Catching Up!

It's been too long so I thought I should probably start blogging again.

There's been a lot of great things that have happened since last time I wrote.
Let's see...
1. We had the privilege of having 2 awesome kids spend part of the summer with us and now come and see us for weekends every once in awhile.
2. We've met some new people that share in the same passion our family does for defending the fatherless.
3. We enjoyed attending a picnic for foster/adoptive families from our local children services department.
4. We were able to collect A LOT of duffle bags and suitcases for kids in foster care. Our campaign was called, "God's Kids, Not Trash." Too many times children come into foster care carrying whatever belongings they have in a trash bag. We wanted to change that for the children in our county. We also received Bibles and gospel tracts to put in each bag to give to the children. Thanks to everyone who helped support this great cause.
5. We have a couple fun things coming up. We get to set up our Frame table at a local 5K that is raising funds for an adoption and plans are in the works for Orphan Sunday on November 2 at our local church. We also have plans in the work for a Christmas party for our local foster/adoptive families. Excited to meet new people and see what the Lord has in store.

Thank you all for your support and please continue to pray for children that need homes and people to come forward and open not only their homes but their hearts to them and that our family would always have open hearts to be available to be used by God to further His kingdom.

Support group meeting!

Friendly reminder that our next support group meeting will be next Monday, April 14th from 6-8pm at the Butler Township Hall(Adario town hall) in Adario, Ohio. This meeting will be adults only(besides babies) and our family get together will be in June. Please respond to this post with any questions or email us at frame@bethelchapel.com. God bless you!:)

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