Foster Parenting ?!?!

People think that John and I are nuts, but we just want more kids. We have been so blessed with two happy, healthy babies who are growing up at lightning speed before our eyes... but still, we want a larger family.

I think for me it comes from being an only child. I was just so lonely growing up, and a lot of the lessons I had to learn later in life I think I would've learned earlier if I'd had siblings. And now, I've been blessed with a friend who's like a sister in every way but name (love you, Amber!!), but I'd hate to think what my life would be like without that connection. I would not rob my children of that experience for anything in the world -- not for my own comfort or theirs. I truly believe that God used those experiences to create this drive in me have more children. And not just for my kids, but for us, too. As fate would have it, it looks like we are not going to have any more biological children. So, now what?

We looked at international adoption, which is an incredible thing, but the expense is certainly a problem. Domestic adoption was never really an option for us... not in the way of having a birth mother pick you. I think for us it's always been about finding children who need a home. There's an abundance of people who want to adopt the babies. What about everybody else?

I had taken to watching "Adoption Stories" on Discovery Health, and those stories of foster parents who had adopted their children were just fantastic to me. "These are the kids who need us", I thought. For me, that was pretty much it. I started to work on John about it, but this was at the very beginning of our Christian days, and he just really wasn't that excited about the prospect. God worked on him though, and it wasn't long before he agreed. So, we started the process, but a few months later, the agency determined that we didn't spend enough time at home to qualify as foster parents.

So our goal for this last year was to be ready to try again this summer. God has blessed us in ways that I just didn't think were possible. We became youth leaders in our church. John got a promotion that allows him to pretty much set his own schedule. We moved to a house that is much larger, and is much better suited for a larger family. And God never let us forget that it was for an eventual goal -- there would be foster children in this house with us.

So, a few weeks ago, we contacted the case worker (CW), and we let her know that we wanted to try again, and that we spent a considerably larger amount of time at home. We thought we were going to have to take the classes again, and re-do all the paperwork, but we were okay with that. And let me just emphasize here, that this is now a calling for the both of us. John went from apathetic to just as excited and anxious as I am about this possibility.

So, last week we got a call from the CW. We had a referral of THREE CHILDREN!! We had 10-14 days to finish our paperwork and have our homestudy so that we could take in these three kids. So, we worked hard for a solid week to finish everything so that they'd have a place to go. Everything just went perfect.

Then, the day after we were certified (Friday), we contacted the CW, and she let us know that a relative had decided to retain custody of the kids.

And so we were introduced to the particular hardships of foster parenting. I have to say that we're still feeling a little lost right now, but I know that God has a purpose for all of this. Our youth leader said that it could be that having those kids stay in their family was an answer to a prayer. Wow. What a way to look at it, and I hope that's the case. As for us, it's back to business as usual -- sort of. Now there forever looms this chance of a phone call that can change it all in an instant.

I'll let you know when we get it.