Today, looking at the most beautiful little face, the little toddling toddles, and the shrill screams for dada, I am thankful for being able to participate in being a foster family. It's tiring, draining, and so very sad. It's also joyful, beautiful, and so very loving. We're raising someone's child. We are responsible for loving and caring for a child that is not ours, a child we have to return to another family member. It's the saddest, most honest, and most rewarding thing I've ever done. I love seeing the changes occur in these little helpless beings. I love watching them learn to trust us, to love us, to call for us, to cling to us. I love watching my boys take charge and become siblings to these children. I love it and it breaks my heart at the same time. I love hearing strangers call her "your sister" I love watching my husband melt and run to her as if she's in danger, all because she squealed for "dada". I love seeing my 4 year old holding a bright orange ring. I asked what it was for. He said "it reminds me of Jay". I love it and it breaks my heart. The most amazing part of being heartbroken, God puts it back together so you can love the next child. We know these little people for a short while. They probably won't remember us. I hope their families show pictures and tell them they were part of a family. I hope they tell them that during what should have been the scariest most confusing time in their little lives, that they were safe and loved. But, I don't know if that will happen. I don't know how their stories will go, I only know, that for a short time, I was part of their story. I can only pray that for the time they are here, that that part of the story is a happy one. So, today, as much as I wish and pray that foster care wasn't needed, that people would love and care for their own children, I am thankful I can be a part of this flawed, screwed up, doing the best they can, very much needed system of Foster Care.
So as I've said before, NO ONE has the heart to give these children back, but a few (far to few) HAVE the heart to take them in and keep them safe and going into it knowing they will be heartbroken. Know, you'll cry, mourn, wipe your tears and say yes to the next child that needs help. If you have room in your heart to help the helpless, please call your local social service office and just ask some questions to see if it's something you can do.
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| Jay on the day we got him. |
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| Jay the weekend before he left. |
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| Jay's first Christmas. |
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| Little Miss taking some of her first steps. |
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| Beautiful Butterfly. |
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| Trust me, she's beautiful! |
"Their smiles are worth our tears, their healed hearts are worth so much more than our broken hearts"
1 comment:
That's really beautiful, Andrea! You should submit that to the paper.
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