What's it Like to be a Foster Parent?

Depends on what day you ask.....

Most days I have no idea what it's like to be a foster parent.  I wake up to the sounds of my sweet 8 month old cooing, shuffling in his crib.  He starts by scratching the sheet with his nails that I need to trim.  He gabs a bit about his plans for the day.  He plays with the blinds through the slats in his crib. Eventually he gets bored and starts the fuss that draws me or his dad into the room.  Occasionally his brother or "sissy", as she loves to be called, gets first grabs at his fresh cuteness and our day with him begins. 

He plays in his jumper, one of his favorite activities, or sits in his exersaucer and watches us dance together as we get energized for our day.  We all have breakfast, big kids get dressed and do their chores, and he plays for awhile in the floor with his favorite toy--the hippo that throws balls into the air.  He gets sleepy and the argument ensues: who gets to put him down and then who will get to get him up when his nap is done.  The favorite thing is getting him up.  They love walking into his room when he's just waking up.  He always grins really big at the first person he sees and is so sweet just after his nap.  Cody and Macie have gotten in the habit of asking first thing in the morning if they can be the one to get him up after his nap.  So sweet.  He has at least 2 naps a day so this discussion happens often.

He has lived with us for 5 mos.  They are still in the honeymoon phase.

The pattern I described above continues throughout the day.  When he's not napping he's sitting with us at the table as we work through school.  If we are all in the den watching tv, there he is in the midst of us.  I'm his mom.  Jeff's his dad.  Cody's his brother.  Macie's his sissy.  We aren't his foster family.

Then there's those days. Visitation days.  Court days.  DSS appointment days.  Days we are all reminded that he belongs to someone else and that one day he may no longer sleep in that crib and play with those blinds.  That's when I'm reminded what its like to be a foster parent.

There's not much great to being a foster parent.  But there's a whole lot of great to loving a child in the gap that someone has left.  This chunky little 8 month old has gaps in his life he shouldn't have and God is allowing us to fill them.  And this little 8 month old is filling gaps we have, and God is allowing that for this time period. 

I don't know how long God will continue to allow these things.  I hope for our lifetimes.  We aren't his foster family.  We don't want to be known as his foster family.  We are his family as much as a family can be.  We long for that to be true in every sense that it can be.  And so we just continue to be his.