"Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, famine and injustice in the world, when He could do something about it...but I'm afraid He may ask me the same question." (Anonymous)

Hello All,
We have, once again, been neglecting our little blog. Oops! Well, since our last post we celebrated our one year anniversary which was very exciting (and a little creepy....we ended up at a bed & breakfast that I swear had to be straight out of a horror film)! But it gave us plenty of memories, to say the least.

Date Night

Pictures of random people on the wall surrounding our bed....

The creepy faded wedding dress that was hanging on our wall may have been the eeriest part....

We are also currently on our second foster placement. We got our first placement the week before finals which was not ideal timing, but it was an incredible experience. (Sidenote: It did work out and I graduated the next week, which is another big thing since our last post - FINALLY). Anyway, back to the important stuff: The kids were 11 and (almost) 9. Boy and girl. We were a little nervous when we got the call because they were on the upper end of our age spectrum, and from a pretty sketchy background. We just kept praying that God would shut the door if he didn't want us to get them. We got the call at 2:30 in the afternoon. (This was after I had pulled an all-nighter finishing my senior project/portfolio). At 5:15 I was on my way to pick them up. By 5:45 I had completely lost my heart to these kids. They came with issues, yes. Plenty of them. But don't we all? They were dirty, smelly, constantly quoted South Park (so appropriate) and "C" had a knot in her hair the size of an infant's head. They clearly hadn't been groomed in days, and they had nothing more than the clothes on their backs. Clayton was at work, but thankfully my wonderful parents had done a quick clean-up at our house and picked up some PJs from Wal-Mart while I was on my way to get these little strangers.

After I'd gotten them fed (McDonalds - Healthy start, I know) and they'd been showered, I started to see their personalities coming through. They were so much more than just "foster kids": The title given to anyone under 18 who can't live safely at home. The title that our society tends to use hand-in-hand with "troubled youth", "high risk kids" or, in the most common (albeit ignorant) terms, "Screw-ups". These kids were beautiful. Yes, "T" enjoyed antagonizing his sister, he may have struggled with honesty, stealing, and often tested the waters to see what he could get away with. "C" was very 'parentified' (which comes with its own set of issues), she would tattle on "T" often, and was starved for attention. But their hearts were beautiful. These kids had been trampled on, neglected, abused, suffered all different kinds of abandonment, and had experienced far too much of the world at far too young of an age.
But despite their numerous issues; not being able to sit together for more than five seconds without someone getting hurt (hit, shoved, bit, hair pulled, etc), their constant bickering, "T"s defiance, "C"s whining, and the list goes on......These kids showed us what it means to not only be a parent, but to be a Christian. God accepts us even when we are beat down, filthy, defiant, and bitter. He accepts us because he sees our heart. He knows where we've been and the poor decisions we've made, but he loves us regardless. How crazy comforting is that? 

What it comes down to, is that all these kids want is to be loved. We've gotten lucky to be placed with kids who were easy to love (at least in our opinion). But even if they're prickly and argumentative and rip-off-your-ears annoying, that's ultimately what it comes down to. We are all born with that innate desire. So why is it so hard for some to find? Why aren't there more people out there willing to love on these kids (or adults) who have never truly known love? It's really easy to talk about, but why don't more people do something about it? So many people have said "Wow. That's so great that you're foster parents. I just know there's no way I could do that". Wanna bet? We have just as many issues as the next family. If you have ever been that person who sits in a coffee shop somewhere and says "oh those poor kids" or "there are just so many injustices in the world..sigh" and you are capable of loving another human being, then why not? Why "can't" you do it? More importantly, if you won't, then who will?


To finish the "T" & "C" story, after five days of loving on these kids, a friend of their Mom was located and agreed to take the kids. They were both devastated at first, begging us not to "make" them go (which only added to our difficulty in letting them go). But thankfully we've been able to stay in touch, and their caretaker truly does love them and is doing her best to get them the services and support they need. We still love getting to talk to them on occasion, and we got to buy some girl scout cookies from "C" last month, which is always exciting:) They'll always be the kids who welcomed us into the foster world. They taught us (in a brief five days) what is means to be parents, and helped purify our view of what it means to be a Christian.


We are now on our second foster placement, who we've had about a month. "Tato" is now ten months old, and the MOST BEAUTIFUL child. Since we have to protect privacy and can't post pictures publicly, you'll just have to trust us on that:) He'll likely be with us at least another 4 or 5 months, which is scary because we're already head-over-heels in love with him, and can't imagine him leaving! BUT the cycle continues....

TO BE CONTINUED

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