Pensive

So I have been pensive lately. I have had lots of thoughts but not enough uninhibited time with friends to work them out. I hope to share more with you all as I figure it out myself. One of the areas that I can verbalize the best is about my house. Rachel and I have been blessed to live in a 3 bedroom house with an office and 2 living rooms. Ever since we moved in I have wanted to use this house. It feels like such a blessing to live here when I am broke and thousands of Americans are losing their houses. I have been praying that God would show me how to use this house and I have been constantly weeding through the extra things that have gotten stored in the spare bedroom so that when I knew what to do with that room it would be ready.

Two weekends ago I made a lot of progress on that room which included taking a trunk full of stuff to the thrift store. On Tuesday of last week I talked to the foster parent point person at work and told her that Rachel and I would like to do respite (glorified babysitting for foster kids by people who have finger prints on file) one weekend or so a month for a girl close to Rachel's age. Rachel and I had talked about this for awhile and we wanted to try it both as a way to meet the extra we need for our budget and to give to others. The next morning a friend of mine who is a foster parent called to say that her foster daughter had gotten in trouble and couldn't go on the youth group trip she was supposed to attend. My friend was going out of town for the weekend and needed somewhere for her foster daughter to go. So Brianna spent the weekend with us. It was really great to have her. She had her issues but she LOVED being with us. She is 14 and has really missed out on hanging out with girls her own age since being in foster care. My sister Emily, Rachel and Brianna had a blast together Saturday night. Check out the hilarious pictures. We had a dance party, watched girly movies and made cookies. Brianna said "this was my first girls night ever!" Rachel also had an allergic reaction to my parent's cat so there are so pretty funny pictures of her lip all swollen up. It was like that for 24 hours. Poor girl... but funny! I am not that sympathetic of a mom I guess.

So as for the rest of my thoughts on using my house. A week ago I had this sense when I was in church that we should have a family who didn't have somewhere to go move in with us. I didn't know if it was from God or from watching the movie Kit Kittridge (yes that is an American girl doll movie about the Great Depression). In that movie they have lots of people rent out rooms in their house and they get very creative with space. Since we are going through our own "Great Depression" right now it caused me to wonder how this economy will effect our lives.

Last Saturday my sister told me that some family friends of ours had just lost their business and are now losing their house and need somewhere to go. My wheels started turning and by Sunday afternoon I had talked with them about moving in with us (it would be a mom, dad, and 2 high school aged girls). I am not sure if they will need to- they still have a lot up in the air but even the fact that we can ask them has me so thankful for this space! I feel like God is assuring me that he will use me and give my life and my home purpose. It's amazing how sometimes the things you write reveal your heart but just reading that last sentence says a lot. I am seeking what my purpose is in this phase of life. I am thankful that The Word says "seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you."