My thoughts on being a Foster Mom (part 1)

This time last year we were starting our journey into the Fostering community. We had talked before we were married about fostering or adopting one day. We thought we will have four biological children and then we will foster or adopt. Well, after our second pregnancy we decided two biological children were enough. I did not like being pregnant. James did not like me being pregnant. Sorry. That's honest. But true. We felt a calling to foster/adopt and thought if we have any more biological children we may not follow through (because i would probably be in an insane institution some where!)God uses all sorts of people, right? ;) Growing up, I had been exposed to different families who fostered. I thought those families were the biggest heroes in society. God had put a fire in my heart for children who needed a home. I am not for sure why. Partly, many missionaries and church members allowed me to be a part of their families when I was a child. I would eat dinner with them, go on vacations with them. I loved when I got to stay at people's homes because my school lunch would be so awesome. Kids would want to trade with me! I loved it!! I loved the attention. I loved seeing into how other families lived. I loved having family devotions, special bed time routines. It was all foreign to me and wonderful! Now, my little sister was with me and she hated it. She wanted to be at home. Even though home was not glorious at times, it was her home and her family. So, as different personalities come into my home I try to remember both personalities. Two summers ago, James and I went to Hawaii and had a blast. Then, we went to Mexico to build homes for the homeless. It was an eye opening experience. I saw how selfish I am and how much I love stuff. James and I had our two kids. We said we would kick back and enjoy life until Erin was 5 years old. Then we would add on to our family how ever God decided. Erin was only two and our life was starting to get nice and easy. Ahhh, the American dream. I thought if I have to live in America, I might as well make the best of it and live on easy street. After all, this is America. The message that God spoke into our hearts that week in Mexico was 'You are BLESSED to be a BLESSING'. We came back to America changed. We went to an orientation meeting at the DSS (Department for Social Services) in Roanoke. Treena asked us how we heard of the program. We said "God". We googled Foster Care in Roanoke and this is where it led us. She looked a little puzzled. Maybe it doesn't always look that way but for us, God spoke, we obeyed and here we are. We missed the Fall class and we signed up for the January class. It gave us time to fill out the paperwork and prepare our family, finances for that was about to come. We thought we would take the class and see where God led us. If he wanted us to wait until Erin was 5 he would let us know and shut the doors. We took the class and were pleasantly surprised how well our faith in God was received. We took our two kids with us for the free childcare. We figured this was our new life and we wanted to see how our kids handled this new situation and how the DSS handled our kids. Now, if we had any family in town we would have our kids with them. Our class met from 6pm-9pm for 9 weeks (i think it was 9?). They gave us homework each week. The homework was about your own childhood and how you would handle children in different situations. I had a hard time with the homework because for me, it would bring back painful memories. James? he flew through it and it didn't bother him at all. There are two home visits. The first one is no preparation. The second one is. They want to make sure you have the right amount of beds, dressers, space. They make sure you have supplies for an emergency and so on. Easy stuff. I find the DSS to be very supportive and easy to work with. They are realistic. They know we are far from perfect and they hold us to very reasonable standards. I know every county,state,country is different. God has blessed us with a great group of people to work with! If you are in Roanoke and you feel the nudge to be a foster family, go to an orientation meeting. Take the class. They have many people who take the 9 week class and decide this is not for them. You will never know unless you try right? :)