Getting to know them

I started telling the story of our first placement (child) in the previous post. As you probably already know he was not our one and only! I am not going to go into detail about each and every child we have had in our home. For one, that would take about 27 posts, and two, I want to protect the children and not post too much about their situation or behaviors. What I am going to do though, is tell a story about each one that we absolutely will never forget. Each one of the kids that comes into our home holds such a special place in our heart, and so I want to share a little bit of that with you.

  After D was in our home a few months, we had the opportunity to take care of two little girls(sibling group). One of the girls was 4 weeks old and the other little girl was 7 years old. I am going to refer to them as L(4wks) and R(7yrs). Having three kids in our home came with many challenges, but I loved having girls in the house! I will never forget the incredible challenge of getting all three of the kids up every morning and in the car just to drive two minutes down the road to drop ONE of them off at school! Haha! If our mornings would have been monitored with a video camera, we would win $10,000.00 on America's Funniest Home Videos.... no doubt. R was always throwing a curve ball at me with her outfit choice for the day. D and L never failed to spit up(or something else) right as we were headed out the door. Most days I forgot to even look in the mirror before we left, so I was a sight to see myself. I will never forget the day we took R shopping for the first time. She didn't come with clothes, so part of me was frustrated, but the shopping side of me was STOKED. That shopping side of me got squished when I realized that this little girl was no where near a lover of shopping! That was ok though, because it ended up being a quick trip for the family of five! Such a funny time that involves so many more details. Little L was so extremely tiny when we got her that we weren't really sure what to do with her. By the time she left, she had gained some weight and melted Joshua's heart by smiling for the first time... at HIM! He loved it! We had the girls in our home about 5 weeks. We think about them frequently, and every now and again a funny story will come up that will definitely bring a smile to our faces. 

  As time goes on I will share more stories about some of the other children that have been in our home. There is so many emotions that come with foster care. I wish I had enough room to explain everything that comes with it. If you are reading this, and you might be pondering caring for foster children in your home... I will be the first to tell you to go for it and dive in to it head first. God instructs us to take care of the orphans, and even though these children's parents are still living the majority of the time, they still have a deep need for love and care. Foster care is not for the faint of heart by no means, but I would not trade the last year of our lives for anything.