Yesterday I was checking some of my thumb drives looking for an empty one for my training. I came across many pictures of previous foster kids. Touches my heart to see those memories and wonder where they are now. Some I still hear from, other states and other cities. They have grown up to be parents themselves and I pray their kids never have to know about foster care. I am raising the baby of one of my previous fosters and I tragically write to one of my former fosters in prison.These kids you have in your home will grow up and you can and are making a difference in their lives today and the lives of their children.
I came across a picture of Nancy, a former foster of one of my friends. By chance I have known Nancy's aunt for 30 years, but found out last year that she was related to Nancy. When Nancy was in my friends home with her older sister she was 5 years old. She was a cute little spit fire. Even at 5 she and her sister had already been moved many times from home to home. We called her fancy Nancy because she always wanted to wear her foster mom's high heels and carry a purse whether she was in a bathing suit or pajamas. The aunt told me that Nancy was still in foster care after all these years. Nancy should be around 13 or 14 by now and never found a forever home. No one in the family is able to take her and I just cant get her off my mind.
Nancy has spent her life in foster care and my heart tells me I need to find her and see if we can take her. But anyone that has spent their life in foster care has to be a hard kid to raise, right? That's what I keep reasoning in my head. But we have 20 kids already that would be a little crazy right? We have really hard kids, I cant take another hard kid, right? I work full time and just cant take on any more on. My husband would freak if I said just one more. My kids would freak if I said just one more. How could we afford one more? These are all the questions that run through my head.
Will Nancy grow up to be one more statistic? One more kid that ages out of foster care with no place to call home and no family to call her own? That little 5 year old smiles back at me from the picture with the ocean behind her and hair blowing in the wind. That 5 year old had many hopes and dreams. Has she lost all those hopes and dreams these 8 or 10 years later? How hard would it be for me to find her now? God has blessed us with 20, even he wouldn't expect us to make it 21, right?
All this being said. What is stopping you? What barriers is the enemy throwing up that is stopping you today? Pray about it and NEVER GIVE UP!
I came across a picture of Nancy, a former foster of one of my friends. By chance I have known Nancy's aunt for 30 years, but found out last year that she was related to Nancy. When Nancy was in my friends home with her older sister she was 5 years old. She was a cute little spit fire. Even at 5 she and her sister had already been moved many times from home to home. We called her fancy Nancy because she always wanted to wear her foster mom's high heels and carry a purse whether she was in a bathing suit or pajamas. The aunt told me that Nancy was still in foster care after all these years. Nancy should be around 13 or 14 by now and never found a forever home. No one in the family is able to take her and I just cant get her off my mind.
Nancy has spent her life in foster care and my heart tells me I need to find her and see if we can take her. But anyone that has spent their life in foster care has to be a hard kid to raise, right? That's what I keep reasoning in my head. But we have 20 kids already that would be a little crazy right? We have really hard kids, I cant take another hard kid, right? I work full time and just cant take on any more on. My husband would freak if I said just one more. My kids would freak if I said just one more. How could we afford one more? These are all the questions that run through my head.
Will Nancy grow up to be one more statistic? One more kid that ages out of foster care with no place to call home and no family to call her own? That little 5 year old smiles back at me from the picture with the ocean behind her and hair blowing in the wind. That 5 year old had many hopes and dreams. Has she lost all those hopes and dreams these 8 or 10 years later? How hard would it be for me to find her now? God has blessed us with 20, even he wouldn't expect us to make it 21, right?
All this being said. What is stopping you? What barriers is the enemy throwing up that is stopping you today? Pray about it and NEVER GIVE UP!
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