Oh Our hearts Our Broken!

Our hearts are broken, not because we didn't get children we wanted. We know God has his perfect timing. Our hearts are broken for all God's children, but these temporary orphans are so deserving of love and respect. We cannot help but weep for their loss and for their circumstances.

We submitted a home study for Delvon and Starr but have learned they were separated. Starr has been adopted but the family did not want Delvon. Delvon is 9 and most families will not want him so they chose to separate these two beautiful children in order to insure one a forever home. I just can't imagine the weight that must be crushing Delvon's heart right now. Delvon, God's heart is crushing too buddy, we know it is. We are praying for your forever family to find you soon!


While we are searching websites and responding to emails we have learned there are many sibling groups that have been separated not only from mom and dad but their siblings and they are hoping to be adopted together so they will still have each other. Oh how this causes our hearts to break and we are more anxious than ever to find our kids, He chose them for us before the foundations of the Earth, He named them, made plans for them and adopted them so when His perfect time came we could adopt them also. The most exciting part in all of this is it is for His good pleasure. We just love that! We get the blessings of His children, the children get parents and it is all for His pleasure, we just love it!

Please pray with us for the children who are in foster care. We can't help but believe with all our hearts that God chose a home for each child and if we are diligent in prayer those families on the fence will jump off and open their homes to the blessings that are eagerly waiting for them. There are families who have not even thought about adoption or maybe they did and brushed it off we pray God bring those thoughts back to not only their minds but their hearts too.

Thank you for supporting the temporary orphans! We have received a few books already and I finally finished getting them organized and online!

Blessings to you all!
The Colson's

Ways to Help Us Help An Orphan

Tons of ways to help foster children.

1. If you are in Franklin, TN you can easily donate books we sell on Amazon.com, all proceeds are directly deposited into an account we strictly use for foster children either in our home or in our area. You can clean off those book shelves, get rid of that stack of books in the garage and know the proceeds are benefiting children in your area.

2. There is a link below for shopathome.com, stop by their site, register, be sure to let them know that colsonsaves@comcast.net sent you and make one purchase through their site at one of the 2,000 participating websites and they will credit our account $5. You can buy something you want and the kids get $5, how awesome is that?

3. Cash donations are excepted but are not preferred. We are NOT non-profit so we do prefer you use one of the above ways to help.

In Him,
Melanie

Court for Case #1

Mom for child 1 & 2 goes to court today. She is petitioning for more frequent visitation. We stand beside her in this decision and petition. This is a mom despite all her iniquities, truly loves her children. With help, knowledge, examples and people to walk beside her we know she can do this and do it well. She loves her children above everything. We all have vices, things we struggle with and sometimes those things win over higher priorities in our lives. Are we condemned for them, do we lose our children over them? No we are given the mercy and grace of God every time. This mom has not been given that by the courts or by her own family.

We are not saying what this Mom did was right or that the State didn’t have the right to intervene. What we are saying is this mom deserves the resources to help her be the Mom she so deeply desires to be. Her family does not support her but we do. We see the struggles she has overcome one by one, we see the realistic goals she has set before herself and we walk beside her to obtain those goals.

Nearly 2.5 months ago the court stepped in and took these children from our care and handed them over to the family that does not support Mom. The family lives in Mississippi and although they promised the court every other weekend visits to Nashville they have come only once a month allowing mom only a couple hours each weekend. She deserves to see her children a few hours each week. This will strengthen the will and desire she has to be “that” mom her children so deserve and that she is so deeply striving to be.

Please stand with us in prayer for this mom and her two beautiful children. These are 3 of God's precious children needing the body of Christ to lift them up and walk with them.

Battle vs War

The interesting part of fostering that most people do not understand is that we do not "keep" the children. Is that a good thing? In some cases yes. Most children do eventually need to go back "home". Is that home what you and I would call home? No, most likely not, but it is their home, it is their mom and or dad and it is what they know.

What you know can be comfortable even if it is neglect, abuse or abandonment. This is why we believe change is so hard even for those of us who are not neglectful, abusive and would never consider abandoning our children. We can all strive to be better and how hard is it for you to change? Change is hard even if it is good, especially for a child torn from their home and the only "normal" they knew.

The best we could explain to our children is the analogy of war. There are several, sometimes 100's of battles fought in a war each side loses some of those battles but ultimately only one side can win. Yes, we we've lost a battle or two but we are still in the war. We have learned about the war we are in, we are learning and developing skills to better defend the innocent and with each battle we will become more skilled and hopefully the children will begin winning more and more battles. After all if we do not fight for the children who will, they certainly cannot fight on their own.

We, unlike the state, are of the mind set that sometimes these children need a new home and that change even though it would be hard will be ultimately in the best interest of the child. Just like in battle and a soldier has wounded a limb, the limb might not be repairable and it needs to be amputated. The soldier might fight and cling to the limb, reach for it even after it is gone but ultimately the limb needed to be removed in order to save the soldiers life. There wasn't anything anyone could do to change the limb or repair the limb so it had to be amputated. God calls this pruning.

Yes, God is battling for these children as well. As important as the sparrow is to God I know He has gone before us and is along side us and together we will win battles for children and eventually the children's rights for safety, permanence and well-being will be regarded as a higher priority than any parental right. Putting the children first at all costs will be winning the war.

We serve a mighty God!
Colson JAMS

Heart Broken and Achy

We aren't sure how to name the kids because we really shouldn't share their actual names. So for lack of anything else I suppose we can number them.

This is the best way to describe our hearts at this moment. Broken and achy! Yes child 4 and 5 went home today. We are broken because a broken system sent them home. Placing parental rights above the children's rights of safety and well-being. We do fear for these children and their safety and hope you will covet specific prayer for them.

The Lord knew how I would feel and He so generously gave me this verse this morning. "And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart." ~ Ezekiel 36:26, NLT

Thank you Lord for your Word, it is truth, it is comfort, it is strength for my soul.