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| Forever Family |
Dear Ones,
We talk a lot
around here about “Forever Families.” We
pray for them, we look for news from them, we long to hear of them, we rejoice
when we are notified that a child has one…we anxiously await them. I was beyond blessed to be born into a loving
family with parents who cared for, nurtured, and loved me. I had precious siblings who to this day are
my best friends; I was gifted with Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins an
incredible wealth of family. Yet in God’s
eyes I was an orphan, an orphan that He was longing to adopt into His Forever
Family. Each time I snuggle a little one
close and pray for their forever family I am reminded of Romans 8:22-25 where
it says: “For we know that the whole creation groans and
suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also
we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan
within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our
adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been
saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we
do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”
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| MBHOH Nurses- Lily, Mariah, and Jona |
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| Guys Line Up |
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| Girls Line Up |
We
live in a world filled with orphans physical, spiritual, and emotional, a world
of broken relationships that all point to the broken heart of a fallen nature
longing for the restoration to our Heavenly Father through His gift of
salvation and a welcome into the arms of our Forever Family. Here in the Big House we have the precious
opportunity to see this up close and personal in so many ways. God has given us the gift of watching
children enter His open arms of rest, His Forever Family in Heaven, and the
ones He chooses to place in the arms of a forever family here on earth. There are others that for various reasons
never enter a forever family here on earth and God Himself has promised that He
is their Father. He gives us glimpses of
our own adoption as He molds together a family bond of fellowship, faith, and
service as we grow in what we lovingly refer to as our “China Family.” This family grows and swells just as my
physical family grows and welcomes new members.
This family is forever we are bound by the love of Christ, we are
adopted. We are no longer orphans.
As the summer draws to an end we are faced
with saying many goodbyes, a part of this work that we never like or ever
really get used to though it happens so often with both the children we care
for and the ones who come along to serve both short and long term. But we have this confidence that we will meet
again, we are simply saying goodbye for this season, for this time, we know
that we are all headed for Home and a family reunion like no other for we are
part of a Forever Family.
With Love for Each of You,
Mariah
PS- As a fun memory our China Family
decided we needed a “family portrait” – ENJOY!
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| A Little bit of Crazy...we can train you |
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| Saying Goodbye |
Most days I remember to be thankful for the big stuff, and on a lot of days I am reminded to be grateful for the little stuff but occasionally my Abba Father chooses to remind me to be really thankful for all the incredible blessings big and small that He showers me with...Sunday, a shower WAS something to be thankful for or rather that I was up early enough to get one in before guess what?!?!? The power was turned off- don't worry it happens here, and each time it happens I am increasingly grateful that it is less frequent than it used to be, I am grateful that it was just for the day not for several days. I am grateful for the back-up generators that provide some basic power supply, I am reminded of how much of the world still has no source of power where they are living. I
am ever so grateful for instant hand sanitizer- especially the smell
good stuff as the day gets hotter and things start to not smell as fresh
as they once did. I am REALLY thankful that we have been told to keep
that bucket of water in the bathroom for times just like this. This Sunday as I considered the increasing heat in the building and the fact that floors are slippery when the mopping and humidity combine and there is no air conditioning to help them dry, or the fact that there is no water when there is no power to pump it, that what we were missing was the real power source. You see we can run a few lights and a couple outlets with a back-up generator but until we have a power supply running through the main lines we are not reaching our full potential. Once again I was reminded that it is the same thing with our walk of faith, if I am not plugged into The Power Supply I am simply running on my own back-up generator and not shining the way I could or should be. 
As the summer draws to an end we are faced
with saying many goodbyes, a part of this work that we never like or ever
really get used to though it happens so often with both the children we care
for and the ones who come along to serve both short and long term. But we have this confidence that we will meet
again, we are simply saying goodbye for this season, for this time, we know
that we are all headed for Home and a family reunion like no other for we are
part of a Forever Family.
