blog page!

Hi! For those of you who do not know our family, we are Ray, Ashley and Logan Smith. Ray and I were married 3 years ago, and had our little boy Logan, in May of last year. Throughout our marriage thus far, we have been very blessed with a happy, healthy family, and we are now gearing up for a new adventure in our lives-- becoming foster parents. We feel God leading us to help out families in need and reach out to the broken and needy. We recently purchased a house that has more than enough room for us, and since God has blessed us with something SO wonderful, our goal is to use it for His glory! My goal with this blog is to use it to show the process of becoming licensed to be foster parents, update everybody on our family, and to give prayer/requests and praises regarding our foster children and our immediate family!

Please pray:
1. We will be in the Word daily and preparing our hearts for this wonderful process.
2. That we will be able to finish the house soon so we can move in! The sooner we move in, the sooner we can get our license.