This is a guest post by Emily Harper. She is a mother, a blogger, a member of her community watch, and the owner of the blog, Security Ocean. She loves writing about her experience and expertise. You can visit her blog by clicking here.
Last weekend, my 11-year old daughter played a pirate in the musical Peter Pan, produced by Christian Youth Theater in Indianapolis. To say this show was amazing would be an understatement. It was beyond amazing! As it tends to go anymore with me, I learned something I didn’t expect to learn.
The other day I attended a prayer breakfast in downtown Indianapolis with about 600 area pastors, government officials, and ministry leaders. During the keynote speaker’s message I looked over to the neighboring table and saw a young married couple nestled close to one another, listening intently to the speakers words.
I didn’t grow up as a pastor’s kid. However, as a pastor, I have been raising them for the past decade. In that time, I’ve learned so much about myself as a father, and as a church leader. Mostly, I’ve learned the delicate balance between choices that could lead my children to love the church and choices that could lead my children to hate the church!
Recently, I discovered the organization AdoptUSKids. They exist to raise public awareness about the need for foster and adoptive families for children in the public child welfare system and to assist U.S. States, Territories, and Tribes to recruit and retain foster and adoptive families and connect them with children.
Yesterday morning I was at Kroger early, picking up some groceries, when I noticed a string of men picking up bouquets of flowers and chocolates for, what I’m assuming was, their significant others. It was 5 o’clock in the morning. Nothing like getting ahead, I thought to myself. As I left the store, the thought occurred to me- “Why do we wait until this day to express our love for one another?”
We spent a decade serving as foster parents. In that time we had the privilege of taking in more than 30 children, 6 of whom never left our care and became a permanent part of our family. Over the course of our career we experienced some major struggles. But we learned a lot from them.
Last night I took my 11 and 13 year old daughters to “The Princess Ball” father-daughter dance sponsored by a local parks and recreation center near our hometown. To say this was an amazing night with my girls would be an understatement. The parks and rec. pulled out all the stops with an array of activities for the girls to do, plus a horse-drawn carriage ride to cap the night.
Where do you go to find healing for your wounded spirit? That’s a big question. A few years ago, I discovered something that I hadn’t really given much thought to before. It came from the most unlikely place with the most unlikely people- a support group with complete strangers. Sounds intimidating, right? But what I discovered from my experience with them was that I was not alone on this difficult journey called parenthood. That night I learned that other people have the same wounds as I do. Realizing this brought healing to my life!
“My dad can beat up your dad because my dad is the strongest dad in the world!” Remember saying that as a kid? It was normally stated in response to a friendly playground spat with another kid. A few years ago I heard my son say this to one of his friends about me. I smiled to myself and then thought, “Good. I want him to believe that. At least for a while.”
