To Foster or Not To Foster...that is the question...

So Saturday was our first foster/adopt class…and I gotta tell you…my initial reaction when the class was over was that this is way over my head…I can’t do this…agh!

For one thing…it’s very emotional to me…one of the first things they did was they played a video of actual kids who were taken out of their home and placed in a foster home and I just teared up…I can’t fathom how that would have felt as a little person being taken from your home and given to strangers…ya know? Man…

But the class was way more interesting than we thought it would be and we’re in this class with all these really nice interesting people…so I think that these classes will be so good for us no matter what happens…

I couldn’t relate to being shuffled out of my home as a child…but Jimmie totally could. He was never in the foster care system but he did not have a stable family/home environment. His parents divorced when he was 11 and then his mother moved around a lot and he finally decided he didn’t want to live with her so, at around the age of 14, he got on a bus from Texas and went back to where the rest of his family was in Ohio for a visit and then he refused to go back to Texas. So he lived with his dad some, who lived with random women and other friends, and finally his uncle had what Jimmie describes as a "Come to Jesus meeting" with Jimmie's dad and Jimmie's aunt and uncle stepped in and took him (Jimmie - not his dad) into their home. They were the ones who finally molded him into the good guy he is today.

After the class on Saturday, which dealt with the basic normal childhood development compared to how children in bad environments develop, Jimmie said that that class had explained in 3 or 4 hours so much about the way he is and why he still has unresolved issues…. So the classes may actually be therapeutic for Jimmie, plus he can relate to foster children on a whole other level than I can…

Jimmie also said to me last night, that maybe this is why we are such opposites (because we kinda are the epitome of “opposites attract”)…because we can cover the whole spectrum of interests and experiences just between the two of us….

So this is what we both got from our first class…if we do this (and I think I’m referring to be foster parents more than being adoptive – which actually intrigues us both), we both have to be totally in it… it will be a rewarding yet life changing decision …we will be the “bad guys”…. But the state will reimburse for any property damage (Jimmie is worried that some kid will damage his tractor! Lol)…

WE NEED TO PRAY AND BE PRAYED FOR!! Because we’ll fall flat on our faces if we go into this on our own with our own agenda. As with all of our life, we want to make Christ the center of this decision and effort.

I’ve gotten over my initial reaction. This may be something we can do…we’re going to proceed with the classes and see where that leads and where God leads us… thanks in advance for the prayers and encouragement!