Foster Parenting - Log #10
5/11/2011
When you're a foster parent, life can change in an instant. On Monday, we were saying good-bye to my mom who was visiting for the weekend. We were cleaning the house, catching up on laundry, doing the usual things. At 3:00 we got "the call" asking if we would consider a sibling group of 4 children - ages 10, 3, 2, and 1.
We knew from our previous experience that we should stay with children younger than our daughter, who is 7. We said we couldn't take the 10-year-old but would consider the other 3. After she made a few other calls, the caseworker recommended that we take the two boys - the 3 and 1 year olds. Another foster family could take the two girls.
We made a quick stop at Target to buy the right size car seat for the 3-year-old. Months ago I had purchased an infant car seat that we took with us to use for the 1-year-old.
At 5:00, we met "the boys" for the first time. We'll call the 3-year-old Chase and the 1-year-old Davey on this blog (as a ward of the state, the identity of each foster child is confidential and needs to remain private so no usage of real names and no posting of pictures are allowed).
Details on their situation are very sketchy and neither of the boys are old enough to really explain much to us. We don't know at this point if they'll be with us for just a few weeks or if it will last months, but there is that possibility. Court will be held later today, so we'll know more about how things need to proceed after that.
Turns out that Chase isn't 3 after all - he turned 4 a few weeks ago. He and my 3-year-old son, well, they aren't getting along that well yet. As you would expect with any young children, they are fighting over toys and not wanting to share and occasionally hitting or kicking. They are boys... and like to chase each other all around the house!
Little Davey is toddling around, following the other kids wherever they go. And he is quite the eater - he is consistently eating more than my 3-year-old son does. We're getting back into the swing of having a little guy who takes morning and afternoon naps. So far, so good on the sleeping patterns!
More to come as their situation unfolds and we adjust to life with 4 children (ages 7 and under) in our home. As always, your prayers on our behalf are appreciated and needed. May Jesus Christ be glorified in us and through us, as we act as His hands and His feet to bring a glimpse of the Kingdom of God to earth.
2 comments:
How exciting! It's always exciting to get, "the call!"
I thought I'd introduce myself to you, as I've been reading your blog for a couple of months, but never commented. My name is Bella and I'm almost 16 years old. My family also homeschools and foster parents. I have a huge passion for orphans and I absolutely LOVE foster parenting. Before we started, I was constantly writing persuasive essays and asking over and over again to my parents if we could do it. My mom wanted to also, but it was my dad who was the one we were waiting on. However, in December 2008 he decided that we could give it a try.
After being put on a waiting list for the agency we originally were interested in, we decided to go through our county's agency.
We had our last home visit on April 3, 2009, and we got a call on April 6, 2009! There was a three day old baby girl who was leaving the hospital, and needed a foster home in 90 minutes! We sprinted through Wal-Mart, trying to think of what we would need. At around 5:30 that evening, she arrived at our home. She was beautiful! She had precious blue eyes and adorable blonde hair. We were told that she would be a short term placement (probably 2 weeks at the most), but in classic roller coaster style, things changed.
On June 2, 2010, after an over 1 year long journey, we adopted "A!" While the journey was emotionally and physically exhausting, it brought us closer together as a family, and it brought us closer to God.
We took a break from fostering over the summer and into the fall, then opened our home back up in November 2010. Since then we've had several calls, only one of which we had to say no to. (It was for an 8 year old boy, and we have a six year old girl and two year old girl.) The other calls didn't work out, simply because by the time my mom would talk to my dad about it, a relative or another family had been found. We did get to do a one week respite placement at the end of March for a two year old girl and 8 month old boy. It was lots of fun and it was a good way to "step back into foster parenting."
So, we wait... We could get a call anyday now. :)
If you ever (I know you are probably super busy right now) want to follow along on our journey, my blog address is: http://as-for-me-and-myhouse.blogspot.com. Additionally, if you visit the blog, be sure to check out A's Adoption Video. You can find it the page at the top that says "A's Video." It is a video/picture montage from the moment we got her (real video footage) up to right before her adoption. (We showed it at her adoption.) It's set to music that was especially meaningful throughout our journey with her.
If you've made it through this long comment, thank you for reading a little about my family's story.
Know that you, your family, and these precious little boys are in my prayers. Looking forward to watching as this story unfolds.
Matthew 18:5- "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me."
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