My first clear memory of this calling to care for kids from hard places was in high school. I remember sifting through the mail in my kitchen and seeing a flyer with pictures of kids who needed a home. My heart ached for them and I could not figure out why my parents didn't want to do something to help them. Looking back, it was because it was MY calling, not the calling of my parents.
From the age of 16 to 33, God continued to work in my heart and give me a passion for kids who needed a home. I spent 2 years working at a school in Guatemala and during that time volunteered in an orphanage, wondering if this was my calling. I would be drawn to families who had adopted or who had fostered but God hadn't yet opened that door for me. It was years spent putting "feelers" out there but with God continuing to say, "Not yet".
When that license came in the mail in March of 2015, it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. God had placed this calling in my life as a 16 year old, but it wasn't until I was 34 years old that God opened that door and asked us to faithfully walk into the unknown. Over those 18 years I questioned, I wrestled, I wondered, and honestly, I sometimes doubted I would ever fulfill this calling God placed on my heart. When we took that step of faith and followed God into the unknown, I finally felt free... God was finally allowing me to fulfill this calling He had given to me 18 years earlier.
Over the past 4 years of being foster parents, there have definitely been highs and lows. The emotional roller coaster is real and it's unpredictable. We have learned so much! But what I am most thankful for is the way that foster care daily asks us to surrender to God and is a constant reminder that each day is a gift, both with my biological children and my foster children. I am not in control. But I follow a God who is fully in control and who can be completely trusted.
From the age of 16 to 33, God continued to work in my heart and give me a passion for kids who needed a home. I spent 2 years working at a school in Guatemala and during that time volunteered in an orphanage, wondering if this was my calling. I would be drawn to families who had adopted or who had fostered but God hadn't yet opened that door for me. It was years spent putting "feelers" out there but with God continuing to say, "Not yet".
When that license came in the mail in March of 2015, it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. God had placed this calling in my life as a 16 year old, but it wasn't until I was 34 years old that God opened that door and asked us to faithfully walk into the unknown. Over those 18 years I questioned, I wrestled, I wondered, and honestly, I sometimes doubted I would ever fulfill this calling God placed on my heart. When we took that step of faith and followed God into the unknown, I finally felt free... God was finally allowing me to fulfill this calling He had given to me 18 years earlier.
Over the past 4 years of being foster parents, there have definitely been highs and lows. The emotional roller coaster is real and it's unpredictable. We have learned so much! But what I am most thankful for is the way that foster care daily asks us to surrender to God and is a constant reminder that each day is a gift, both with my biological children and my foster children. I am not in control. But I follow a God who is fully in control and who can be completely trusted.
Since opening their license, Kim, Chad & their biological children, have welcomed 3 children into their home. They handle relationships of the biological families of the children in their home with grace and love.
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