So we are finally there. It seems like forever since we started on this road of applying to foster. Last Tuesday we signed our papers and during that appointment the the social worker we were also presented with a couple of options to consider. A sibling group of 4 kids or a sibling group of 2 girls. They both sounded interesting, both a definite need. But as we considered these our hearts kept bringing us back to the sibling group of 4. We have 4 kids... heaven forbid if they were ever to be put into foster care, but how much more awful if they were in strange homes apart from each other! Our decision was easily made, even if it did mean that people might think we are nuts for taking on four more kids, bringing us to the whopping sum of 8 kids in our house. So we made a phone call the next morning and quickly raced around to fit the rooms properly and by 3 o'clock that afternoon became a family of ten. When we decided to go into fostering I felt like we weren't going into it blindly. Because we had already adjusted Nathanial into our home, I knew how very hard it could be. That adjustment period of about 3 months was about the hardest thing I have ever done...but now its great. So I have been wrapping my mind around a hellish existence for a few months just so I am prepared for the worst. So far so good. It has been over a week and I think that if anything, they have gotten easier. God has given us a lovely bunch of kids to love. We have two little girls (18m and 2 1/2) and two sweet boys (5 and 7). Most of the time they just crack me up. I keep looking at them and think of my own kids, think of the kind of home I would want my kids to be in. A couple days ago, in the midst of a cold and lack of sleep, I woke up a little grumpy. I spent some time reading my Bible and praying for help. Then I went down and started playing the piano (as torturous as that might be to those around me!) and lately have found myself play the song "You Are My All in All". When I got to the chorus it just sunk in, a little apiphany if you will. "Jesus, Lamb of God, worthy is your Name." I dawned on me the He, Jesus, my King, is worthy of whatever sacrifice this road might take me (us) down. He is worthy of the extra laundry and cooking and cleaning and cleaning and, did I mention cleaning? :). He is worthy of the late nights up with a baby, the extra two children to homeschool....He is worthy of ANY sacrifice.
Matthew 25:31-40 says “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
So in a nutshell, whatever we do for the "least of these" , these sweet children that miss home and their mom and their life, we are doing for Him. This changes ones perspective...in a big way.
