A New Chapter

Well...it has been entirely too long since I wrote an update about what's been going on in our world of foster care. Let's back up to April.

We were having a very difficult time with J-man. Every day was a battle from the time he came home from school till the time he went to bed. He became more and more angry and aggressive. It became un-maintainable, so we prayerfully and painfully submitted our 30 day notice to have him removed from our home. This was so painful because we thought we would never do that to a child - it felt like we were giving up on him, that we were just two more adults who have failed him. He returned to a residential facility on April 9th, where he is getting the kind of round-the-clock clinical care that we were unable to provide for him in a family setting.

Since he left we have done some healing, both from the hurts that he caused us and from the failure we felt when we let him go. We know that God had a purpose for J-man's time with us, but sometimes it is hard to understand those things this side of heaven.

After taking a month off, Tony and I have done some re-evaluating and have decided that we would like to pursue younger foster care placements. For a variety of reasons, we feel that younger children would be a better fit for our lives. We also realized that we really hope to someday adopt through foster care, so we are exploring our options in this realm.

We actually had a placement last week, as some of you may know from my frantic Facebook posts :) Little "D" was with us for only 20 hours, but we really enjoyed having him! He was a 14 day old baby who was born addicted to drugs. He had just been weaned off of his morphine treatment a few days before we got him. We got to cuddle him, rock him, feed him, and stay up through the night with him before we returned with him to FCCS where his grandmother anxiously awaited him. Although we were really sad to see him go (we attach very quickly, what can I say?!), we're thankful that he had a family member willing and able to take care of him.

I keep reminding myself, we're all about redemption in this line of ministry. If families can be redeemed, then this is what God wants and in turn what we want. Knowing this doesn't always make it easier though! We are hoping and praying for another placement soon, as I have all summer off work to devote to these little loves. Please be in prayer with us as we walk {and at times stumble} along this path!

With love!
Tony & Emily