Skip to main content

The Foster Care Journey

I was recently asked to write a blog, post, status, to write something, anything, about our foster care journey.  Its taken longer than planned because honestly, I have no idea what to write.  I wanted it to be more than a facebook status, so I decided to look up my blog that I started 8 years ago.  It just so happens that in May of 2010 I wrote about the VERY beginning of our foster care journey.  Our decision to walk this crazy walk of foster care has been on my mind for years.  I can remember being very young and saying I was going to adopt one day, of course nobody took me seriously.  Where I'm from people just don't do this.  Foster Care isn't a huge need and nobody that I knew was adopted. 
Fast forward several years and many friendships later, I now have a circle of friends who have chosen this path for their life as well.  I can tell you right now, I couldn't do any of this alone and having friends and acquaintances who truly "get it" is the only way we get by some days.  On the days I'm crying and wanting to give up because these kiddos are so broken and I don't have the words to help them, I need these friends in my life to encourage and uplift, if we would have quit every time we got discouraged I wouldn't have even began! 

 Family and friends support is huge, HUGE, but I couldn't do any of this without my faith either.  A quote that I stick by is "God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called."  And "called" is exactly what this is, its a calling.  When things are so tough and I feel as I'm drowning, I know that I'm doing what God has asked me to do and I have faith that I will be rewarded by Him. 

 Anyone contemplating joining this journey needs to remember this is and never will be about us. This is your entire family putting their needs, wants and desires second to care for someone lost, broken, abandoned and everything else.  The success stories make every ounce worth it.  Our first kiddos we had "E & E"  are still on the road to the happy ending.  I think about them every single day and am still in contact with their mom.  She sends pictures and updates and I am forever grateful for that.  "O" who we had for only a week, told the social workers that she wishes all kids could live with us and she highly recommends staying at our house haha.  I think she needs to remind my kids how lucky they are ;) I've gotten texts from her mom telling us how grateful she is for us that we were here for her little girl during the worst moments of her life.  THIS is why we do this.  We do this in hopes for reunification.  We pray for positive outcomes.  Every single day multiple families are being ripped apart, beaten and broken down and someone needs to step in and be a light, not just for the kids but for the whole family.  Its an overwhelming feeling to be that light.  There is nothing better than putting down your own needs and giving selflessly.  Although hard, its so so rewarding.  

 Now.. to get ready for twin 3 year olds who will be here any moment..   

 https://www.bair.org/
https://www.gofundme.com/x3a2kc3k
https://www.facebook.com/ForeverFamilyWalk/






Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1st day of many 1st days

As many of you know, Hailey started preschool this week. This was a big transition for us, bigger for me than her I think :) We were lucky enough to go on a final mini vacation the days before school (but we will save that for another blog.) Mike just got some more vacation days so I was lucky enough to have him take off work and join me in taking our baby to school. Yes, I still same baby.. and she will always be my baby.. even when she has babies of her own. This is an argument we get into often.. she insists she's a big girl.. I insist she's my baby. I did NOT want to go alone on her first day, I would have been the mom sobbing the walk back her car. We dropped Hailey off, took lots of pictures and headed to starbucks.. it was the longest 3 hours of my life! I couldnt help to think of what my baby was doing, what she was learning, if she'd gotten into trouble yet, if she'd made friends and most importantly if she was having fun. I want this to be a good experien...
1 comment
Read more

The Happiest Place on Earth!

I can not believe it has taken me 4 weeks to write this! But I want to make sure I write this now because I want to remember as much as I can! So... if you're not up for reading a long post today.. stop now haha! On May 19 we left for Florida to take Hailey to Disney World.. but Mike doesn't want me to forget that this was also his first time! Maryland weather wasn't so nice so to arrive in sunny Florida with Mickey Mouse could not have came at a better time! We had every hour of every day planned out.. not much time for rest or relaxation, but it was well worth it. The first day was probably my favorite day. I had envisioned Hailey walking into Magic Kingdom and just lighting up when she saw Cinderellas castle, mind you she had been talking about seeing the castle for months, well.... this didn't go exactly as planned. On the bus ride from the hotel to Magic Kingdom Hailey passed out, Im not talking little cat nap.. I mean could not wake her up she was so tired pas...
1 comment
Read more

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give"

"Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something" We've been thinking a lot lately about "dreams." We all have dreams as we are growing up. My dreams have always been pretty simple; get married, have babies, and be fortunate enough to help those in need. I've gotten married, I've had a baby.. hopefully we will have more, and I've always done what I can to help friends and family. But lately I've been having this urge to do more. I'm not fortunate enough to have loads of money to give to charities or those less fortunate, but I do have other ways of helping. Soooo.... after much consideration and conversations late at night we have decided to do foster care! I know what some of you are thinking.. Im crazy! And that may be true... but I couldn't be more excited about it! This is a special type of foster care that only cares for newborn babies from the time they leave the hospital until they get adopted. Normally you will have...
1 comment
Read more