Another Place at the Table

I love to read and after just the synopsis for Another Place at the Table by Kathy Harrison, I knew I had to get ahold of this book. The author has been a foster mother to almost 100 children. She wrote this book to tell the stories of some of the children that she has worked with over the years. It is extremely well written and, while parts are hard to read, I highly recommend it.

While I'm on the foster care topic... here's something I've had trouble with the past few days. I have been trying to pray for the foster kids that could be in our home. The part that is making my stomach hurt is that while I'm praying for them, I know that they are suffering (or will suffer) neglect or abuse- because that is what would cause them to come into foster care. So the words for my prayers haven't come very easily. Lord, protect them. Lord, help them be strong. Lord, help them be resiliant. Prepare us.

Tomorrow night Jimmy heads out of town to the Christian Alliance for Orphans conference in Minnesota. It's held at John Piper's church and there are over 1000 people attending. I'm really excited that he's going. We are in the process of helping start an adoption/foster care/children in need ministry at our church. It sounds like the conference will have lots of great teaching / resources / networking. Not to mention that John Piper is teaching! They sent out an email with prayer requests for the conference listing smooth preparation, protection of the presenters/attendees and this last part which I love... "That God’s great love would become deeply real in the lives of countless orphans, and the Church, as a result of seeds sown at the conference—growing for years and even decades to come."

And to make the post longer (and to talk about something that has nothing to do with foster care!).... can I tell you how much I love Chik-fil-a? Samuel and I went there today and he told the lady at the register that he was sad the cow wasn't there (some weekends we drive by and the cow mascot is walking around outside). She turns around and gives him a stuffed Chik-fil-a cow. He looks at her like she gave him a million dollars! When we say thanks, she says their company line "It's my pleasure." Seriously, I love it. The food is good, service is always fast and they cater to people with kids. They bring my tray to the table. AND they have bendy straws so Samuel can drink his milk with less chance of dumping it. It's the little things!