8/10/2011

As of Monday night, we have two new foster children in our home.

I hadn't published anything here, but we have actually turned down 2 foster placements in the last month. One was simply too soon after our miscarriage and we said no in order to allow ourselves more time to grieve. The second time was simply a bad fit for our family, with the ages of the children so we said no.

On Monday the call was for the placement of a 2-year-old girl and 4-year-old girl, only to find out later that the 2-year-old was a boy. Regardless, we said yes.

The 4-year-old girl, whom I will call Amy on this blog (not her real name), has some developmental delays from a car accident she was involved in a few years ago. She wears diapers. She doesn't speak much and is generally slow in understanding and learning.

The 2-year-old boy, whom I will call Jason on this blog (not his real name), is all boy. He will turn 3 this week, so he is close in age to my son. He wants to run, jump, hit, throw, climb and get into general mischief - like most boys his age!

I am always amazed at how much you can learn about a child's parents/upbringing by observing the child's behavior, words and mannerisms. These two children were obviously cussed at regularly. Therefore I have been called more swear words in the last 48 hours than I care to count. These children were left to fend for themselves, so they will try to get their own food from the fridge and fill up cups from the faucet. They hear commands (like "please pick up the toys") but have no reason to act on what they hear (so they don't pick up the toys, but walk away and do something else entirely). They have no manners but are used to being barked at, so that is what they are repeating. "Come here!" "Give me that!"

On the lighter side of things, my 8-year-old daughter is quite unfamiliar with swear words. So upon hearing the kids screaming some of their curses, she said "Are they even speaking English?"

This placement will be short-term, but we don't know how short-term yet. We anticipate one month or less, but we know from past experience that things can change quickly with foster care.

If you're inclined to pray for us, we would appreciate it.
*Pray for Amy and Jason as they adjust to living in our home (new rules, new place, new people, etc)
*Pray for our family as we adjust to having these two with us
*Pray for Amy and Jason's family - especially their parents to get things together and work towards reunifying their family
*Pray for God's strength and wisdom for all involved
*Pray for God to be glorified through us and through these circumstances, because bringing Him glory is our purpose in all of life.

More to come on how things progress with these two as the days go by.