A Day In The Life.... A Start
It's been on my mind for some time to do a little writing about some of our highs and lows in foster care + adoption. Maybe it's to process my own struggles, maybe it's to help process theirs, maybe it's to recognize all the good and joy and success, because so many days feel like everything opposing those traits. Or maybe it's to stir up hearts to find their place in the whole messed up, mixed up yet beauty for ashes world of foster care and adoption. I know there is sometimes controversy over what is shared. - if you feel that way, you don't have to read on. While there are certainly parts that are private and for my children to share if and when they choose. However, many of the struggles they came to us with have so deeply impacted our family, our home life, our relationships and are so intricately intertwined into our lives, that it's part of all of us.
There is one thing that is certain for me - I feel like there is no way I could have ever seen or experienced the awe & depth of God adopting us into His family, like I have in this journey. It literally brings me to tears, right now, at 2am and 4.5+ years into this life.
For those who may not know our beginning in foster care, we had discussed it from time to time, and always said, one day we should do that.... In 2017 our precious, direct, children heard us discussing it and said "Well if you feel like God is putting this thought in your mind, what are you waiting for?! Just do it!" That was just the reality check we needed. If God said it, just do it!! We began the process shortly after that but weren't fully licensed until January or February 2019. We had multiple 'almost' placements but didn't officially become a foster family until April 18th, 2019. We picked up three little children from a local daycare with ONE wal-mart bag - that was everything for all three of them... let the first heartbreak begin! The one pair of clothes they had, the one on their little bodies, were mostly way too large and the shoes on their feet were nowhere near the needed size for any of them. One child, in response to the trauma of entering foster care, did not speak more than 5 words to us in 24 hours and ate about the same number of bites. It was the most unnerving thing I think I'd ever done. And I was a "kid-person"! Like 10 years of children's ministry and at least 10 years of having a childcare business, plus a mama of two!
On our way to pick them up I received an "oh, by the way" text that informed us that the 3 year old was "non-verbal". That's a pretty big deal and something we felt should have been discussed. Nevertheless, we opened our hearts and home and let the journey begin!
