On Having a Callingby Fatherofeight | More from this Blogger 16 Jan 2007 04:22 PM I will never forget my retirement reception at work. Most businesses have cut back on these events and Shell's way of doing that was to host a retirement event for two of us at the same time. The other man got up to make his speech. He had worked until he had reached full retirement age and had thirty years of service with the company, just what ninety-five percent of the audience were planning to do. He and his wife own a home located on a cliff hanging over the ocean in Maine. He talked about sitting on the front porch and sipping his favorite alcoholic beverage while watching the waves come in. The consensus of the group was that he would have a wonderful retirement. Then it was my turn. I was leaving the company six years before achieving full retirement age. That is what the other five percent of my audience dreamed of being able to do. I talked about unfulfilled dreams. It involved my passion for helping homeless people, particularly children. I talked about going into housing projects and family shelters. Most of the people looked at me like I was crazy. If I had told them that I was going to shave my head and dance and chant at Jackson Square in New Orleans, they would not have been any more shocked. Two or three smiled and nodded their heads with approval. Several years later, I was driving our church van with a load of people into the Star of Hope Family Shelter in downtown Houston. Coming out of the shelter was a group of very upper management Shell executives who had been there for a United Way campaign related tour. I knew almost every one of them. I had worked with or for some of them, and others I had just "grown up with" at Shell. For a moment, I did some "what if" thinking. What happened next really surprised me. I was unloading our puppet boxes out of the back of the van. I turned around and the people from Shell had lined up to shake my hand, one at a time. Each one of them wished me well, even the few that I did not know. It was not a tribute to me. It was a tribute to my wife who loves children and taught me to be child sensitive. It was a tribute to our God who has inspired us and given us these children. Isaiah just walked by me, he is probably the most beautiful child on this earth. He hugged me and smiled; it made me cry. Related Blogs: Relevantadoption tags relationships | pregnancy | baby | christmas | Scrapbooking | parenting | family | holidays | children | Food User Comments  Andrea Hermitt (5512) 16 Jan 2007 04:18 PMMy husband and I are hoping to retire in about 20 years (around the time we turn 60). We can't wait to be able to fulfill our callings!  Linda Hansen (1796) 16 Jan 2007 05:07 PMLike I said, God has "plans" for us. They may not necessarily be the ones we had originally made for ourselves. Sitting on a deck in Maine, hmmmm, that'll never happen. Mine is more like setting up the picnic table in the backyard. Glad you got to see former coworkers, God likes for others to see His work in action. Art VNorris (25) 16 Jan 2007 06:28 PMMr. Paul, My husband and I have been trying to adopt an older sibling group of boys. I have been praying about a sibling group of five boys. I asked the Lord to send me a sign and I ask that it be clear and I found your blog yesterday. And by the way we are AA my husband has five brother and I am a nurse attorney we live in Katy, TX. Please keep writing you never know who you may touch. Vernell  Fatherofeight (2475) 16 Jan 2007 07:18 PMAndrea, I was 40 once, I feel like I am 40 now. How about this, I was able to retire at 54. When you are called, you never know when you are going to retire. When a church has a guest missionary from XYZ, they always, it seems, say that they were praying to be sent anywhere but XYZ, God is funny that way. For a long time, we kept trying to tell God what our calling was, He finally got our attention. Fatherofeight (2475) 16 Jan 2007 07:21 PMArt, we are thinking the same thoughts again, I just wrote Andrea and told her what you are telling me. God had to shake us a little to get us to let go of what we thought we were supposed to be doing. Sounds like you and your husband found it though. Fatherofeight (2475) 16 Jan 2007 07:27 PMVernell, please call me Ed. We also live in the Houston area. If you guys get to the place that you may need recommendations for adoption agencies, and so forth, let me know. There are a lot, a whole lot, of older sibling groups of minority children available. I assume that you are familiar with the state website that talks about them. Keep praying, ther are some kids out there that are praying for a family, they think that they have been passed over because of their age. By the way, there is an interesting story in the chronicle about oster children aging out of the system and what they do then. Crickett (272) 16 Jan 2007 08:30 PMBy the way, I just found an article about the missing baby- the one where the drugged out mom gave her baby away near San Antonio. A couple in California gave the child up today, and he is fine. Here is the link if anyone is interested: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4474003.html Crickett  rsbg (501) 16 Jan 2007 09:29 PMi agree with Vernell, please keep blogging! i learn something in every blog that i read of yours. Fatherofeight (2475) 16 Jan 2007 09:33 PMCrickett, I just did a search on chron.com using the words "hay center" and it came up. It was an article in yesterday's paper. The lady that runs it is named Linda Jayne, her name might pull up the article also. rsbg (501) 16 Jan 2007 09:37 PMand i'm sure your speech touched more people than you know (just like your blogs)!!!! yes maine sounds good for a little while, what you and your wife are doing is much more rewarding!!!!!!!!! Fatherofeight (2475) 16 Jan 2007 09:51 PMThanks rsbg, I am in the middle of a blog about healing and why it is so slow sometimes with special needs children, I will have it up in 30 minutes or so. Support like yours keeps me going. Its fun becoming friends as we talk about these things. PATTI (580) 17 Jan 2007 08:01 AMDear Ed, this article brought tears to my eyes. Your's and Nancy's calling is God-given. PATTI Fatherofeight (2475) 17 Jan 2007 04:17 PMPatti, I like to tell people that do work with children that it is a Holy calling Community Tags homeless children, housing projects, inspiration to adopt, shelter Discuss this article
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