Have you ever wondered how a tiny seed, when planted in the right environment, receives nurturing care, and is given time to grow, can blossom into a beautiful plant?
This natural process mirrors the journey many adoptive families embark upon. In the garden of family life, each member is both a gardener and a budding plant, contributing to and benefiting from the nurturing environment of the family. But as with any garden, there are obstacles along the way.
Despite growing up a farm girl. I’m not much of a gardener.
I’ve done enough to admire the work and commitment of those who are.
Ever planted a flower bed or vegetable garden with a very young child?
You likely didn’t require them to do all of the work themselves. You probably did some prep work to acquire the seeds and get the soil ready. And I imagine you let them do the most fun and most pivotal part — planting the seeds.
Doing the fun part helps motivate us to do the harder parts. As moms we have big jobs in the lives of our children and I know that as a Christian woman you are committed to do this important God-given job to the fullest (or else you feel demoralized and defeated).
In this introductory episode of my new series about what I’m describing as “planting seeds” in our adoptive families, I want to go over some of the obstacles you may face as an adoptive mom: obstacles to planting the good seeds, seeds of love, seeds of learning, and seeds of growth. You’ve probably seen and heard me say over and over again to keep learning, keep growing, and keep loving” and that’s as much an encouragement I want to give to you as it is a reminder and encouragement to myself. I wanted to dedicate this series of episodes to these three topics.
So as we get into this series, I decided to first talk about the seven obstacles to planting good seeds in this introductory episode.
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