From a Child's Point of View....

"God Places the lonely in families..." Proverbs 68:6..Funny that we read that verse tonight.
I have been asked to come speak at a training session for prospective foster parents, and so today I told the children I'd like to be able to share their thoughts on foster parenting when I speak. I asked Mae and Mackenzie to write an essay, and Noah to dictate to me and illustrate a story about our foster care journey. Mackenzie was too busy today with Math and grammar to get started on hers, but Mae and Noah worked on their rough drafts. Noah is still having a tough time some days, but It was so great to listen to him tell his "story" to me today. Here is what they came up with..I am very proud of them.

Noah's Story as told to mom
A foster family is for making a home for children. My family is a foster family. We give children a home. The first time we were a foster family, a boy named Austin came to stay with us. He was five-the same age as me. The day he came to our house we jumped on the trampoline and dressed up like cowboys. I showed him my room. I showed him his bed and his dresser. When he came he only had one toy car.

I was so excited to have a boy to play with. When Austin was with us, we had fun playing legos and lincoln los, building forts and riding bikes. I liked having a foster brother. Sometimes we wore matching clothes. But sometimes I got mad when he didn't want to play what I wanted to play. I always liked to play outside and Austin liked to stay inside and draw.

Sometimes I got jealous when he visited his mom and dad. He came home with new hot wheels andI got jealous. I told mom I wished I was in foster care so I could get hot wheels every week.
Mom said Austin gets special things sometimes because he only sees his parents once a week.
I didn't want to see my parents only once a week.

Sometimes we invited Austin's parents to do things with us. They went with us to Chuck E Cheese's. Austin's dad gave me extra tokens and bought me an ice cream. They had a birthday party for Austin and invited me. We invited them to the party we had for Austin.

Austin got to be with us a long time. When Mom and Dad talked about Austin coming home, I was sad. I really wanted him to be my brother. Mom and dad said his parents wanted him to come home and they missed him. I liked his parents. I knew they loved him alot.
I helped Austin pack his toys. I gave him my Diego playset and some cars. We drove to his house and he showed me his fort-he told me we could play there. I helped him bring his things in his room. he had almost 100 toys to unpack!!! I helped him unpack and gave him a hug.

I felt sad because now I didn't have a brother to play with, but I felt happy because now I could spend time with my dad all by myself.
I miss Austin and I want him to come visit me. I am happy Austin gets to be with his mom and dad, but I wish he stillcould be my brother.

I want to be a foster brother again because I like having a lot of brothers and sisters. I like having someone sleeping in my room. The next time I get to be a foster brother, I will be happy.

I also had a foster sister named Lexie and she got to stay. When she came to stay with us she was a tiny newborn. I thought she was cute but she cried a lot. When she got bigger I liked her more. Mom and dad said we were going to adopt her. To adopt means she will be my sister forever and not have to leave.

When we adopted Lexie we went to see a real judge! She told us Lexie was going to be ours forever. I felt like fainting because I was so happy she was going to stay. I'm glad God let her stay. I love her. My favorite thing about Lexie is her laugh. I hope someday we can adopt a little boy, too.

Mae's Story
My name is Mae. I am eleven years old. My favorite color is light blue. I have two sisters and one brother. I love to read and play the piano.

Before we became a foster family, my parents always wanted to adopt, but decided to become a foster family. We always talked about wanting more brothers and sisters.

Before we became a foster family, we prayed about it. We talked about it. My parents went to classes and we became a foster family.

I was happy because that meant more sisters. I was sad because that meant kids leaving.
I was curious because I had never been a foster sister.

When we became a foster family, we got to take care of a little boy, his name was Austin.
Austin was five, the same age as my brother. Austin had a great time, so did my brother-but Austin had to go home. Everyone was sad when he left, especially my brother.

But we also fostered a little baby girl. She was one week old and her name was Lexie. We adopted her. We finalized her adoption last month. She is almost two now.

The hard thing about being a foster sister are having to share your stuff, like toys, books and drawing stuff. And when they leave.

The great thing about being a foster sister is playing with them, helping out with them and being a big sister again.

I think people should become foster families because giving a home to someone who needs it is really great. It is great to help take care of children when their parents can not take care of them.I think God would want people to be foster parents.



Much to everyone's surprise, Austin called us tonight and asked to come visit next weekend. Mackenzie said when she talked to him he said, "Cissy, I'm coming home next weekend!" There is definately an empty place without him here.It will be so good to see him.