No Higher Calling...

As I am sitting here trying to take advantage of the very rare moment when both babies are sleeping...

I can't help but think about how some people just don't seem to get it...

They don't seem to understand what a huge blessing they have been given.

Each child that God has blessed my husband and myself with has been cherished...

loved...

wanted...

Does that mean we never made mistakes?

Good Lord, NO!

We have loads of mistakes to our credit.  Our children will be the first to tell you that.  lol.....

Those same kids will also be the first to tell you that mom and dad have always tried their hardest, done their best, and even in the midst of mistakes...

continue to pursue that cherished role as Mom and Dad.

There is no higher calling.

We work in a field that is all about bad parenting decisions.  Foster care is a mess in this country.  I will be the first to tell you this.  We have done this work for a long time and it is hard... It is the hardest thing I think I have ever done.  I am amazed at the decisions that judges and the state make daily.  Children who should never be sent home... are.  Parents who continue to pop out one baby after another... do so and really mess with those precious little ones before any help arrives.

People ask me why we do this work.

Sometimes I ask myself that same question.  Why?  When the state looks at foster parents as glorified babysitters... do you do this?  When no one will listen to the people who know these children the best... why do you go on?

I look at my own 8 children and wonder what would happen to them "if"......

I would hope and pray that someone would clothe them, care for them and love them if I couldn't... or wouldn't.

And, yes, there are plenty of cases where "parents" won't.

Self is a hard thing to overcome.

So, why?

We have parented 16 children over the years who were not ours (according to the state).

We have loved them all.

That is not to say that it was always easy... it wasn't.

There were plenty of times when it was downright awful.

God has always provided what we needed... when we needed it.

I don't know how much longer we will do this work...

Until God tells us otherwise, I guess.

For now, I am being blessed by two young fellows who deserve a better start to their life than what they were given.  We will love them will all that we have.

They may never remember all that we will do for them.  They may never even know that they began their lives here....

But, for however long we are blessed to have them...

We will love them...

Again...

There is no higher calling!