Our beautiful foster daughter came to us in July of 2020. We had over 20 calls before this placement happened, but we kept trusting that God had a plan. It became glaringly obvious that plan was her when she came to us for a visit for respite care one weekend. We knew right away if the agency asked us to say yes to a long-term placement, we would. And so, we did just that the very next week! We found ourselves frantically excited trying our best to create a room for a little girl that was soon to be “dropping from the sky” and landing in our home. We couldn’t wait to welcome her! Fast forward to 7 months later, we are a blooming family.
She is truly one of a kind. We like to call her our “sweet and sassy” chick and she is exactly that! She is full of life and energy and seems to radiate sunshine from her fingertips when she’s happy. We laugh almost every night as she sings in the shower and sometimes falls from dancing. We try to tell her these things should be reserved for non-slippery surfaces, but she doesn’t care. She loves taking dance classes, cheerleading, and making slime with friends. She is sweet and goofy with a tender heart. She teaches us new things every day. She is strong and resilient, bold and brave. She is eager to learn and super observant! One of her favorite Bible stories and song that goes along with it is the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Sometimes she will go around our home singing “there is another in the fire, standing next to me…” and it brings me to tears every single time I hear her singing it no matter how many times. If anyone has been through the fire, it’s our sweet girl, Miss J. Yet, she is still here standing tall.
Being foster parents has been one of the greatest gifts we could have ever imagined. It’s challenging, it’s messy, it’s exhausting but it’s also extremely rewarding and so worth it. Our prayer is that she always remembers that the goal was presence over perfection and that we did our best to love and cherish her for exactly who God designed her to be. We will try our best to show her that while she has experienced hardships and trials in her short life, she has so much more time to live and give! God has so many plans for her life and we cannot wait to watch her story unfold. We will be there through the pain and challenges that come with the journey. We will try our best to truly listen without offering empty promises. We will do the hard things together and we will always fight for the greater good. Here’s to making many more memories together!
