Going Through the Motions

This song has really been ministering to my life the past couple of months. I so desire to NOT just go through the motions. I want to have a passion for the things that matter to Christ and have my life reflect those things in action. Orphans internationally and our modern-day orphans in the foster care system have been heavy on my heart. I am excited to see God giving me more passion in this area, getting me past my fears, and giving me ways to make a difference.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_rmCeAzqKc

Darin and I just completed our foster parenting classes a couple weeks ago. These classes are an eye opener for sure!!! It is heart breaking to hear about the abuse and neglect that so many innocent children go through on a daily basis!!!! It is so sad that there are so FEW foster care homes to care for these children until their parents can address the issues that resulted in their child being removed from their home.

I was challenged emotionally week after week. To see videos and hear stories from children about their experiences of being moved from home to home and how they view adults after stuff they have been through...it just really ripped my heart apart. It is NO wonder that children would have behavior and emotional issues after some of the situations these precious children have come out of. The biggest issue for children is trust! How difficult it must be to trust anybody when the people that you love and say they love you hurt you. It is difficult for children to not put up HUGE walls to protect themselves from being hurt again or allowing themselves to feel love.

I will be honest that I had a pretty narrow view of foster parenting before I started these classes. I always thought that to do foster parenting you had to take on children for a couple of years and then they would be taken away, it would be too expensive, too difficult, too uncomfortable, etc. God has been breaking through ALL of these fears and misconceptions and speaking to my heart that it doesn't matter about ME and MY fears comfort, etc. it is about HIS hurting children. We are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus. What better way to serve Jesus than by touching the life of His little ones.

After this class I realized that there are MANY options to help in the foster care system. You can take minimal training and provide care for a child ONCE a month to give that child's foster parents a break or you can provide a week or weekend of care for current foster parents. The next level would be to take the traditional 30 hours of foundations training to be able to provide short-term or emergency shelter for children. The same training gives you the option of being a long-term care provider or the option of adopting a child out of the foster care system. The options to serve are endless and VERY needed.

At this point our family will provide short-term/emergency care while we are waiting for our adoption to move along. We have a specific time frame that we can work under with our adoption and hope to be of help during that time. Our adoption comes first so at this point the timing of all of this in God's hands. Darin and I are a bit nervous about taking in foster children, but are so excited and pray that God will work through our family to touch the life of his precious children. I know it will be probably one of the hardest thing we have ever done, but it will be so rewarding at the same time. Our boys are really excited to have foster children in our home. It has been a great time of discussion with them. We have talked about the many challenges and the joy that will go along with this decision and we are all in agreement to move forward.

On a side note, all the training and preparing for foster parenting has really helped with the long wait of our adoption. The funny thing is now I am waiting for TWO calls. The first is the call on the referral for our precious Indian princess and now the second call from DHS to place children in our home. It is never a dull ride when God is in control.

I would encourage anybody who has ever thought about or even considered doing anything with the foster care system to look at the different options that are available and see if there is a way you can contribute your time to help with such HUGE need.