{"id":2433,"date":"2009-11-21T12:07:03","date_gmt":"2009-11-21T19:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/osbornz.net\/amy\/?p=2433"},"modified":"2016-03-25T15:25:21","modified_gmt":"2016-03-25T23:25:21","slug":"our-adoption-story-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/osbornz.net\/amy\/?p=2433","title":{"rendered":"Our Adoption Story – Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part1<\/a> :: Part 2<\/a> :: Part 3<\/a> ::<\/p>\n

Sorry that it has taken me 4 mos to get back to this history.\u00c2\u00a0 I hope those who were interested in the story before are still reading my blog.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve had some interesting months and activities like blogging has just been let go for the most part.<\/p>\n

So, where were we? I think I left off after J2 joined our family.\u00c2\u00a0 That was Dec 1996. In 1997, Eric resigned as pastor of the small church in The Dalles.\u00c2\u00a0 It was not what we wanted, but we realized that what the church really wanted and what we could give were not the same thing.\u00c2\u00a0 I was working part-time at the community college library but it certainly wasn’t enough to support our family.\u00c2\u00a0 Eric took on the position of administrator of a small, local Christian high school.\u00c2\u00a0 We needed to stay in the area as J2’s adoption was not finalized.\u00c2\u00a0 A family friend offered to baby sit the boys for free and that was a big blessing.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only did we get free child care, but we grew very close with that family.\u00c2\u00a0 We joined the bigger local church and was blessed by many friendships there than encouraged us during this scary transition time.<\/p>\n

That Spring (or was it Summer?) our home was burglarized.\u00c2\u00a0 I stopped by the house to pick up a library book before going out into the country where our friends lived to get the boys.\u00c2\u00a0 When I picked them up they were dirty from head to toe (LOL\u00c2\u00a0 Gregg loved to let them get as dirty as possible – I swear he dumped dirt on them just before I got there! LOL) so the library trip was out and we headed straight home to get baths.<\/p>\n

I let the boys in the front door and they tore off through the house toward the bath – J1 was 2.5 and J2 was toddling (under 1 yr old).\u00c2\u00a0 It wasn’t until I passed the public rooms (with all the big windows facing the street) that I realized our home was not normal.\u00c2\u00a0 The guys had kicked in our back door and ransacked the house.\u00c2\u00a0 The police even speculated that they might not have left until we arrived home!\u00c2\u00a0 A scary thought.<\/p>\n

The burglary was scary…but it was a blessing too.\u00c2\u00a0 We had a good friend who had a trailer on the west end of town.\u00c2\u00a0 She decided to rent us the trailer and move into a smaller apartment in town.\u00c2\u00a0 The rent was about 1\/4 of our current situation.\u00c2\u00a0 And, though we were in a trailer park, we were relatively isolated and butted up to a hillside where we regularly saw wildlife.\u00c2\u00a0 Across the road from us was a lake that provided more wildlife!\u00c2\u00a0 We loved our time in that trailer!\u00c2\u00a0 We lived there for about 1.5 years and loved every minute of it!<\/p>\n

After J2’s adoption was finalized we started to feel the call to full-time ministry again.\u00c2\u00a0 The years in The Dalles and at Calvary Baptist Church were good for our souls and we felt encouraged to try again. We started praying that the Lord would provide the right situation for us.\u00c2\u00a0 We were starting to wonder if we were right for pastoral ministry, but decided to leave it in His hands.\u00c2\u00a0 I knew it would be hard to be a pastor’s wife again.\u00c2\u00a0 I looked online for other PWs to connect with, but I didnt’ find any.\u00c2\u00a0 So in June, 1988 I started an email group called PastorsWives – Thriving in the Fishbowl<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 I remember starting it late that night and thinking no one would find it.\u00c2\u00a0 But by the time I went back online the next day – there was already a membership request!\u00c2\u00a0 Those gals were my lifeline and I’m priviledged to still be friends with many of them even though I no longer am involved in the group nor ever think I’ll be a PW again.<\/p>\n

But back to then.\u00c2\u00a0 After we’d been praying for awhile about what we should do, we got a call from another ministry couple.\u00c2\u00a0 Their ministry was interim pastors.\u00c2\u00a0 They would go to a church for a short-term to help them transition between pastors.\u00c2\u00a0 They had served at the church we had previously been involved in and were helping one currently that they thought Eric would be a good match for.\u00c2\u00a0 And, they had a Christian school similar to where Eric was currently serving.<\/p>\n

Long story short in July 1999, we moved to Reedsport, OR and Eric was the pastor at Harbor Baptist in Winchester Bay.\u00c2\u00a0 We enrolled J1 in Kindergarten at the Christian school but almost immediately realized that it was not a good match for our child.\u00c2\u00a0 J1 has always been very active and hard to handle.\u00c2\u00a0 Lord I love that boy, but he’s been hard to parent.\u00c2\u00a0 A few things stood out but the clincher that this was not a good thing for our child or our family happened the Spring of 2000.\u00c2\u00a0 Another mom of a Kindergartner told me that on the way home from school she asks the kids what silly thing did J1 do today at school?\u00c2\u00a0 She thought I’d get a laugh out of it.\u00c2\u00a0 But I was hurt.\u00c2\u00a0 Hurt that he was struggling so much and didn’t need this type of attention!\u00c2\u00a0 But at the time I felt that the pastor\/administrator’s son had no choice but stay enrolled – even though many years before in The Dalles, I had decided he’d be better served by home schooling him.\u00c2\u00a0 But soon after that his teacher became very sick and a sub was going to take over for the rest of the year.\u00c2\u00a0 His teacher called me and suggested I take him out of school.\u00c2\u00a0 And I took that as approval!\u00c2\u00a0 At the same time there were other moms in our small church deciding for various reasons to homeschool as well.<\/p>\n

Homeschooling him was a good thing.\u00c2\u00a0 His curriculum was easy to teach and he did well.\u00c2\u00a0 It did mean he no longer saw the other kids his age daily, but with his brother he really didn’t need anyone else.\u00c2\u00a0 He and J2 were very close and enjoyed one another immensely.<\/p>\n

We continued to homeschool and enjoy our church, friends and community with no more significant changes until J1’s 6th birthday in Jan 2001 (J2 was 4).<\/p>\n

But that will have to wait for later!\u00c2\u00a0 Darn…I think this history is going to be more posts than I planned!\u00c2\u00a0 There is just too much to tell.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t forget to read parts 1-3<\/a>!<\/p>\n

eta – Finally you can read more…<\/a><\/p>\n

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