I have been meaning to write for so long but something was holding me back. I really need to stop that because part of this blog writing project is for me also to look back on where we have been and where we are now and what I have learned along the way.
The end of September my two fosters children ages 7 and 10
went home to be with their family. They
were with us for 6 months. I do miss
them however the recovery process for
our family needed to happen. I
didn't realize how it really affected our family until they were gone. When I see them I get excited and I am truly glad
to see them and get happy when I hear they are doing well however I am also
glad they are where they need to be.
After they left we had a 7 month old and a 2 year old
placement. We only had them for 1 1/2
weeks. We didn't know it was going to be
so short but those placements do happen. The connection with these two little ones was
happening fast with everyone in the family. I look at this placement as a
healing touch from the Lord. These
babies were such a refresher for our kids and for me and my husband. These two little ones brought us all together
and we all fell in love with them. When
I look back I loved the midnight feedings, the slobbery kisses, the smiles and
laughs. It was a pure joy and love that
everyone in my house could feel.11 days later after the placement I get a phone
call from DHS saying that the family they have been trying to approve is
approved and can go to that family now. I was really taken back because I had no idea
they were even trying to approve another family. This was not a relative. It was a family that went to their church. I had 1 hour to gather their things and to
bring them to the family. My two older
children were gone and I knew they would be heart broken when they got home but
this was something I had to bring myself to do. After gathering myself and
shedding some tears and ran around the house like a chicken with my head cut
off trying to fit all their things in the car. I was praying from all the way
to DHS. Selfishly I was praying I would
not look like a babbling idiot as I turned over the children. I also prayed for the safety of these
kids. Once I got there I met the family
to whom these little ones would be with. They were so nice and friendly. I could see the joy in the 2 year olds face
as he made eye contact with the lady and put up his arms really high for her to
pick him up. This put my heart at ease
and made me feel so much better. Thank
you Jesus!!! I was now able to return to my family and comfort them and I told
them of the new family. I was thankful
that the foster situation was only 11 days and not 1 year!! Eeek!! That kind of
scares me when I think about it like that.
The returning of the babies happened on a Tuesday and on
Thursday I get a phone call asking me if I would like to babysit a 10 month old
baby who was just brought in to care. Actually
it was my old foster children's nephew (the 7 and 10 year old that I talked
about in the second paragraph in this post). For one this was horrible that
this baby was now part of the system and I knew him -- he is such a good baby
however I had no desire to babysit. This
did nothing for me on the inside at all. I said "no that is not something
I would like to get into." She
asked me what ages I was looking for. I
told her right now we are taking a break but then I added "in a perfect
world I would be looking for 2 girls ages 4 and 5." She replied with
"OH REALLY?" Oh no……….here it
comes. She explained to me that over the
weekend they got a placement of 4 children -- ages 4,5,6,7. Two boys and two girls. The boys are together and the girls are separated
and they are looking for a place where the two girls can be together. There were 3 foster families involved in this
one case. There was no reason for all 4 children to be separated however not
many people have to room for 4 children let alone able to transport them. I
told her I would get back with her and talked with my husband and family about
it. I heard in the background from my
certifier "If you tell Sheri there are 4 children she's gonna want all of
them!" and people were laughing in the background of the phone call. I told her she can tell my certifier that she
is so wrong because were only looking into the girls.
Later that night I was talking to my family to see where
they were at and how they felt. When
they found out there were 4 children they all begged and pleaded for us to take
all 4. My husband was the most reluctant
and he should be. He is not a
spontaneous guy and it takes him about two weeks to do anything spontaneous. He keeps me grounded and level headed because
I am very spontaneous which has got me in trouble over my life time. However like God speed the next day he said
that would be willing to take all 4 children. So I called DHS and told them what we
wanted. I also added two conditions that
were very important to us in order to make this happen. One of them was to move the two boys to our
local school so I am not transporting them back and forth and the other was to
not make this move until Monday so we have over the weekend to plan and to take
a small break. We had to get a special approval because this put us 3 over in
our house making 10 kids. Praise the
Lord we have a big house with 6 bedrooms and just so happens we have 4
seatbelts open in our 12 passenger van. About 1 hour later they call me and say
they are mine!
Oh praise Jesus but I'm really gonna need his help! That is a
lot of children!! Now the ages are 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 12, 15, 16, 16. So far it
has been 7 days since the transition and they all are very interesting and very
sweet!!! DHS says this could be a very LONG situation so just be prepared and
we are. They are now part of the Bowers
home doing things our way and they seem content. The Lord is so good!!!
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