In addition to laundry...

... I've been doing tons of other stuff lately.  I've been so "full", it's been hard to find time to blog.  One of the neatest things of late is seeing how God is moving in regards to our Fostering.  We told Elizabeth a few weeks back about our big plans (so, yes, it's now public knowledge) and she was super excited.  She, like her Momma, gets a bit emotional and cried when we talked about it.  Love that child.

Like any "big" thing that happens in life, I think when you enter a new realm, you suddenly are thrown together with others who are in the same boat, or at least others who know that boat well.  We found it true with infertility: the minute we told people our story, they connected us to others walking that same road.  Same with miscarriage.  Same with debt (when people were willing to talk about it!).  Same with what I'm seeing of my friends adopting.  And now, same with our foster situation.

I remember those well intentioned people who offered "advice" or "their story" when it did nothing but jack up my insecure heart.  However, God is doing a huge work in the area of security in my life (more on that later... like, a day when I don't post 4673084763 other things), and now when those people show up, it either makes me sad or frustrated for them... but not bitter or sad for me.  It's a good spot to be in.

I can't even begin to count the funny responses we've gotten about fostering.  "Do you know that the kids will be in bad shape?" (umm....)  "They could be abused!" (gasp!)  "Please don't tell me you're going through DSS."  (okay, I'll keep that to myself.)

Then, in the midst of those dark moments, God blesses my heart by sending someone that is a "perfect fit".  At a party a few weeks back I shared with a woman I'd just met about our call to foster.  She said, "Oh, do you know Meredith ___?  She and her husband are getting ready to foster, too" I said no, but within 2 hours of being home, I'd "found" Meredith on Facebook, messaged her, she'd sent me her blog post about how they got to the place of fostering, we'd messaged back and forth about getting together, and 36 hours later we had a blind date playdate.  Complete with both of our miracle daughters (and her 2 other kids... and another friend and her kids...) who are both 4 and both named Elizabeth.  God's funny like that.

We shared our seemingly identical stories with each other about our call to foster and laughed at all we had in common.  Since then, she came to the Williamseses' Biggest Baddest Yard Sale Ever with her BFF.... who had "randomly"' met my BFF at an adoption conference back in February.  God's funny like that, too.

All in all, it's fun to have a new friend.  And one that gets what we went through to get to where we are.  And one who is sharing this same season of life that we are.  And one who understands that even when people seem to want to discourage us from doing what we know God wants us to do... sometimes He'll send us a fellow journeyer to share the load.

me, our shared friend, and my new friend- Meredith