What "heat lamp" is on your baby chicks????

We have six baby chicks.  We inherited them at one week of age.  We were told to keep them under a heat lamp for six weeks, feed medicated chick crumbles 6 to 8 times a day, clean their box daily and give them fresh water often.  We were told that chicks die easily, if not nurtured properly.  The most critical thing stressed is keeping them warm, because their feathers have not grown in yet.  The cold will kill their fragile bodies.  After six weeks pass by and all their feathers have come in, we can transfer the chicks to an outside cage with chicken wire!  We were told that they should not be roaming free until they were a little older.  The chickens need to be safe from raccoons or cats and the enemy.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into!!!....This has been a challenge to say the least!  Managing these sweet little chicks is a  lot of work and dedication!  They are cute but also messy and  smelly!

Raising children is similar to raising chicks.  We as parents need to properly care for them.  We can't just throw them into the wilderness to figure out how to survive!  And the way I view home school is the way I view raising chicks!  It is my job as their parent to transition them into the real world.  I feel as though homeschooling is like the "heat lamp" keeping their minds and souls warm, tender and protected.  Homeschooling is our way of  getting their heart, soul and mind strong and prepared to grow their feathers and eventually cage free!  I don't view it as a way of isolating them and keeping them in a "bubble".  It think of home school as building a strong, solid foundation for my children.  Our home is a place where they are encouraged, inspired, challenged, disciplined and taught what matters most in this life!  I get to be a crucial part of helping them to choose good friends that will be their encourager, instead of being around children that would pressure them to make unwise choices at such a young age. I get to be their teacher and help shape their political world views on important topics!

I don't home school because of fear.  I home school because I feel it is in the best interest of my little chicks.  My husband and I get to be the "heat lamp" on them over the most important shaping years of their life.  We represent a safe place for them to grow feathers.  And when it is time...they will be cage free!
I know that home school verses public or private school can be a touchy subject.  I understand that there is not one way to raise wise, loving and obedient children.  I know that each family must do what they feel is best for their family.  I was in both public and home school.  I lived in both worlds growing up.  I also know that my home school years in junior high were some of the greatest years I had!  My family became my best friends!  I looked to my parents and sisters for spiritual advice.  I was able to grow stronger feathers  that prepared me for public high school.    I also believe that times have changed.  Times are tougher.  People are rougher!  Christian morals and beliefs have been watered down.  After helping in youth groups the past ten years, I see how much more challenging it is to be a teenager these days.  The issues they deal with are so much more than when I was a teenager. I can't even believe some of the problems they face in school today. 


So let us stop the  debate of home school, private or public school. Let us focus inwardly on what God is calling us to do as our children's parents.  The questions that we must ask ourselves are these...

What "heat lamp" is on my fragile little chicks?  Are my chicks warm and protected from the enemy?  Are they in a safe place to grow strong feathers?  Am I loving and nurturing them the way God has asked me to?  Or am I allowing my baby chicks to be "cage free" too early?

A Broken Dishwasher, Stained-Smelly Carpet and Relationships

Just a thought that passed through my mind as I was cleaning today.

At our  house we have many broken things.  I could share with you my "Honey-to-do-list"...but I will spare you my long list.  There are a couple of broken items in our home that remind me of dealing with RELATIONSHIPS! 

You see there is the dishwasher.  It has this funky, rotten smell every time I open it and load it up with dishes. No matter how many times I run the dishwasher through a cycle of washing, it still smells.  Today it finally stopped draining.  It has a pool of soapy water at the bottom of it. I can't use it anymore.  So now I am back to hand washing my dishes.

Then there is the carpet in the hallway.  It has this old, "animal" fragrance.  There are stains from who knows what on it.  I prefer not to know what the stains are from anyway.  Ignorance is bliss sometimes.  No matter what "Glade" freshener I use to mask the stink....it still lingers. I am afraid the carpet will need to be replaced.

I tell you of those two items not to complain, but to bring up an important lesson we all have to learn at some point in our life when dealing with our relationships. All friendships and relationships need maintenance work.  They all need repairing at some point.  Like the dishwasher.  If I simply ignore the clog in the drain, the smell gets worse, the rotten food gets stuck and the water can't drain.  The dishwasher becomes useless.  Are you in a relationship like that with somebody?  Your friend?  Your co-worker?  Your  family members?  Your spouse?  Have you become hurt by them and haven't dealt with the heart of the matter?  If you are starting to smell the funk....clean out the pipes! Talk about your struggles.  Lovingly, with kindness and gentleness, work through your issues with that person.  Don't let it slide a day more. If you let it slide....most likely it will get worse.  Don't wait for someone else to clean out the pipes.  It won't get done that way! 

How do you clean out the pipes you ask?  You talk about it with that person directly.  Talking about your frustrations, hurts or concerns is the beginning of healing.  If you refuse to talk because it feels like a hopeless cause, think again.  My carpet in the hallway reminds me  that if I just hide my hurt or chose to cover up or ignore the issue, I will be reminded of it daily.  The smell will not just go away.  I've got to pull up the carpet and replace it!  That means I need to get to the root of the matter, in order to revive the relationship.  I gotta  do the hard work.  I gotta confront and tackle the problem head on.

So today I am reminded by all my broken household items that life is full of difficult relationships.  And all my broken items will not fix themselves.  Relationships with others are like dishwashers. If they have a good cleaning and get the junk removed, they work great!  But if relationships get clogged up with bitterness and unresolved issues, they won't work and we becomes useless in the relationship!

Is Adoption God's "Plan B"?

He was a young Australian man, full of conviction.  I spoke to him upon passing today...This morning I heard him say some of the most profound words and a thought provoking statement ever spoken to me before.

"It doesn't make sense to me...Why do Christians say  'PRO-LIFE'... choose 'Adoption Not Abortion!!!'  And yet not step up to the plate and adopt the babies into their own homes???  They encourage pregnant women to not abort her baby and choose the adoption option instead. But where do the babies go???...Orphanages..foster homes....on the streets...???  Why do Christians talk so much about saving babies lives...yet not provide homes for the babies to grow up in?  How can we promote pro-life and not be willing ourselves to adopt a child into our own home?  It doesn't make sense..."

I left the conversation...inspired, yet discouraged at the same time.  I never thought of that before...ever.  I spent many a time speaking up against abortion.  I have encouraged  women to keep their babies in the womb and find a family to adopt her baby.  But he was right...where are all the "saved" babies going?
With that question in the back of your mind, I want to tell you a story.  This story is not to brag.  It is not to say anything that puts myself or anyone else on a pedestal.  It is simply a story that I believe needs to be told. 

Friends of ours that we love and respect, adopted three siblings a few years ago.  They decided to do foster care.  After fostering the sibling group, ages 4 and under, they couldn't live without those kids!   Their lives were forever changed!  We saw first hand how amazing it was to see God's fingerprints over those kids lives!  They were taken from a sad situation and are now walking, living examples of God's redemptive plan! This family challenged us to the core!  Why hadn't we adopted?  Why was I so afraid of foster care?  Why  was I letting fear dictate my life?  We needed to step out in faith and do what we were called to do!  We couldn't walk away from our friends story unchanged.  We were guilty.  We were comfortable in our family of five.  We had 2 girls and one boy.  We didn't think we could handle another child????  But over much wrestling in my mind...things changed.  I prayed and asked God that if we were to adopt, than make my husband want  to adopt too!  That didn't take long!  We couldn't afford international adoption, so my husband decided that we should pursue adoption through the Department of Social Services  (DPSS). And we did.  It was scary.  But we did it!

Over one year ago, we adopted a tiny, newborn African-American baby girl.   She was given to us because her mom chose adoption instead of abortion.  Our baby girl was NOT God's "Plan B". Our fourth child is God's "plan A." This is the true reality: ADOPTION IS GOD'S "PLAN A!"  It wasn't because of a mistake that our sweet girl came to us.  It is not a mistake that she is black and we are white. God chose her to be adopted into our family from the beginning of time.  She was created to be in the Cherry family.  And since that time, we have prayed that God would bring to us,  a white Christian family, that had an adopted a black child.  We feel that it is important that our adopted daughter be surrounded by other black children that she can relate to.  We have prayed for over one year.  And God has heard our prayers!

While I was praying for God to bring this family to us...a family was praying the same prayer 80 miles away.   After over a year of both families praying to meet another family in their same shoes...God answered our prayers.  We moved and found a wonderful, thriving church in our area. We are the only two white families at our church that have adopted a black child.  This white family has 4 biological white children and an adopted 18 mo. old, black, baby boy from an orphanage in Africa.  In spite of others opinions or the cost involved with international adoption, they reached out of their comfortable American life and pursued adoption, even though they have 4 children of their own, they had room for more! He is a handsome, strong, little chocolate chuck of love!   They named him Ezekiel.  He is God's "plan A!"  He is created for a purpose.  God brought Ezekiel into a family that will love him and cherish him always. God gave them the funds they needed and opened and closed doors to pick up their baby from Africa. The adoption process was not easy. It was a sacrifice well worth taking!  It was a risk well worth pursuing!  God turned in the husband's heart first to adopt...then shortly after...God turned the wife's heart towards adoption!  It is a miracle to witness the love that has occurred in this precious family!  Their biological children hug and hold Ezekiel like their very own!  Ezekiel is a fun character with lots of zest for life already!  What a sweet boy!  We just love him!
      
I am reading a book called, "In Their Own Voices".  It is a book on Transracial adoptees who tell their stories.  I was afraid that having a black child would be too difficult of a life for him or her because they weren't the same color as us.  God is proving me wrong!  His plan is always so different that what we think!  I want to share a quote from a black girl from Hollywood, adopted into a white family.  She says, "Discriminating against a child because of the color of her skin is disallowing a child a life.  I have been more places, done and seen more things, and received an amazing education more than people twice my age have done or will ever do, because I was adopted into my family, which happens to be white."

There are four families  at our church who have adopted.  I am thrilled beyond belief!  In our small church (apx.325 people)....families are adopting!   I can't wait to see that number grow!  I hope that when our children are grown up...adoption will be considered the normal.  I hope that as we walk the streets, mixed races in families will be accepted as normal!  I pray it is not a trend, but a conviction!  I pray that us Christians will rise up and invite children into our homes, regardless of their color, age or history!  May we be shaken to the core.  May our heart's be stirred to consider adoption as "God's Plan A".  And if you can not adopt, please pray and ask what you can do for children all around the world who need the gospel of Jesus and a place to call home.