We have jumped into the Oregon foster care system. There are 1,000 children in our county in foster care. These children are the future of our county. These are orphans of the living. We do not need to go to Africa or Russia. We have them all around us. Hungry children. Neglected children. Children born on drugs. Dirty children. Children with lice. Children with special needs. Children who need to know God loves them. God wants to love them through us.
Our first foster son came in October. He was an angry, sad little boy. He would cry every night and ask when his mommy is picking him up from this daycare. I told him it is not a daycare...it is a family. I would hold him and rock him every night while he cried for his mommy and sometimes I would cry with him.
Fast forward 6 weeks. He is now a happy little boy who knows there is a God who loves him. He walks around the house singing now and thinks he is one of the most special little boys in the world to have so many people who love him. He loves to pray. He is not perfect. But he is beautiful.
Two weeks ago twin five year old girls arrived. They are busy. They have lice. They were not used to being told what to do. Their little bodies were wired and exhausted from too little sleep and too much junk food. They slept 12 hours their first night here. They have nightly bad dreams. They are afraid. They always want to make sure I am staying here when they are in bed. I hold them and they hang on tight. I try not to worry about the lice and think about how Jesus and Mother Theresa would love on them and then do the same.
I am now a professional nit picker (PNP). I have a homemade concoction of lice killer which is the only thing I found that works. God in his mercy has spared us a lice outbreak. The girls are unwinding and do not have bad dreams now. They are responding to the love and patience.
These are just children. Children. Or are they angels? The least of these? It has been some of the hardest days of our lives. We are exhausted. Right now 6 out of the 9 are sick. Some vomiting. Some with high fevers and headaches. Yesss.....I never ask any more..."Can it get any worse?" Because it can...
God is such a great God. He gives us only what we need when we need it. I did not have what I needed to mother 9 children when I only had 7. I do not know how long these children will be in my care. I do not know how I will get through tomorrow...God only gave me what I needed today.
You do not have right now what you need to care for 1 more child. You will get it when the time comes. Would you be willing to open your heart and home? If not the church...who will raise these treasures? Think about the other options here in Eugene...
Just food for thought during this Advent Season.
