Our handsome boys, Aaron and Jordan, modeling their new Ordinary Hero  T-Shirts.

Little Brown and Pink High Tops

  There's an extra little pair of brown and pink high tops in our shoe basket today.  We've had several kiddos come to stay with us for a few days at a time recently.  When school starts up teachers and school staff identify children who are victims of neglect and abuse.  They report it because they care and because it's required by law.  I'm thankful for people who make that call.  It gets precious children out of harm's way.  It gets police and social workers into gear to work out a better plan for protecting and providing for them.
   My heart is heavy.  Stories of the children who have come in and out of our homes (forever in our hearts) have left such an ache inside of me.  They are innocent, precious, loved deeply by God - children who deserve to be nurtured and snuggled and cared for.
   If you feel God nudging you to look into foster care please do.  I'd be glad to answer any questions and point you in the right direction.  Pray for God's leading.  He will provide all you need to minister to them.  We have been so blessed by being a foster family.  It's hard but good.  A little time with each one is an opportunity to pray for them, tell them about Jesus and His perfect love for them, and to show them they are so very special.  Foster parenting isn't something everyone should do.  God calls us to different things.  But if you think He's putting this on your heart I encourage you to pray.

Ordinary Hero Grant Giveaway!

Natalie, Mikaela and Tobi - Wright Family Ordinary Hero Models

Hi Friends!  We have just kicked off our Adoption Fundraising with Ordinary Hero T-shirts.  This afternoon I created a fundraising event on my Facebook page.  While I was working on that, Natalie went to pick up our mail.  She came back in the house wearing her new OH t-shirt!  She sneaked into our backyard and slipped it on before coming inside.  I squealed loudly to say the least :)  We ordered one for all 6 of us and I hope to get a picture of the guys in their very cool manly shirts by tomorrow evening.

Ordinary Hero Grant Giveaway!!!  Today I received an email from Ordinary Hero, the organization we chose to become affiliates with for fundraising.  We chose them because of their heart for orphans and because the merchandise is fabulous!  Anyhoo...OH is giving a grant of $1,000 to the family who sells the most merchandise between 9/21 and 9/30.  For every sale, 40% of the total is added to our adoption fund with our agency.  Please consider helping us raise money to cover our adoption expenses by checking out http://ordinaryherostore.org/.  Receiving the 1st place grant of $1,000 would be such a blessing. (2nd place is $500 and 3rd place gets $300). There are many great items to choose from.

IMPORTANT DETAIL:  When you go to checkout please click on Tobi Wright in the drop down list.  Ordinary Hero will send 40% of each sale to an account set up for us with our adoption agency, America World Adoption Associates. By clicking on my name you move us closer to winning the grant!
Let me know that you have placed an order (9/21 - 9/30) by leaving a comment here on our blog.  I will enter your name in a drawing for a Starbuck's Gift Card.  The winner's name will be posted here and on my FB page on October 1st!

We will keep the Ordinary Hero Fundraising opportunity open for 3 months (or more).  Each month I will do another drawing, each month a different prize :)  But this month your order will help us win $1,000 for our adoption!!!

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers.  God is providing for these children to become a part of our family!  The adoption experience has been so good.  We are learning a lot through books, webinars, friends who have adopted and new blog friends who've also adopted.  We will keep you posted!

I wrote 2 posts today but I decided to delete them.  The Holy Spirit reminded me that we signed a form when we became foster parents saying that we would not share info about the children in our care.  I didn't  give their names but I felt like I walked too closely to the line.  It's our job to protect their privacy.  I feel bad about it and I apologize to anyone who read my posts. I can write in general about our experiences in foster parenting but not when it is so fresh.  Sincerely, Tobi

Our family at River Commuity Church

Sunday we went to River Commuity Church like we always do on Sundays.  It was our last time to worship there since RCCs church plant, West Ridge Community Church, launches next Sunday, Sept. 2nd. We are following God's direction for our family and joining what He is doing in and through WRCC. Jordan will continue going to RCC for worship and Christian Challenge.  We enjoyed our worship experience and we were intentional about finding and hugging our friends that we usually only see on Sundays at RCC.  Saying hello to WRCC means saying goodbye to RCC.  But not completely.  We've worshipped with RCC for 22 years and we've developed close relationships that we hope will last a lifetime.  We have so many great memories of our years at River.  I was a little surprised at my tears and how hard it was to stop them.  I'm not really a cryer.  I guess that shows how deep the love goes :)  Thank you to all our friends at RCC who have loved us so well!

   We have 2 boys in our care as of last night.  I got a call to pick one up early afternoon and then another placement in the evening.  Occasionally, we are asked to take unrelated children.  The first boy was feeling sad and I thought it would be a good idea to have another boy his age to play with.  They became instant friends.  They play together well and are a good distraction for each other.  I'm praying for their families today.  So many families lack the resources to parent well.  I am not excusing abuse, neglect or abandonment!  My heart breaks for children who are not treated with loving kindness.  I'm praying for services to be implemented to offer their families support, provisions and resources.  I'm praying for jobs and for hope.  Ultimately, they need Jesus.  Some of them know Jesus.  It's a priviledge to pray for them.  11 children went into care through the Wichita Children's Home last night by the time we had picked up these 2  boys.  I was told later that 3 more were on the way.  I don't know what the total count was for yesterday.  When school starts there are more reports.  Teachers and school staff see the signs of abuse and neglect and faithfully call to report.   To preserve the families dignity we cannot post pictures of the children but we have pictures of many of them at home.  We remember many of their names and stories and we can pray for them.  We don't know what happens in their lives after they leave our home.  God knows.  He sees them and cares and works in their behalf.  I blog about foster care with the hope that other people might pray for these children and/or look into becoming foster parents.  It's been such a good thing for our family.  If you have questions, please ask!

   It's a beautiful day here in Wichita, Kansas and we're going the park to enjoy it!

 

Short and Sweet?

   This needs to be short and sweet.  Can I do that?  I have a "walking date" with a friend.  The weather is cool this morning and Lord knows I need to get back into the routine of exercising!

   It's been a long time since I've written anything on my blog.  Life has been happening and it is worth recording so here I go...

   The big news is that we finished our Dossier and sent it to our adoption agency.  They approved it and sent it to Ethiopia!  Sooooo glad to have that done, one step closer.   We are requesting the adoption of one or two, boy(s) or girl(s) between the ages of 2 and 7 years, 11 months.  Preferably between 4 and 7y11m!  If we adopt 2 they will be siblings.   We've been praying for the children God has chosen to be in our family;  for physical and emotional healing, that they will be lovingly cared for and protected, for good and plentiful nutrition and clean water, for good friends to laugh with.  We've asked God to somehow let them know that they have a family that loves them and will come for them.  God has good plans for orphans.  I'm asking God to continue to prepare us to be a good family for them.  Now that the Dossier is done I am concentrating on fundraising.  We still have a large amount of money to raise to be able to bring these little ones home.  I am looking into an organization that helps families raise funds by selling T-shirts.  These are great shirts and I can't wait to get started.  Watch for more info on that topic...

   We've seen God's faithfulness displayed over and over in Jordan's life.  Jordan graduated from Basic Training in December and from Tech School in July.  He recently finished his seasoning here in Wichita and is taking on part time work for the Kansas Air National Guard.  He will still be able to take a couple of Gen. Ed. classes at Wichita State University in the Spring and then he plans to go to KU fall 2013. He's done most of the checking and planning himself.  He's really grown up and we are so proud of him! Most of you know Jordan and you've seen the amazing things God has done in his life.

David with Jordan in his Blues at Basic Training Graduation.

   This is Aaron's Junior year at Maize High and he is off to a great start.  He has a Game Design class - how fun is that?  He could probably teach the class.  He's already pretty good at game design.  He also has a C++ Programming class.  When he was in maybe the 5th grade he asked me to buy a C++ manual (huge) at a garage sale.  I bought it and he spent free time reading it!  I can't imagine.  He has US History and English 11 too but those don't really light his fire.  So far he's on top of the dreaded homework and he's woken up to his alarm, on his own, 2 of the 7 days of school!    I should say alarms.  He has 2 and one of them has 2 alarms so really it's 3 altogether.  We do what we have to do, Amen?

   Mikaela and Natalie are in the swing of 8th grade.  Nothing new this year except that they are among the oldest in the building.  There's something cool about that, right?  Hair is important.  Thank goodness we aren't into make-up yet. Just a little mascara for my strawberry-blonde girl. They have beautiful skin and faces.  The bus comes early, 6:40ish, but they get up, get ready for the day and make it to the bus.  I pick all 3 up after school to spare them from the foul language and grumpiness of some of the other afternoon riders. The early ride to school is typically quiet (most of them are asleep).  One perk in the morning is seeing the sunrise on the way to school :)  God is sweet!

   My hardworking husband, David, is running at full speed.  Work has been, well, consuming to say the least.  God has blessed him with a positive outlook thankfully.  He is so good at what he does - design and managing people.  He has been working on re-siding our house (with a little help from his family crew) and replacing boards on our deck.  He's just about to wrap those projects up.  That's the challenge, isn't it?  To completely finish those home projects?

Carpenter Dave - I'm so impressed Babe!

Aaron - someday you'll thank your Dad for teaching you this manly stuff!  Really!

   The antique bedroom furniture our good friends donated to us for the adoption finally sold!  A teen-aged girl talked her dad into buying it for her.  She loves antiques.  I knew the right person would come along.  We had stored the furniture in the garage along with all the siding materials.  I avoided the garage as much as I possibly could and kept the garage door closed.  My hubby, on the other hand, didn't mind allowing the neighbors a peek so there was a little tension over whether or not the garage door was open or closed!  It's kind of hard to work on those outdoor projects when your wife keeps sighing and closing the garage door!  Sorry Honey!!!

   My summer was a little rough.  I've struggled with a nagging level of depression/anxiety for several years.  It's presence has been up and down.  I finally went to see a friend of ours who is a psychologist.  Some of this is physical and some of it comes out of wrong thinking patterns.  I'm ready to get that all turned around and take this mind in the right direction.  I know truth but I have to get it ingrained into my thinking.  I hope to share what I learn with you.  I know that many of us believe lies and those lies send us into places that God never intends for us to be.  He gives us grace and freedom, that's where I want to live.  That's what I want to teach my children with conviction not just head knowledge.  We really tried hard to spend very little this summer so the entertainment was sparing.  There were definitely some great times though.

   A long time wish of mine became a reality when we put together two garden boxes early in the summer.  David built them and our kids and I helped him fill them with some magic soil mixture.  I planted cantaloupe, Dave's favorite fruit, Mikaela planted cucumbers, Natalie loves okra so that's what she poked into the ground and Aaron planted carrots (b/c that's what mom kind of forced him to do).  Wow did the garden produce!  More pics of our harvest soon.  I love it when my family works together.  I'll make farmers of us yet!

David, Mikaela and Natalie mixing it up and shoveling it in.

Nat and her okra.

Kaela planting cucumber seeds.

   Our family goes on a June fishing trip with David's mom, Joan, his sister, Susan, and her hubby, Mike.  We always go to Texoma Lake which is beautiful, especially at sunrise!  We caught our limit and had a lot of fun doing it! Now we have Striper Bass for dinner once in awhile and we all love it.

Texoma Lake early (EARLY) in the morning - Gorgeous!

Aaron, Tobi, David, Natalie, Mikaela and friend, Tori

Boys boat + Mike's mom, Kathy, who volunteered due to boys being outnumbered by girls this year!
The girls boat reached our limit first - just sayin'.

Guests of Honor! 

  I took each of our girls on a 2 day trip to talk about the all-important topic of Purity.  Mikaela and I went to Ponca City, OK.  The highlight of our time was visiting Marland Mansion, it's beautiful and we loved touring that gorgeous home. We also went to the Pioneer Woman museum. The content we covered was awkward at times but I'm so glad we had "the talk."  :)  It was a time to connect with my girls about womanhood and to communicate that I am here for them whenever they want to talk.  They are so precious to us and of such great value to God.  The curriculum emphasizes the importance of giving Jesus first priority in our lives.

Mikaela loved this place and took a lot of pictures - budding photographer!

She's glowing!

Tobi and Mikaela at home (with Avery).

   Natalie and I visited Abilene, KS and really liked the time we spent at the Seelye Mansion.  We had fun swimming together and visiting the Russell Stover factory.  Natalie is a truffle-loving girl.  I was able to buy our girls new teen girl Bibles and a pretty necklace to give them during our time away together.  I know I didn't do it all perfectly but I am so glad we spent time alone together to talk about God's perspective on purity and His gift of sex in marriage.

Natalie and the Russell Stover Chocolate Bear!

The beautiful Seelye Mansion, and my beautiful Natalie.

Me and the my chocolate dream man.

This box of truffles is for Natalie ONLY!

         Our summer wouldn't be complete without spending some family time at the Klein family pool!  My sister 's family lives on 40-some acres.  They have an amazingly fun backyard and all the cousins love to hang out there.  We have the majority of our family gatherings at the Kleins.  There's always lots of good food!

         River Community has a new church plant, West Ridge Community Church!  Our family will attend, worship, grow, love and serve from our hearts with this new body of believers!  While it is hard to leave the church we helped start 22 years ago (we'll miss so many precious friends) - we got married and had 4 children while attending RCC - we are excited about being a part of what God is going to do through WRCC.  Our opening date is September 2nd.  BTW, we have a coffee bar!  Our pastor and his wife, Dave and Heidi Mitchell, love God, love people and follow the Holy Spirit.  I can't wait to see who shows up and how God's plan unfolds.  I'll be teaching 1st - 2nd grade Super Church twice  a month :)   There's something about children at that age that I just adore!

   Yeah, I knew I couldn't keep it short.  But I hope it was sweet!

   Just a little peek into foster parenting this evening.  The foster care agency we work with has a wonderful service for parents called respite.  There is the regular give-foster-parents-a-break respite and there is give-the-actual-parents-a-break respite.  We gave a sweet single mama a break this weekend.  I love this service because it is so needed.  In some cases it is child abuse prevention.  I think some of us (me) take for granted the blessing of having a support system;  church community, great friends, family members.  Not everyone has a good support system in her life.  Not everyone has a sweet husband who comes home ready to help out and connect with each member of the family, who, by the hand of God, is able to provide everything his family needs.  Not everyone gets "me" time to refuel so she can be a better parent.  Not everyone has the means to put a healthy dinner on the table and dress her babies fitting for the weather each day.  Not everyone had a good example in her parents of how to gently lead her young.  Not everyone has the ability to enroll her kids in theater, music lessons or sports activities.  Not everyone has someone to turn to for encouraging words. I am so blessed!  I have often taken my blessings for granted, sometimes claiming them as rights.
  Some women are parenting their children in the best way they can with very little resources.   Loss of a job loss of a home. No safe family or trustworthy friends to take care of her kids so she have a break,  just a little break to do the wash alone, to look into getting a couch from His Helping Hands, to look for a new job, a new place to live...
   The past 2 weekends we've done respite for single moms.  Sweet, loving, hardworking moms.  It was hard for them to leave their kids in a stranger's care.  The other foster mom and I stayed and visited with them, trying to relieve their worries, asking for advice on what works best for their children, telling them we'll take good care of them.
   This time I took two darlings home.  My children played with them.  I read and sang to them, bathed and fed them.  Prayed for them.  David joked with and tickled them.  We had a great time.  Last night the tornado sirens went off  so we all went down to the basement.  This was a bad storm and the older son was afraid for his mom.  He prayed for her and asked me several times if she was safe.  She called to be sure we had a basement. The older son talked to her and said, "Please, please, please mom take care of yourself."  So concerned.  Today we picked flowers for their mom.  We met her at the agency, sweet reunion.  The other foster mom and I hung around for a little while just watching and visiting, not wanting to leave.  It's amazing how quickly you can attach to children.  I admire their mom. She is strong.  I will continue to pray for her and all her children.  I went home thinking of all the excess I have and about  how needs and wants get all mixed up and how I don't really need all that I have.  I'm asking God how He wants me to respond to this time of being face to face with someone who has need, real need.  I want to live in the abundance of following in Jesus' footsteps, not in the abundance of this world.  Jesus brings peace and joy and purpose, abundant life.  Teach me Lord, change me, make me like you.