Foster-to-Adopt

Back in February of last year, our family started training for a foster to adopt. Bryan and I had to take parenting classes. It was weird at first. I am already in the process of raising 4 children. My first child being 15 years old. I think my children are pretty awesome. Even though sometimes I think that they have been abducted by aliens. So I was wondering what could they teach us that we didn’t already know. Well apparently quite a few things. I have been able to come home and apply quite a bit to my family with great success. I will post on those individually. Most the families that are in the foster-to-adopt program are young couples that are struggling having children of their own. They all think that we are crazy wanting to add more to our family. But, when I was about 8 years old, I wanted to adopt a child from the Christian program. It has always been in my mind that this is something that I have always wanted to do. And of course, I am married to a wonderful husband who is supporting me in this and actually very excited. We have 2 family members that are already doing this in Las Vegas as well.
We are on the downhill slide of the process. It has taken us longer because we have lived in so many states and they want to make sure that we don’t have any skeletons in our closet.
Hopefully by the end of February, we will have a couple more kids in our home to bless us. After going through all the training, I wish that I had taken these classes before I had children. I would take a guess that a lot of kids would not be in the system if it was something that all parents had to do.
One of the things that were so shocking about this whole process is that people come into this thinking that they are going to see a child and instantly bond with them and then live will be just great. That they will instantly love them and the child will love them right back. I can see having a child fit into a family would be ideal. But I am thankful that we have a different approach. I know that there are no coincidences in life. I have the faith that the Lord is mindful of each one of us. Especially these families that are going through rough times. It is not my desire to get children at the expense of others, I am just thankful that we are in the position that we can give these children a home. It is such an interesting situation because in all reality, I would hope that the parents would be able to care for their children. But, I know that sometimes that is not always the case.