Answering an Important and Often Asked Question

I posted this on Facebook last evening ~

"I need to talk to a lawyer preferably one in Texas who knows the laws regarding slander and false accusations." As well asking for prayer for chaotic situations here in our unit over the past 24 hours.

Ron and I appreciate all the prayers and encouragement we have received via texts, emails, messenger and phone calls.

One of our friends asked "Why are you staying where you are obviously NOT happy?  God does NOT want us to suffer through life and there is somebody out there for that job AND there is a job out there for you where you can enjoy!  Please stop trying to fit where you are uncomfortable, instead look for joy in your work and it will find you!"

Below is my response to her but really wanted to expand on it.  
If y'all have questions or ideas or suggestions or ????
Please don't hesitate to share.

Why are we staying here - first off I did not take the post as being mean as it is a question we have been and are asking ourselves quite often.

I wish I had an easy answer but even thinking of answering the question is hard as we have strong feelings in multiple directions. On our good days, which are many we are very happy and content yet in the moment of chaos, struggles and raging boys testosterone our hearts break for the pain the boys are dealing with. We have come to love these boys in ways we never thought possible and many in our care are cracking the door of their pain to let us in.

As we have processed the past 24 hours we see lots of good and yes some hard difficult stuff - is bad the right word I don't think so - difficult hurtful painful and definitely scary we (I) immediately in the moment am ready to go out the door to never return but then we/I stop and think what does that model to the boys as Christmas, parents/grandparents, caring human beings - "do we toss the baby out with the bath water"

Answering here is awkward on my phone. Let me grab my laptop and write this out in an easier manner as well as get feedback from Ron Workentin.

I also posted this picture with the post

This morning I shared more about Lent
and used this in my talk

stressing about words
and how hurtful they can be 
even when people say "just kidding"

and how each of us need to be a bit more
patient with each other ~ yes we are all living 
in one home and yes we try to be a family
not by blood but
believing God has brought us all together 
for such a time as this.

Many have asked 
"why don't you just quit?"
Quitting is not the easiest thing
we have financial obligations,
we like to eat, 
we like to travel
and most of all we need to continue to build our savings.
And even more than that,
we really do love these boys
and feel we are here for a reason.

Maybe that reason is not for the boys
but for us to learn more about ourselves,
grow in our faith in the Lord
and building our marriage to even more than what it is.

*******

Right this moment I am thankful
two of our boys have gone home for spring break,
leaving six behind,
tomorrow I take D to an adoption interview which will give us one-on-one 
time and less stressful for me.

Saturday Ron is planning to take the other five boys fishing for most of the day
and then in the evening we will be going to an evening 
worship service which means
we get to sleep in on Sunday morning!!

Monday another boy will be going to his grandmothers
and Tuesday another boy to his sisters
leaving us with four boys of our own
and two from another unit ~ both are fairly easy
and then Wednesday we are off!!!

Well...

Where did three weeks go??

We traveled 2949.2 miles in

18 days

17 nights,

13 of which were travel days.

We traveled through Texas,

Arkansas,

Alabama,

Georgia,

Florida,

Mississippi 

and

Louisiana!!!

We put our toesies in the Gulf of Mexico

got and gave lots of hugs to 

friends and family,

made new friends and

reconnected with family we hadn't seen in years!

And then we returned home,

spent two days 

cleaning, resting, cleaning

and organizing

getting ourselves ready to go back to work.

Today was our first day back at work

and 

things went pretty well.

And for that we are very thankful.

One story to share:

today being Ash Wednesday,

beginning of Lent

I wanted to go to the worship service at the chapel.

I asked the boys if any of them wanted to go

one, C, said yes

and then R came out of his bedroom as we were leaving

and said he wanted to go.  

So off we went ~

we got to the church,

walked in and R said 

I thought we were going shopping

I turned and smiled at him and 

said next time you will be on time for the house meeting

then you would have known we were going to church.

He kept looking at me during the service,

wondered how long it would last.

told him about an hour.

After the service R asked if we could go to the store

since he thought we were going shopping.

Umm,  no but being the nice HP that I am I took him and C 

to McDonald's for a snack.

All during the service

I prayed for the boys to get something out of the service

Afterwards I asked R what he thought it was about

He gave a pretty good summary for someone

who didn't want to be there.

We talked about Lent, Easter, 

the Resurrection ~ opened the doors for some conversation.

So today I give thanks for the opportunities, even unexpected ones,

to share about the Lord.