Pray for Abby

Jenna (almost 5!!) with her partner-in-crime

John reading to Jenna & Abby

Me with my welcoming comittee-- every school morning I'd be greeted with exuberant "Nina! Hi! Nina! Hi!" I'll miss that.

Abby, who has lived with my friends Dave & Sina since a few days after her birth-- some of that time along with her birth mother-- and has been their foster daughter for about a year, went back to live with her birth mom last Friday. This is a hard transition for everyone, and all parties involved need much grace. Abby's birthmom has since had another little girl, "Baby Emy" as Abby calls her, and you moms can imagine the difficulty of caring for a toddler AND an infant alone! Pray that she will be a godly mom to her girls, and will establish a life for them based on God's word and full of the fellowship of a Gospel-loving church.

Abigail has no idea what's going on, which broke my heart the last time I saw her. She walked around naming everything in her secure little world, with no clue that come a few hours she'd probably never see any of those things again. Of course she'll get over the transition and won't even remember it in a few years, I'm sure, but still, it's hard to watch kids go through things they can't understand and you couldn't explain to them if you tried. The Shueys will be moving on in life as it was before Abigail came to live with them-- back to three children, no toddler to confine, no screaming baby at the dinner table. Of course, there isn't really a "going back to life without" because once you've had life WITH, you know nothing's ever quite the same again. So please pray for them all-- the kids will be fine, but despite all their complaining about their little foster sister at times (who doesn't complain about siblings??), they love her very much and will miss her. Most of all, please pray for Abigail, that she will always grow up hearing of Christ and His Love. Pray that she will come to trust Him as Savior at a very early age, and that she will be surrounded by godly examples as she grows up. Pray this for her baby sister, too.

We all want God's glory to be done in this situation-- that's why Dave & Sina took Abigail and her mom into their home in the first place, and why they took on full-time care of Abby later. We want God's love to be displayed before an unloving world, and it has been. We hope and pray that the fruit of all their self-sacrifice and hard obedience will be eternal souls saved to honor a God they now despise. Whose souls? We don't know-- we hope Abigail, her family, her sister, and even Dave & Sina's own children. All of them have seen God's love incarnated, and all have seen God sustain. Many others are witnesses of this, too. Lord, You have sent out laborers into Your harvest-- let them reap a bountiful crop! Amen!