Sacred Space

If you're at all inclined to pray, and let's face it - most of us pray sometimes, I really recommend Sacred Space.

There is a new meditation every day. Takes about 10 minutes. Fantastic!

Still Waiting

I eventually got to speak to the social worker. At 7:30pm. She still hasn't got an answer for us. Patience would be a really useful virtue at this point!

This is the canal near our house, where I go to feed the ducks.

Only 2 months to go!

Andy reminded me tonight that it's only 2 months until our African adventure. And there is still so much to organise! We have been busily saving money. Not enough yet, but we're getting there. Amazingly, we have had about £3k in tax rebates since the beginning of the year. I have a suspicion that God uses the inland revenue as a sort of saving scheme for us! This isn't the first time that we've needed money and a tax rebate has turned up at just the right moment.

Ho Hum....

It's just becoming evening here, and the birds are singing their hearts out. The weather has been really British today. We've had rain of various types, from really heavy get totally drenched rain, to light summer rain where you can get away with just a cardigan for protection. There has also been patches of sun, general greyness and then, rather beautifully, when I needed to go to the post office round the corner, we had light rain and sunshine all at once! Now it's cloudy but quite bright. I love British weather. Completely unpredictable and almost completely devoid of anything seriously dangerous.

We're still waiting for Birmingham to decide if Stoke on Trent is close enough for them to accept us as potential adopters. I have been promised a phone call today before 8pm. Which means I've been really rather jumpy every time the phone has rung. The last couple of days I've been a bit low, to be honest. Struggling to work effectively. Feeling like I'm trudging through treacle.

While I'm saying in my mind, that whether we adopt or not, God has a good plan for us, that Birmingham Adoption Agency doesn't have the last word on our destiny etc etc... my heart hasn't quite caught up. The truth is, I really care about what happens. Whilst they've been beavering away at their paperwork without bothering us, I've been able to focus on other things. Not so this week. Ho hum...

What????????

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. So I have opted mainly for laughing.

We had an unexpected call from Birmingham adoption services this morning. They had rung to remind us that our lodgers haven't had a CRB check yet. And to tell us that they can't proceed any further until that has happened. So I explained again that we are trying to move things forward, but actually it's quite difficult for them to get the time off work to come. It's a long way for something that isn't going to benefit them at all.

And then... I know I shouldn't have.... But I couldn't resist making the suggestion... Common sense overwhelmed me... "Given that you need to send a social worker to do the initial visit anyway, would it not make sense for them to do the CRB check with the lodgers whilst they are here? That way we get it done, and the lodgers don't have to make a 3 hour round trip." This moment of unrestrained logic won me a conversation with her manager.

"I can't possibly have my screening staff conducting CRB checks as well as screening. It would take them longer."
UH???
"No it wouldn't."
"Yes it would! CRB checks can take up to an hour!!"
"But you will have to do that, whether it's in Birmingham or in our house. In total, it won't take any longer."
"I can't have my screening staff doing CRB checks just because 2 young people can't get themselves here to do a CRB check."

And then.....

"I notice from your form that you live in Stoke on Trent. I need to tell you now that we may not be able to accept your application because you're out of our area."

WHATTTTT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????????????????????????

"But you've known where we live from the beginning. You've known for weeks. We've been to Birmingham twice."
"Well I don't know why you weren't told before. And it's only fair of me to tell you now."

The mind boggles.

"Not only were we not told there might be a problem, we were positively encouraged to apply. We were sold the benefits of applying with Birmingham. At the information meeting we were told that people come from far and wide to adopt with Birmingham, because it's the biggest service in the country with the most expertise."

Spoke to the lodgers. They have rung Birmingham to find out when they can go and do the CRB check. They are available on the 2nd May, because they're travelling through Birmingham. It would be perfect. The agency couldn't tell them whether they would be able to go on the 2nd.

So I rang them back. Slightly cross that we'd been given an earful about our lodgers getting a CRB check when they have been making attempts to make it happen and have met with unhelpfulness.

"They were given the right information. We haven't decided if we're opening on the 2nd May yet. "

Give me strength!

There are to be discussions with a higher manager. They will tell us on Tuesday whether they are prepared to proceed with our application or not. And, if they are, whether they are opening on the 2nd May or not.

Is this normal?

Squeaky Clean!

We've had our CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) checks back. It's official! We are not criminals!!
We're still waiting for the lodgers to get round to having their checks done, so that we can move on with the process. Tricky really. On the one hand, it's a huge ask - particularly as they have to go to Birmingham to have it done. On the other hand, they have said that they would. And it would be really good to be able to move on with the process.

Ho humm.....

The Man With No Trousers

He is Risen! Happy Easter!

Just before Easter, my friend Marg sent me a meditation from a Good Friday sermon. It's from a book of sermons by a lady who is an Episcopalian minister in New York. She did tell me the name of the author, but I've forgotten. It's wonderful. Here's a snippet...

"During the Persian Gulf War, one of the New Yorker writers was reminded of an incident described by George Orwell during the Spanish civil War. Orwell wrote from the front lines that he saw a man from the opposing, fascist, forces jump out of the trench and run along the parapet in full view, presumably carrying a message to an officer. He had notheing on but a pair of ill-fitting trousers, which he held up with one hand as he ran. Orwell wrote, "I refrained from shooting him....I had come there to shoot at fascists, but a man who is holding up his trousers isnt' a fascist, he is visibly a fellow creature, similar to yourself, and you don't feel like shooting him."

When God looks at us, he does not see titles, bank accounts, club memberships, vacation homes, net worth. He sess frail, vulnerable creatures trying to cover up our spiritual nakendness. Whe Jesus came down from heaven to live among us, he lived among us at that level. The Son of God gave up all his divine perogatives and caome into the world to be a fellow creature with us in our deepest need. We were God's enemies, deserving of death; but he looked at us trying to hold up our trousers with one hand and declared that we were not enemies but friends.

And, Isaiah continues, 'The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all'. As Jesus went to the Cross, even his trousers were taken away from him. He was denied even this last shred of decency. He enters the world of dereliction and disgrace, the man with no trousers and he does it for the love of his enemies - that is to say, he does it for love of us."

sun shine

We're just back from a lovely holiday with friends in Dorset, and the sun is shining here. I will have to go and feed the ducks on the canal before it gets cold and dark.

We're working hard to raise money for our trip to Africa in the summer, and to finalise arrangements. We want to go to Uganda, South Africa and Mozambique, to do work with kids. It looks as if organising transport within Africa is going to be something of a challenge. I don't think Easy Jet cover it....!

The lodgers haven't had their CRB checks yet. Interestingly, though, we had a letter from Birmingham to apologise for not allocating us a social worker yet for a screening visit, but saying they'll do it as soon as possible. I can only guess there's been a clerical error and we've slipped through without the CRB checks for the lodgers. It would be fun to actually benefit from a clerical error!!! I suspect they will realise their mistake soon.

I have decided to chill out about the adoption thing until we're back from Africa. There's loads to do before we go and although I would have liked to have got further on our adoption journey before we leave for the summer, it's probably not worth the emotional energy needed to chase things up. I will therefore let the wheels of bureaucracy trundle. If anything progresses before we leave, that's great, if not, we'll just pick things up when we get back.

Right. Off to feed some ducks!