To provide some context for this post... At the time, our three boys were ages 11, 8 and 5, and we were fostering two sibling groups. The two sisters were about 6 and 3, and although their future was yet to be settled, it was looking like they would not be returning home, and would need a permanent foster or adoptive home. The others were a 5 year old boy and his baby sister, who was almost a year old. These two would soon be returning to their mom.
Could This Be MY Isaac?
An excerpt from my book:
After I wrote the song, “My Isaac,” it occurred to me that perhaps fostering had become my Isaac; that one thing so hard to let go….but for many different reasons. Caring for children is what I had been doing for almost twenty years, so part of the issue was my identity; it wasn’t just what I do, but who I am.
Another aspect was that it was my way to contribute financially to our home. Fostering also kept the door open to adoption, and I wasn’t quite ready to close that door. But the hardest to consider was the thought that maybe I was using it as an ‘out.’ As long as I was busy with kids, perhaps God wouldn’t ask me to serve him in some other way.
Several months later I found myself struggling with some of the challenges our foster children were presenting. I had always had a hard time saying no when asked to take more kids, but I was realizing that maybe this time we had taken on too much. With seven kids, I wasn’t giving the foster children what they needed, and worse, I was shortchanging our three boys.
Several months later I found myself struggling with some of the challenges our foster children were presenting. I had always had a hard time saying no when asked to take more kids, but I was realizing that maybe this time we had taken on too much. With seven kids, I wasn’t giving the foster children what they needed, and worse, I was shortchanging our three boys.
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| 6 of our 7 kids, along with an unplanned litter of puppies! |
After talking to Brian about how I was feeling, we agreed that I should call our social worker about the possibility of finding another home for the two girls who had been in our care for the past year. This was a difficult decision to make, and I didn’t want the girls to go to just any home. I let the social worker know that it had to be ‘the right home’…...according to my standards, of course! I was willing to accept the fact that the Lord might be closing this door for us, but surely he would provide that perfect home for my girls!
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| Our girls |
“Not my will, but thine Lord.”
Hmmm…..I wasn’t quite there yet.John 21:15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
Proverbs 17:3 The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the Lord trieth the hearts.
Continued... Part 6
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Continued... Part 6
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