Today has been an interesting day. The whole week, for that matter. Through a chain of events I never anticipated, I have added two more to my clan. Yes, six.
So it happened like this: I am at a friendly BBQ with my son and his friends and meet a fellow mom at the party who is a judge. She plants a seed: She says I should be a foster mom for "emergency babies"...you know, those babies who they are trying to place with a relative, but are waiting for clearance. SHORT TERM. Two days to two weeks. I think, "Yeah, right." Maybe in some distant future.
Did I mention i have a sister-in-law who works for CPS?? So my OTHER sister-in-law decides to have her baby at home, (YEAH!) and has a midwife who is both a foster mom and a midwife. WOW. I am in awe. During the birth i see that she is completely normal, (not crazy) and appears to be okay. I also learn of two local moms who have gone the foster parent route in order to adopt.
Three months later I decide to "inquire". You don't just "inquire" about fostering. If you have a heart, you start figuring out ways that YOU can do it. I really enjoyed the classes and before I knew it, i was taking CPR and first aid with my husband...and then it started. First, we thought we would take an older boy...like, three or four. The more serious I got, the more I realized how important it would be for me to bond with the child and the younger my preference got. Every step of the way, I thought, "this is optional. I can back out at ANY time..." However, I did feel a direction from GOD and an urgency I couldn't explain. In myself, I kept trying to back out. But i thought, "what is the harm in getting the liscense, I don't have to take any actual kids..." Yet, I still felt an urgency...and I was talking about getting two. A one year old and a newborn. HA HA. We were told siblings are difficult to place and most of the time they are very close in age. I also learned that it is good to keep your birth order of your birth children. Being that my youngest is 2 1/2 years, I thought, well, we w0uld have to take one or two Under two.
Around Christmas, i cried because I felt that i needed to pray for any pending foster children...especially if one is in Utero that we could end up with. I kept feeling a push, a shove, really, I couldn't explain, like God was telling me..."GET IT DONE" (My liscensing, that is)
Mid January, my kids break out in Chicken Pox, first one, then the other. Meanwhile,I prayed, "God, did i obey you??" By now, I am sure you have guessed it. Those children are now sleeping in my house tonight. We don't know if we will have them past Tuesday, or past their next hearing, or if relatives are going to pop out of the woodwork. They could. They might, but somehow I doubt it.
By the way, the first few hours I was full of adrenaline and scarred out of my freaking mind. Ask me tomorrow how I feel after a night with a five week old I cannot nurse. But somehow, throught the course of the day and with a TON of extra grace today, I got through it. And you think God is a figment of my imagination....
So it happened like this: I am at a friendly BBQ with my son and his friends and meet a fellow mom at the party who is a judge. She plants a seed: She says I should be a foster mom for "emergency babies"...you know, those babies who they are trying to place with a relative, but are waiting for clearance. SHORT TERM. Two days to two weeks. I think, "Yeah, right." Maybe in some distant future.
Did I mention i have a sister-in-law who works for CPS?? So my OTHER sister-in-law decides to have her baby at home, (YEAH!) and has a midwife who is both a foster mom and a midwife. WOW. I am in awe. During the birth i see that she is completely normal, (not crazy) and appears to be okay. I also learn of two local moms who have gone the foster parent route in order to adopt.
Three months later I decide to "inquire". You don't just "inquire" about fostering. If you have a heart, you start figuring out ways that YOU can do it. I really enjoyed the classes and before I knew it, i was taking CPR and first aid with my husband...and then it started. First, we thought we would take an older boy...like, three or four. The more serious I got, the more I realized how important it would be for me to bond with the child and the younger my preference got. Every step of the way, I thought, "this is optional. I can back out at ANY time..." However, I did feel a direction from GOD and an urgency I couldn't explain. In myself, I kept trying to back out. But i thought, "what is the harm in getting the liscense, I don't have to take any actual kids..." Yet, I still felt an urgency...and I was talking about getting two. A one year old and a newborn. HA HA. We were told siblings are difficult to place and most of the time they are very close in age. I also learned that it is good to keep your birth order of your birth children. Being that my youngest is 2 1/2 years, I thought, well, we w0uld have to take one or two Under two.
Around Christmas, i cried because I felt that i needed to pray for any pending foster children...especially if one is in Utero that we could end up with. I kept feeling a push, a shove, really, I couldn't explain, like God was telling me..."GET IT DONE" (My liscensing, that is)
Mid January, my kids break out in Chicken Pox, first one, then the other. Meanwhile,I prayed, "God, did i obey you??" By now, I am sure you have guessed it. Those children are now sleeping in my house tonight. We don't know if we will have them past Tuesday, or past their next hearing, or if relatives are going to pop out of the woodwork. They could. They might, but somehow I doubt it.
By the way, the first few hours I was full of adrenaline and scarred out of my freaking mind. Ask me tomorrow how I feel after a night with a five week old I cannot nurse. But somehow, throught the course of the day and with a TON of extra grace today, I got through it. And you think God is a figment of my imagination....
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