New Face at our House

We got a new kid a few days ago. She's cute and 11 and came with a social worker "rap sheet". Of course they only need her to stay for a short time. (Social workers don't actually lie to foster parents, they just have very few homes for way too many kids and telling you what you want to hear is the easiest way to fix the problem.)
So far, all has been great. We're all still in the courting stage. She has joined the tide in the house and has calles us Mom and Poppa already. Her age puts her right right between the teens and the tots and she seems to like the middle ground. We've seen none of the "problematic behaviors" yet and has instead been the smoothest entry ever.
Tonight she had some opinions and questions about her future and so I asked her if I could pray with her before she went to sleep. I told her that there was only One who knew her future and He had more pull than the entire foster care system. She was good with that and I tucked her in at our mission field down the hall.

Take a Chance on Me

One good deal for a child going into foster care is that you're a complete unknown. You have a new family presumably ready to expect the best of you. If you were a liar, thief, nose picker.....you fill in the blank....it's a chance for reformation. As foster parents, we often get a quick bio. on a child they place with us. These reports are mostly vague and unless it says, "tried to kill last foster mom", I give the new kid a clean bill of health and let them decide who they're going to be here. With a fresh start, positive encouragement and meeting the God of the Universe, many kids run with it and overcome baggage they've carried all their life.

And some can't/don't. I know that these kids don't want to continue the hurtful things from their past, they just don't have the ability to break away. Negative behavior patterns of generations are so fixed in them that the effort to change develops slowly and often not in time. You can almost see the word "DOOMED" written on their face. It's heartbreaking. And yet you pour everything into them, pleading with the Lord for healing and release. How many have we seen leave our home with just some surface polish and a still unchanged heart?

And this is a small picture of God's dilemma with man. He's holding out a new life and all the good things and sometimes we choose the junk. I know He's crying too.

I Can't Help Loving You

One of the hardest parts of foster care for me is the transition. I've always believed that although the kids are with us temporarily, I should love them like they'll never leave.
It's like playing in the snow without gloves.
It sometimes hurts. But better me than them.
As I'm excited to see a family reunited it promises a whole in mine.
I've decided to keep on at one hundred percent instead of pulling away.
This time I'm in for some frostbite.

Risky Business

I was reading an entry by Jen, a mom who has adopted a houseful of kids and she talked about taking risks when you invite kids to be part of your family. She has a heart that follows the Lord and I read her faith in action in her blog.
I agree with her that foster care/adoption ministry, like so many others, puts us at risk for "sitting down with sinners" up close and personal.
We attended a church that had a wonderful ministry to orphans in Mexico. They sent teams down to fix their buildings and and to distribute warm clothes and they brought back pictures of adorable children who said a blessing before each meal. Everyone wanted one of those cute orphans in their family. But those cute orphans are broken and in your sweet, loving, Christian home they would steal and lie to survive as they have learned.
We too, as Jen has said, have dealt with problems I could never have imagined. A few years ago I had the prosecuting attorney's phone number on speed dial and I know the names of most mental health facilities in our area. People in our family have been hurt. We have been fooled and betrayed.
And we have been called.
I'm sure there were many times when Jesus wanted to have some good food with the Priests instead of hot dogs with the sinners. And His risk with getting involved with us messy people cost him His life.
So, here's to stepping off the "nice" path and taking a risk. The bigger the risk, the bigger the hurt and the bigger the blessings.
Psalms 37:23