Monday, November 20, 2017

Foster care update.

We haven't done a foster care update in awhile, basically because there isn't a ton to update. In case you don't know the back story, we took the PS-MAPP class (what you need to take to become licensed for foster care/adoption) last summer. After the first weeks of class, we found out we were pregnant, and near the end of the class we found out it was twins (surprise!). This definitely changed our original timeline of how we thought this would look for us!

We are currently just on the respite care list, which is providing short term care for children already in foster care, so basically like helping out current foster parents. This happens if they go out of town and are unable to bring their foster children with or the foster children aren't allowed to travel, if there is a crisis or emergency in the family, etc. We haven't had too many calls for it, but unfortunately have had to turn a few of them down, either because Lucy and Ellory were still so small, or because we were gone or had family visiting.

But, a few weeks ago, we dove in and did it! We were asked, and didn't have a legitimate reason to say no, and felt the Lord nudging us to do it. We thought we would give it a try and see how it goes, so we could have some real experience rather than just talk. We had a 6 year old boy and 5 year old girl for three days, so we had 5 kids! It was crazy and loud, but we made it. It was surprising how hard it was as times, and it was also surprising at how good it was at times. 

I feel like I could write a book about it, but I won't because we are still processing feelings and what the next steps are with this for us, and also for their privacy I don't want to share intimate details. It was neat and scary all at the same time to see lots of the things we talked about in our training right before our eyes. It was interesting to see how it affected Norah, both in positive and negative ways (but the positive outweighs the negative overall). It's hard to share attention, toys, space, with kids who don't know anything about your family's rules or routines, but Norah still talks about them with fondness. It's such a real lesson for her too, to practice living out loving others.

Basically, foster care is messy and hard, yet beautiful too. It was exhausting and demanding, but also incredible to serve Him and love on kids who desperately need it in such a tangible way. It was absolutely worth it, because I overheard the boy ask Kley why we pray and he got to share about Jesus with him. He said that no one had ever told him about Jesus before. It still brings tears to my eyes.

What do we know now? We don't have a lot of definite answers, but we are glad we did it and would do respite again. Not all the time, but sometimes. We don't feel ready for a long term placement, but we will keep praying and talking and see in awhile when our girls are a little older. 

(This is a really neat article I read about foster children needing the church!)


  1. So proud of you following the prompting in your heart from God!!! ❤️

