Lauren

For once I am not blogging about the drama of foster care! I just wanted to give you all an update on Lauren and her Epilepsy.
We had noticed that this past school year has been a bit more challenging and that she was having some focus/concentration issues. She seemed to be distracted a lot. We met with her neurologist at the beginning of January and he seemed to think that she might have ADD. Of course he wanted to put her on medication right then. I said no way! We decided to wait and see what her EEG said. If her EEG came back that she was having "breakthrough" seizures throughout the day that could have more to do with her focus problems.Even though she doesn't know that she is having a seizure she will tend to lose her place if she is reading or concentrating.She can't tell you why she is distracted because she doesn't know she just had a seizure.   If it came back that she wasn't having any seizure activity then ADD was probably to blame. Well, yesterday we got the results and it showed that she was definitely having some abnormal seizure activity which means that she is having breakthrough seizures even though she is on a medication to control them. They don't want to adjust her medication at this point because there is a limit to how much of the medication she can have in her system. We just have to deal with it for the time being.  ADD would be so much easier to treat! The hard part is trying be a good teacher and for both of us to be good parents to her through something that she has no control over and that effects everything she does. God has given this to her for a reason and we have to accept that and know that He knows best!

It continues

So, neither parent showed up for their conference today so now we wait until March to have their rights terminated. So tired of waiting....

Thoughts:

This is from another blog that I subscribe to.  Paul and I have struggled with this too many times and it was comforting to read someone else's perspective: 

I write this with incredible sensitivity in my heart.

In London in 2008, while I was going to school, my wife and I lost our first child, our son Adam, through miscarriage. This experience was devastating—our faith was rocked. It sent us into a season of asking innumerable questions of God: Could we go on? Is God good? Can he be trusted with our lives being that Adam’s was lost? Does he even care?

Even today, we are affected by our loss. Today, Adam would be five years old. Many of you know what this is like. There is an empty chair at our dinner table every night, birthdays that go by, and imagined holidays and experiences that are left only to the imagination of what could have been.

We are left to speculation, but our speculation doesn’t go unenlightened.

As a pastor, I am often asked what happens to babies like ours who are lost in miscarriage or to children who are killed through abortion. The one thing we do know is that they, like all of us, are image bearers of God who came into existence, even though they never had the joy of being loved, kissed, and cherished by their earthly mom and dad. 

Where do the unborn babies go? Some would argue that they don’t go to heaven because we are sinful beings and the only way to be reconciled to God is through faith and repentance. Since these babies didn’t repent or have faith, they are forever separated from God in hell. Others argue that Jesus died for the world and therefore those children who are born in Adamic guilt have their sins atoned for because they haven’t committed personal sin. 

The reality is that Scripture never speaks directly to this situation. At this point we are left to speculation, but our speculation doesn’t go unenlightened. We have a perfect Bible that reveals ultimately what God desires for us to know. Since there is not a verse (much less a systematic theology) on this subject, it seems only right to appeal to the character and nature of the God in whose image humans are created.

I abide in the great comforter, the Holy Spirit.

God has revealed himself as holy, just, and righteous—but that’s not all. He’s revealed himself as the definition of love (1 John 4:8), whose grace is scandalous, (Luke 15:11–32), and whose mercy leads to our justification (Rom. 2:4). In fact, Jesus teaches us that he is our heavenly Father (Matt. 6:7–15) and Paul goes as far as to tell us on two occasions that God prefers his kids use a familial name like “Abba” when talking to him in prayer (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:16).

Though I don’t have a verse that says definitively that our boy Adam is in heaven with Jesus along with millions of other children, when I look at the nature and character of our God, who was born in a barn (Luke 2:1–20) washed the feet of his betrayer (John 13:1–17), unashamedly befriended outcasts of society (Matt. 11:19), forgave and restored dignity to a woman caught in adultery (John 8:1–11), and suffered so that he might end our suffering (Isa. 53:5), was raised to give us justification (Rom. 4:25), is building a home for us in heaven (John 14:3), is praying for us even now (Rom. 8:34), and is coming to take us to be with him forever (John 14:3), where he is the hero who wipes away every tear from every eye (Rev. 21:4).

I abide in the great comforter, the Holy Spirit, knowing that my baby met this God face to face, and therefore, I have great hope of one day worshiping Jesus at Adam’s side.

Procrastination.

So, our computer was down for awhile, but, yes, procrastination is my main excuse here! Here is the Little A update: We are closer to being able to call him ours forever. There is a conference this week on Thursday with bio parents attorney's and our caseworker. They are going to ask the parents to sign over their parental rights and if they don't sign over then the final termination hearing is in the beginning of March. Every thing is always slow going when you are dealing with the state. Praying that this really will be over soon! I will update you all again when I find out what happens later this week.