08/04/2014
My faith is what motivates my actions. By faith in Jesus Christ, I am adopted into the family of God, a daughter of the most High King, just as if born by blood. By faith I stepped out into the dark, unknown of foster care believing that God would take my feeble, insufficient attempts to make a difference and turn it into something so much greater than I could ever do. I love because He first loved me. I serve as if I’m serving Him:
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ … ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” (Matthew 25:34-36, 40)
Foster care and adoption have stretched me (ouch!) and grown my faith more than anything ever had before. I’ve never had to rely so heavily on faith to get through day-by-day challenges, grief, sorrow and unknowns as I have the past three years. It’s been the hardest thing and the most rewarding thing. For brief moments I’ve had the privilege of feeling the weight of God’s broken heart for His hurting people—it’s a crushing weight and those instances have made me very thankful He carries it for us. My life used to be pretty comfortable and relatively easy. Sometimes I miss those days. But when I look back at how much I’ve learned about the character of God, His heart, His love for His children… I wouldn’t trade that for a trouble-free life. Knowing what I know now, I can never go back.
I wrote this a few months ago for an adoption share on Instagram and I wanted to share it here.
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Faith, Family, Family: Foster Parenting | Tagged: adoption, christianity, Faith, foster care, Jesus, motivation | 
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Posted by mahlbrandt
07/29/2014
I read this article recently and thought you might enjoy it too.
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IN FOSTER CARE
Here’s a snippet:
Yet, for all that we may be able to provide, God’s ability to be good to her in a difficult environment is far greater than any good we could offer her in a comfortable one. No amount of “good” we can give her can compare with the goodness of the sovereignty of God in her life, wherever she may end up living it. There are no guarantees in foster care, except one – God is sovereign in the life of this baby girl. He is good, and He will be good to her always, no matter where she lays her head at night.
1 Comment | Family, Family: Adoption, Family: Foster Parenting | Tagged: adoption, foster care, foster parenting, quote | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
07/17/2014
It’s been two weeks and I feel like I should have something really profound to say by now. But I don’t. Little firefly left us on July 3. I happened to have scheduled a vacation day that day. My mom and I took the kids to the zoo in the morning. We got back home for lunch and I tried to soak up every last minute I could with our sweet baby boy. Knowing he was slipping through my fingers, I felt like documenting every moment, trying to stop time. His new baby smell… How I wish I could have bottled it up somehow.
His belongings ready for his case worker to arrive.
Ali joined in the documenting.
I sure do miss the little guy. He was such a blessing to have at our home. I’m really thankful we were able to care for him his first 4 weeks out of the NICU. We worked really hard to feed him his high calorie formula around the clock, keep him healthy and shower him with plenty of love and prayer. It was very hard to let go after being so protective over him but in the end we had no choice but to let go and trust. I’m still praying daily for his health, provision and protection. I will forever love our tiny Firefly boy.
1 Comment | Family, Family: Firefly, Family: Foster Parenting | Tagged: baby, firefly, foster parenting | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
07/01/2014
“But God doesn’t call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we’ll be in trouble if He doesn’t come through.” — Francis Chan from Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God
(You’re welcome to share, pin, use this graphic but please keep the tiny watermark in the corner that credits the creator of the graphic.)
Leave a Comment » | Art, Faith, Family, Family: Adoption, Family: Foster Parenting, Other, Other Things: Wise Words | Tagged: Faith, faithfulness, inspiration, pain, quote | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
06/30/2014
Could you pray for our little Firefly today? He has a hearing this afternoon that will determine whether he stays in foster care for now or goes home to his biological parents. Please pray for wisdom and discernment for the magistrate, and peace and patience for his parents.
Firefly turned 1 month old last week! Baby boy is eating well and growing fast (though still tiny and still not to his due date). Around the start of his 4th week he discovered his voice and started experimenting with crying. He doesn’t cry much, thankfully. He’s a very peaceful and pleasant baby. In fact, around the start of his 4th week he also started smiling! It’s not terribly uncommon for babies to smile at 4 weeks but with him being so premature, I’m especially surprised and impressed. The first time he did it I was saying, “Do you know how loved you are!” He’s now smiling quite often when he hears our voices or tickle his chin(s) and of course, the reflex smiles too. He likes to be swaddled. He’s doing well with tummy time. I’m doing just a couple minutes at a time so he can get used to the position but since he falls asleep quickly, he doesn’t stay on his belly too long. He often rolls onto his side to sleep and loves to have his hands up by his face.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned previously that Firefly is half-Hispanic, however he looks like he could be Jason’s biological son with reddish blond hair and very fair skin. We lovingly call him our little red-headed Mexican. Our daughter is also half-Hispanic so that’s kind of fun. I’m wondering if that played some part in him getting placed with us; perhaps we came up in their system as a match because we have another Hispanic child. But, as mentioned, they look nothing alike. Alianna is completely smitten with him (just like us) and is being an awesome big sister. She loves to pet his head and snuggle up next to him. She talks to him and kisses his cheeks and he smiles.
The Brachiosaurus is one of Jason’s Definitely Dinosaurs from his childhood collection, for scale. I’m hoping I can use it to show his growth every month.
2 Comments | Family, Family: Firefly, Family: Foster Parenting | Tagged: firefly | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
06/23/2014
I read this article recently and thought you might enjoy it too.
Adopting from Foster Care – What is it Really Like?
Here’s a snippet:
Adoption is born of loss. As wonderful and beautiful and amazing as adoption is, it starts with a loss, especially in foster care. A mother and father lost their children. Grandparents lost their grandchildren. Siblings are separated. My children lost countless family members, most of whom they will never see again.
1 Comment | Family, Family: Adoption, Family: Foster Parenting | Tagged: adoption, foster care, foster parenting, quote | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
06/11/2014
I haven’t read Orphan Justice yet but I love this quote:
“To love is to risk. Opening your home to a foster kid will be emotionally difficult. It’s inconvenient. It’s hard. It’s messy. It’s exhausting. I guarantee it.
But all too often, selfishness keeps us from taking care of these children. Somewhere along the way, in our concern for an easy, happy, comfortable life, we may be missing the heart of the gospel — to seek and save the lost, to reach out to the forgotten and the oppressed, to love sacrificially, and to pour our lives out so that others can catch a glimpse of Jesus.
If the only reason we refuse to get involved in foster care is because ‘it is too hard emotionally’ or ‘we can’t handle saying goodbye,’ we may need to repent of self-absorption. We must ask ourselves the question: Do we truly love our neighbor as we love ourselves? What if a foster child is the ‘neighbor’ that God has brought into our path to love?” —Johnny Carr, Orphan Justice
People who consider foster parenting are often concerned about “getting too attached” to their foster children. But what is the alternative? To only half-love them? I’m already head over heels for our new foster son. I’m not afraid of getting too attached. I’m a grown up; I can survive having my heart broken. He’s an innocent, precious treasure; he needs and deserves to be loved with abandon.
2 Comments | Faith, Family, Family: Adoption, Family: Foster Parenting, Other, Other Things: Wise Words | Tagged: adoption, book, foster care, orphan justice, quote | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
06/10/2014
It’s firefly time of year in Nashville. Every evening as the sun is going down, we finish up our popsicles or ice cream cones and scramble around the yard trying to catch the little lightning bugs to put in our mason jar. I was a summer baby and I’ve always loved summer.
Things have been pretty quiet around here. I just finished up some big deadlines at work and a freelance project that had been on and off for months. On Thursday afternoon when Ali was napping and I was all caught up on work, I stepped out onto the back patio to enjoy a cup of tea. It had been rainy so I stayed close to the backdoor where it was dry and I tossed sliced raw almonds to my silly hens. It was a beautiful, restful moment. I wanted to capture it. Ashley Ann wrote a post a few months ago about drinking coffee (or tea) with two hands, savoring it instead of multitasking. That’s what I was doing.
Right in that moment of peace, my phone rang. It was DCS placement asking if we could take a newborn baby boy who was being released from the hospital that day. Without hesitation, Jason and I said yes. Firefly arrived at our house 90 minutes later. He’s the tiniest little person I’ve ever met, a preemie at just 5 pounds. He is precious and delightful. He smells like Heaven. He sleeps about 23 hours a day. He is by far the easiest foster placement we’ve ever had. We have no idea what the future holds for him and us at this point. I’m savoring him, holding on with both hands, just like that warm cup on a rainy afternoon.
3 Comments | Faith, Family, Family: Firefly, Family: Foster Parenting | Tagged: firefly, foster care, foster parenting, peace, savor, tea | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
04/11/2014
The story of Alianna joining our family, A Home for Ali. is featured on Capture Hope, along with some beautiful photos from 535 Photo. I love Capture Hope and it’s mission “From Darkness into Light” … sharing stories of hope and testimonies of God’s goodness. We were honored to be interviewed and photographed by Rebekah several weeks ago. She took hours of Jason and me rambling on and on about foster care, adoption and the amazing kids we’ve had the privilege of parenting; and she turned it into a creative journal format. I love Ali’s testimony and I’m delighted to share it any time I have a chance.
1 Comment | Faith, Family, Family: Adoption, Family: Foster Parenting, Family: Precious/Ali | Tagged: adoption, Ali, alianna, capture hope, Family, foster care, precious | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
myMCMlife.com 