Fostering

We've been going through the process to become foster parents for almost a year.  We had a few breaks in the process for other things but finally completed it about a month ago.  People often ask why we are doing this and there are 3 reasons...1) All the books we were reading in Sunday School talked about us taking action.  I read a good quote recently that sums this up, "Instead of telling people you are in our thoughts and prayers, we should tell them you are in our actions and prayers."  2) Mark and I have always had a love for children (one of the reasons I fell in love with Mark was seeing him interact with children).  We met and dated while working together with a youth group.  3) We have always viewed our home as a gift from God that should be shared with others.  It's been a blessing to open it up to others.  These three reasons led us to pursue fostering as a way for us to serve God and give back to others.

Two weeks after all documentation was complete we got our first call.  We took in a 3 year old little boy.  He was with us for a week, until he was moved to a home that could care for both him and his sister.  I so wish I was allowed to post a picture because he was the cutest little guy.  He had lots of personality and an infectious little smile.

While the first week was super busy trying to get all his appointments taken care of, we were blessed by God and His people as little details were worked out over and over for us.  It's been really neat to see things happen and realize that they are due to God working!  People brought meals and shared toys and clothing.  Little things also meant a lot...Caroline learned to buckle her own seat belt and was able to move to the back seat of the van so our little man could sit in the middle.  An appointment that I knew was at 1:30 was miraculously moved to 2:00 on the day our little guys was leaving ensuring that we had plenty of time to say goodbye to him.  Those little things meant that God was watching over us in this new world of fostering.

We are already learning lots!  I think one of the biggest things is that we've realized so far is what a bubble we live in (and how thankful I am for that bubble - to some degree).  We heard all of these terrible stories in training and were horrified that those things could actually happen.  I think I swept those stories away thinking that they were just the extreme cases.  However, the situation with our first placement and a call that we received about another possible placement have made us realize that these horrors are real life for these children.  Mark always teases me about my big heart but his heart is growing like crazy too because we just want to take them all in!!  Although we don't know what is ahead for our family we've been repeating, "Let's trust God together."  We are looking forward to our next placement.