Two Month: Foster Update

Well it’s been two months and things have been as crazy as you might expect around here. With Ben and I adjusting to foster parenthood and K dealing with the second home placement disruption in her short life, we are all leaning on our people harder than ever and the challenge of living open handed to the Lord’s leading has been felt by me especially. 

Parenthood, foster or otherwise, has a way of very quickly revealing your weaknesses and I can so clearly see the ways that God is sifting what isn’t of Him right out of me through this experience. Whether it’s the lack of information about what is coming next or the lack of free time between all the appointments and visits, God is teaching me valuable but hard lessons about my own sense of entitlement to comfort. Moms, can I get an amen? 

We don’t know anything for sure, but we could potentially ballpark her remaining time with us at a couple more months. However, the thing about foster care is that whenever the previous caretaker finishes working the plan the state has given them, reunification will occur as it is the ultimate goal of foster care. This is a reality that has been hard for us and our families to completely wrap our hearts around as we know our time with K is not forever. Her return home is completely dependent on consistent visitation and how fast her previous caretaker works the plan, so reunification may occur much sooner or much later than we currently anticipate. 

One thing I am clinging to in this season is that Ben and I were called into foster care with a heart for the ENTIRE biological family, so our focus over the next few months is to develop a helpful and positive relationship with her bio family so we can remain a resource to the family and a steady influence in K’s life. 

While nothing in the foster world can ever be certain, God’s plan for her life is certainly good, and we are relying fully on him to bring about full healing and reconciliation as only our Redeemer can. 

We would love your prayers moving forward for our hearts, our devotion to God’s plan for K no matter how difficult, and patience with a system that is broken, but is all we have. 

Thank you for partnering with us, rather in prayer, words of encouragement, childcare or otherwise to bring about God’s best for this situation. If God has placed even a little nudge on your heart to consider foster care for your own family, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. God specifically calls us to care for the widows and orphans. This is a great way to do just that. 

In Christ, 
Emily