Our First Foster Experience

My wife and I are newly licensed foster parents and back in March of this year we took our first placement. I'm glad to report that the young child returned home to mom recently after about four months with us.

I have to admit that going into foster parenting I held many stereotypes about parents who would behave in ways that would end up causing them to lose their children. What I learned through our first experience is that these stereotypes aren't true in every case.

I'm so glad that we had the child we did because this mom did everything she was directed to do. She acomplished a nice list of things during our time with them, she didn't miss or show up late to a single doctor appointment, she didn't show any resentment toward our family and was very thankful for our help.

I'm really thankful she was our first mom because they are not all going to be so perfect, and its during those placements that I'll need to recall our experience with her to maintain our faith in the system.

Boy on Shoulder by David Zentz at Flickr

Ten More Minutes

Okay, I wrote about my hero last week and mentioned at the end that I wish I had paid homage to my mom before she died. I have very few regrets from the first 39 years of life but this is truly one of them. So, today I’m pondering what I tell my mom if I had just ten more minutes with her.

· I would ask the most important question any person can answer. Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ and have you accepted Him as your savior? I came to Christ after she passed so this is a conversation that never happened. This side of glory I will not know the answer.

· I would tell her how thankful I am that she and my father chose to adopt me as their son, giving me a great childhood and teaching me so much. Heaven only knows how different my life would be today had they not, and I will forever be grateful.

· I’d tell her how sorry I am that I was such a self-centered teenager. The cases are too many to mention.

· I would tell her how sorry I am that I was not there to hold her hand as she passed away. I mentioned I have few regrets in my life but this is at the top of the list. I wish I had that summer to do over.

I guess my bottom line in writing these out is to emphasize that life is short, you won’t always have tomorrow to tell those you love all there is to say. I know my mom was proud of me and loved me, but it’s painful to think that she may not have known that I felt the same way about her.

Tell them today, call them now, write them, get in the car and drive over to them…right now. Turn the computer off, the radio off, the TV off and go do it.