Have You Found Jesus?

What a beautiful weekend!! The weather was perfect here and we were able to enjoy a lot of outdoor time!Church service in the park! Great food and Fellowship-- awesome! Mid 70's for highs and very fall like! Love it!

• I wanted to let you know a little how my meeting with our support worker, Beth went. It was very good, and I didn't realize how badly I needed to tell her my side of the whole story. She is a great source of support and the best part is that she is a woman of faith. It just makes our connection work. I think she was relieved the first time we met also to discover that we were a Christian home. Anyway, we had a great discussion about our case and I am so glad that we were able to get together. She has been through the system many times and as sad as it is, we discussed how very frustrating DHS really is. That is an all to sad truth about the juvenile courts. Aside from venting our frustrations however, we did have some great talks. We were able to discuss how to differently enter into another foster case - especially if we are looking to be a pre-adoptive home for children. She answered a lot of questions about what we are able to request and how to go about that.
• And we talked for awhile about how while Sioux County has the lowest rate of reported child abuse/neglect, it also has the highest number of foster families per capita. I knew about the child abuse rate, but didn't realize the foster family ratio! Beth isn't from Sioux County, so for her to make these observations isn't based on bias either. And they are facts, not speculation. Beth believes, and I fully agree, that the moral living and faith based living of this small county are what make these facts. Its so true. As Christians, we nurture and love our children- not always perfectly- but definitely with love and knowing right from wrong. And we also want to show Christ's love to others. Hence the foster families. We want to be able to love others, heal their hurts, and show them the unconditional love of our Heavenly Father.
• I think that living here, I definitely take for granted that not all areas of the country are like this. We are so very privileged to live in a close knit community that does for the most part, share that one common bond, and that is the love of Christ Jesus. It doesn't matter what school our kids go to or what church we attend. Everywhere we go here, the Bible is the center of daily living and we don't need to feel embarrassed by what we believe, because most of our co-workers and our children's teachers believe the same thing. And I know that not everyone here is a Christian or actively participating in their faith walk, but the majority of us are, and that's an awesome thing to be a part of! I thank God for the opportunity to be in this area!

And because I have a warped sense of humor, instead of focusing, all I can picture in my head is the scene from "New in Town" where the New Ulm lady asked Renee Zellweger's character "Have you found Jesus?" Renee: "Oh, I didn't know he was lost!" "We don't joke about the Lord here"

I am sorry, It's random, but it cracks me up! Give me a Minnesota accent and there ya have the post!