thoughts

It is with too many mixed feelings to sort out in one blog post, that I say that we are on our way out of NYC. 

Our kids are only kids once, and we want to give this job (parenting) the best go that we can. And so we move on to this next season of life, which involves leaving the city we have loved.

We took a long family walk yesterday on Mike's day off, and as we passed through different neighborhoods we 'remembered when...'. I expect there will be a lot of 'remembering when' happening in the next weeks before we leave. Just about any kind of experience you could imagine about New York, we have seen or been near to in some way. What a wild ride.

We are already feeling the sadness that comes with saying goodbyes, mixed with the joys of again being near to family and friends who we have been missing, mixed with the anticipation of what God has in store next for our family.

I guess "hartfamilynyc.net" isn't going to be such a good website name anymore, is it?

There are a good number of homeless people who go to our church. I love that it is a place where people without homes can feel welcomed and ministered to- that they have a place to come and worship on Sundays, and grab a shower, get medical care or counseling, and have a warm meal during the week.

Earlier this evening, I was at church to drop off Zoe for date night (what a great concept! Three hours for the parents to leave the kids and hit the town!). When Mike and I got back, we got to talking with the security guard who was asking if we knew anything about the garbage bag of bedding that someone had left on the steps of the church? 

We didn't, and he told us he was getting ready to throw it out... that people often drop off donations without explanation, and he has no intention of bringing this one indoors.

He then told us about how someone recently came by to say he heard that we have a shelter for homeless people and he wanted to offer a donation of bedding. As he said that, out of the bag of bedding crawled a huge bug. When asked what it was, he replied that it's a bed bug, but that the bedding could be washed.

He then went on to complain about how his place had a bed bug problem, and how pesky those insects are.

A person who does not have a home is still a person. Bed bug infested bedding is something that belongs in the trash, not on the bed of a person who is glad to have a bed for the night.

Donating to a good cause is great... but it is unhelpful, if not insulting, to donate something that belongs in the trash.

We have a number of friends who have adopted children over the past few years- some from overseas, some from here in the US. Some have been babies, some have been older children, and one set of friends adopted a precious sibling group of three. Some of our friends are in Ethiopia right now to meet and bring home their 4 year old daughter. I am regularly amazed and inspired to see the children learning and growing and loving and thriving in their new homes.

Although my experience is not first hand, it is clear to see that adoption is a long, difficult journey. One woman whom I have never met, but who I like to get a glimpse of the world through her eyes, is Dorothy. She wrote a neat blog post, including a poem that she wrote about a hypothetical conversation with an unadopted child.

To all of my friends who have braved the adoption processes, and pressed on in faith despite all of the unknowns- may God bless your families richly and knit you so tightly together in love, and may His grace be overflowing in your homes.