Bridge Families - James127 Father

Have you ever been asked how you can support a foster family?  What do they really need to succeed? How can you impact their hearts as they give of themselves to children in their homes.  There are so many things you can do (acts), to list a few: laundry, meals, deliver food, give them a break and watch the kids (this might require first aid and a background check), clean their house, braid hair, take family photos, paper plates, paper towels, yard work, celebrate the child (baby showers), drive them to visits.  Those are all things that will possibly require both time and money.  Not too much of either, but to bless the foster family with one of these acts it will take some of your resources. Let me suggest those are all well and good, but fall short of the real long term need for a foster parent.  The truth be told, they just need to feel your support, to not be alone. To know that as they stand in the gap for the children in their home they have you with ...

Was asked today for a brief thought on the cost of adoption. First, of all adoption will cost more than you can ever imagine, more time, more money, more stress, more willingness to accept your lack of control, more prayer, more patience, more understanding.  Second, you are not prepared, you can not prepare, you can not understand, you can not do this on your own power.  Third, you and your wife are prayerfully considering something so close to God’s heart that James calls it “pure and undefiled religion”. Religion is not just going to a building a few times a year on Sunday.  Religion is the daily walking out your faith to be more like our Father in heaven.  This journey will give you a chance in this life to walk closer to the Lord than most people can fathom.  The Lord chose to love us, His children in spite of the messes we can make of our lives.  Through Jesus’s sacrifice we can enter the throne room of God cleansed of the messes we often find ou...

This one comes not from the archives of the home father, but the work father.  You see, often it seems the role of a good manager is similar to that of a good father. How do we speak into a projects without crushing creativity of the those we delegate. "The apathy is strong with this one." We all have a IQ (Intelligence Quotient) and EQ (Emotional Quotient), but have you heard of the AQ (Anti-Apathy Quotient).  This newly proposed (only here) is the level of apathy in each team member.  We all have an AQ, but great news, this can change much quicker than the long held standards of IQ, EQ.  In a single breathe we can increase AQ or demolish that AQ and build a successful team. We as managers can strengthen the AQ by clearly delegating and rendering control of a project to our team member while guiding along the path to a great project outcome.  However, we can also destroy that AQ down by delegating and then re-taking control at the last phase of the proj...

Something hit me today about the power of a compliment. I wonder if we stop and think how much further we could get just giving a couple of compliments instead of being negative. Now I'm not saying that I'm saying you use the kind words that the magic winds of Karma, you find the good stuff.  Celebrate what went well and be open to work on what didn't. Always move the ball forward at all times. Don't be a prima donna diva schmoe. Don't Be a Jerk and dwell on the stuff and staff that is wrong.  Gather everyone around you and celebrate what's going right. If you can't find a win you can't make the world a better place today.  I ate lunch with someone who lives in a sad world where there are no wins. Sadly, I fear that person may find themselves very alone, very soon. We all work with others and can establish positive equity in any relationtionship.  We can either post deposits or look to make a withdrawal in relational equity.  The honest complime...

https://youtu.be/0eUTgSKi4ps We had so many delays and road blocks that we were not willing to tell them until the day was actually upon us.  This has been a long road to travel with many twists and turns.  The state of Texas was sued in 2014 effectively closing all group foster homes.  The lawsuit led to a knee jerk ruling by an apparently incompetent judge in Austin.  Which by the definition of the law suit is a family with more than six children, biological, adopted and foster combined.  To be clear, we never wanted to be a "group home" we just have been equipped to have a large family. We have been blessed with a home that we have opened to children in hard places.  Our biological and adopted children have always been completely with us in this journey.  Having a large family has frankly, been easy for us.  The joke we often tell is once you get past the "one on one" defense and move to the "zone" it just doesn't matter.  Any children...

From Rachel: A Few Highlights & Backstory of Gotcha Day: Nick and Haley wrapped up a watch for Roman and Alex. Included was a note saying, "it's TIME to become an official Rosenbaum! It's adoption day!" Alex's reaction was priceless..he had a killer smile... so genuine. Both said, "Yes!" The three kiddos have been waiting for a forever family a very long time. They had been craving closure. Side note: we never intentionally set out to have a large family....but we saw two boys (and a sibling baby girl-Ruby) broadcast to thousands of adoptive families and NOT one family said yes....so we immediately jumped to our feet and said yes. Yes, we want to call them our sons and daughter. We want to show them they are precious in His sight. Were we scared of the long list of symptoms from a hellish 9 years on earth? Heck yes. Nick and I were a team...he was the leader in "doing the right thing" ...and i tried to fill in when he was questioning...

Ladies and Gentlemen, The world just shifted today.  Laundry for the family requites us to have a dryer vent booster fan on the clothes dryer at our home. The existing fan unit died, dead not going to work.  Spent several hours calling local vendors to be told repeatedly that they are wholesalers only.  We only sell to licensed contractors.  After trying to buy the equipment local to no avail the order was placed on a prime website.  Sure seems that the wholesaler business model is about to be a thing of the past.  Really wanted to apologize to the incredulous salesmen for bothering them on their final days of being employed in their current line of work.