I've recieved a number of emails from some of the people who read this blog saying that they are praying for us and Jumoke.  Please continue to pray for us. Even after I finish my time writing in this blog, there will be a number of months that our family and that Jumoke will need continued prayer. As the Lord brings us to mind, please cover us with prayer.

Please pray for tomorrow.  On Wednesday at 1:00, we will be taking Jumoke to PLAN and releasing him into their care.  We will be telling Jumoke that he will be leaving our family and that PLAN will find him another family. Please pray that the Lord gives us the right words.  Please pray that for my sake and Tim's sake, that this doesn't become one of Jumoke's "shows", but rather that it be handled with grace and dignity worthy of the sorrow of the situation. We know that he probably won't miss us as people, but he very well might have a strong reaction to losing the only place he's known as home.  On the other hand, he might be very excited to be able to leave.

Please pray for his foster family, who will be taking him on for 2 months.  They are people that Jumoke knows, and when he finds out who they are, he will be happy. This creates a bit of a difficult situation, because his grieving process will be delayed for some time while he enjoys being at these folks house.  Please pray that the Lord gives them wisdom regarding Jumoke and that the younger children in their home would be protected.

Please pray for Don from PLAN.  Don will be the one to be the objective party letting Jumoke know that he will never be coming back to our house. That no matter how he behaves, the option to come back to his old home is closed.  Please pray blessings on this man, who has been an objective guide and even friend during this process of trying to work thru and see thru all the junk.

Please pray for the folks at PLAN who will decide where Jumoke will be placed permanently, that the Lord will give them wisdom and that Jumoke will be placed with the exact right family who can reach him and work with him.  The foster family is interested in being this family for Jumoke...pray for them in this as well.

Please pray for my extended family as they grapple with this and try to understand. This decision is very painful and personal for some of them. The aunts and uncles, the cousins, especially the Nana.  My heart cries that I am the one that has made a decision that is causing them this pain and confusion. 

Please pray for Jumoke's future family. Our hope in all of this is that Jumoke will be healthy and bond closely with a family, that he will be a part of a loving unit of people.  That his life will be about more than just getting food and having a place to sleep and kids to play with.

And of course, please pray for us. For our children at home. For our older married children. For Tim and I.  That joy would be restored in our home. That life would return to us. Right now we are flat. We slip thru the hours of each day unremarkably.  We seem to have forgotten how to live. Please pray for us.

We will never be the same. 

But maybe what we were wasn't so hot to begin with.  Maybe being with Jumoke for four years was just what was needed for us to become "something more".

Please pray that the Father raises "something more" out of this situatuion.