Exciting things happening in our area!

Exciting things are happening in our area with families from local churches showing an interest in foster care. We had good turnouts both times at the foster care informational sessions at two of our local churches that was led by a campaign of Frame's called MissionJ127. An outreach to get families from our local churches involved in foster care. There are so many ways to be involved in foster care even without being a foster parent. If you are interested in finding out more info about becoming a foster, adoptive, kinship family or becoming involved in foster care please email us at frame@bethelchapel.com, or MissionJ127@gmail.com or (419)962-4763. There will be upcoming training courses starting the end of April for those who want to become a foster parent or get involved in foster care in some way. Please let us know if you're interested in attending and we will get you more information about it. 
This past week I was invited to attend a support group in another county with a friend. I got the opportunity to share about Frame and what's going on in our county. One of the ladies there approached me about her wanting to do what we do with Frame in her county. Needless to say I was excited. That is what it's all about. Everyone doing their part where God has planted them. Excited to keep in contact with this lady and encourage her on her journey.
An update about our family. We're all doing good. Just enjoyed Spring break this past week with the kids but as I write this and look out my living room window it looks more like Winter break. That's Ohio!:) Our two oldest are busy with track and softball and are younger two have been busy with helping Grandpa collect sap on the family farm and with robotics with 4H. Actually our whole family is involved in 4H. Soon we will be hearing the chirping of baby turkey's and broilers along with adding rabbits to the bunch this year. Nick recently has started a new job that has been a blessing to our family. He is working close to home with family friendly hours. The Lord is providing for us not only financially but blessing us with more family time together. We're very thankful! I am still subbing full time at our local school as an Educational Aide. Right now we don't have any other children here but we're excited about who the Lord may have for our family and us for them. Our desire is to adopt again and we feel the Lord is leading our family in this way. We're continuing to get our continued training hours as we move in that direction. Please pray for who the Lord may have to add to our family.
Our next support group meeting will be Monday, April 14th from 6-8pm at the Butler Township Hall(Adario town hall) in Adario, Ohio. We hope to see you there.
Thanks for taking the time to read our post and may the Lord bless you and your family.

This is our daughter

Want to share with you a poem from a brochure we received Sunday at an informational session about foster care. This poem was part of the material Christian Children's Home had available. This poem is beautifully written and reminds us of our daughter. There is going to be another informational session on foster care tentatively scheduled for the 23rd of this month. More details to come later.

This is our daughter
By Jill Work

THIS IS OUR DAUGHTER
We adopted her,
but we will NOT be
referring to her as
"our adopted daughter."
She is simply "our daughter."

THIS IS OUR DAUGHTER
and the niece of her aunts and uncles,
the granddaughter of her grandparents,
the cousin of her cousins,
and the sister of any future children
we add to the family
by biology or adoption.

THIS IS OUR DAUGHTER
There is no "return policy"
on an adopted child.
The whole idea of adopting
is a lot like marriage.
You make a lifetime commitment
to a person with no biological
relationship to you.
You promise to "love and cherish"
for "richer, for poorer,
for better, for worse,
in sickness and in health-
as long as we both shall live."

THIS IS OUR DAUGHTER
and we ARE her real parents.
She has birth parents,
but we are her Mom an Dad,
and always will be.

Informational meeting on way to get involved with foster care

This Sunday, March 2nd there will two informational meetings held for people interested in learning more about ways to get involved in foster care. The meetings will be held at 1pm and 4pm both at Ashland Grace Brethren Church's Real Life Center. There will be current foster parents there for you to talk with along with representations from Christian Children's Home, The Bair Foundation and F.R.A.M.E. We look forward to seeing you there and helping to answer any questions you may have.

Support Group Information

In the last blog I wrote about FRAME's support group for North Central Ohio's foster, adoptive and kinship families. Past, current and those interested. Wanted to send out a blog with more specific info. Our first meeting will be Monday, February 10th from 6-8pm at the Butler Township Hall(Adario Town Hall) in Adario, Ohio. It's close to the Adario United Methodist Church. Our first meeting will be for parents only and the meetings to follow childcare will be provided with the couples providing the care having their fingerprints and background checks done. We will meet every other month as our advisory team meets together on the off months. We look forward to encouraging you on your journey as you minister to hurt children and their families.

Excited for 2014!

Happy New Year!
This year has brought many memories to our family. Some wonderful while some were hard to go through, but through them all God remained faithful and strengthened us along the way. Many times God brought Deut 31:8 to our hearts this past year. Thankful that no matter what we go through in life, we never have to go through it alone.
Were very excited for what the Lord has for our family and FRAME in 2014. In Jan we are planning to have our first meeting with FRAMEs advisory team. Very thankful for those that God has laid on our hearts to join us in this ministry. Also starting in Feb we will be starting a faith based support group for North Central Ohio. Anyone who has, is or thinking about fostering and/or adopting is welcome. Also kinship families are welcome. We look forward to encouraging one another on our journeys as we help these precious hurt children. Our first meeting will be the second Monday of Feb and be every other month. Childcare will be provided on the same premises as the support meetings. If you would like more info or to be added to an email list that goes out about our meetings please contact us at frame@bethelchapel.com
Our family prays you have a blessed New Year and that you know how truly much Jesus Christ loves you.
Love,
The Stuarts

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to your home from ours.
We pray you have a blessed day with family and friends and choose an attitude of gratefulness even if everything in your life may not exactly be going the way you would like right now.
I say that because that is what I am trying to do, not because I have perfected that attitude.
Last week an event unfolded very quickly in our families lives that changed things forever. We had a very short time to say goodbye to someone very dear to us. Someone we had invested our lives into for over a year. Someone that will always hold a special place in our hearts.
Even now as our hearts are still hurting, we're trying to move forward and get used to our "new normal," whatever exactly that is. As we move forward, at times we'll find ourselves smiling and laughing again and then out of the blue our hurt hits us like a brick and we're reminded yet again that we live in a fallen world. I find the older I get that heaven seems so much sweeter to me than it did as a child. Knowing my Savior is there and loved ones that have gone on before me. I think of part of a song that says, "what a day that will be, when my Savior I shall see. When I look upon His face, the One who saved me by His grace. When he turns and takes my hand and leads me through the promised land, what a day, glorious day that will be." Until then I am trying to choose an attitude of thanksgiving even when life does not go the way I would choose. I am reminded in Isaiah 55:8, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord.
I encourage you and your home to choose an attitude of Thanksgiving today and know how much the Lord truly does loves you.

Dear (Foster) Momma to a Stranger’s Child

Posted on November 13, 2013 by barrentoblessed

Dear (Foster) Momma to a Stranger’s Child,

I talk to you often in the work I do.  I hear you say, “We want to hang in there”, or “We are doing the best we can”, and even, “I don’t know if I am up for this.”  I hear these words through your shaky, weakened voices.  But, what I really hear is you saying, “I don’t want to be another mother who disregards this child”, or “If I could, I would provide this child with every ounce of my being in order to heal him or her.”

You are walking in very heavy shoes.  You are feeling as though your efforts are disregarded, don’t matter, don’t work, and will be forgotten about in the fleeting moments of a day.  I’m here to tell you, they are not.  They are not disregarded.  They do matter.  They work, and they will never be forgotten.

Dear Momma of a Stranger’s Child, you are one of the bravest mothers of all.  You’ve ventured into the murky waters of loving a child whose hurts seem like they could go on for an eternity.

You, dear Momma of a Stranger’s Child, you are a broken-hearted warrior.

You hear from others, “You are doing a good thing”, “I could never do what you do”, or “Your faith is bigger than this.”  While you hear these words of comfort and affirmation, your heart is screaming in that silent, lonely place of wondering if you really are doing a good thing, if you really should be doing what you are doing, and if your faith really is bigger than this.  You, dear Momma of a Stranger’s Child, you wonder where God is in all of the hurts put on children in His world.

You, dear Momma of a Stranger’s Child, you long for rest.  You grasp for answers, and you pray for healing.  You get angry.  You wonder why any mother would neglect, be absent, abuse, or completely disregard her child.  You wonder why you are left to pick up the pieces.

You want the Lord to step in, heal, and completely restore the broken child in your arms.  You cry and pray for this so often that it feels as though you can no longer find the words, or muster up the tears.

Dear Momma of a Stranger’s child, you were once a broken child, too.  At one time, you were lost in a world of despair.  You needed to be picked up, cleaned off, and captured by a love so strong that the greatest army could not break it.

You were worth it. You were not forgotten.  You were brought out of the darkness, and into the cleansing light.  

YOU were meant to make a difference in the world.

Dear Momma of a Stranger’s Child,  please do not give up.  You are the backbone to so many forgotten children.  You are a living example of an unconditional, incomparable type of love that is a rarity in the world we find ourselves in.

You will get hurt.  You will have many sleepless nights.  You will have some doubts, regrets, and desires for do-overs.  You will be exhausted.  You will get angry.  You may even be ignored.

But….

Your Father in Heaven sees your actions.  He sits with you in the midnight hours when the stranger’s child is raging.  He is with you when you walk out of court rooms or meetings still not knowing what the future holds for the child in your care.  He hears your pleas.  He sings over you in your fretful night’s sleep.

Dear Momma of a Stranger’s Child, do you want to know why you are probably the most important mother in this world?

Perhaps someday, the little one you are loving on, praying for, staying up all night with, advocating for, crying over, taking in or letting go, will grow up to be a Momma (or even a Daddy) to a Stranger’s Child.

Isn’t that worth it all?