A little foster boy
While Dennis and I were at our church convention, in August of 2013, we both noticed this really cute little blond haired boy. He was attending convention with some of our acquaintances. I'm pretty sure I learned at that convention that this family took him in because he had been with their family before, however, they were looking for someone to foster/adopt him. BUT, I was also told that another family had stepped forward to start on the process. So, I didn't say anything - it just felt like another stab in my heart. Often, I've thought "when will someone look at Dennis and I and ask if we were interested in adopting a baby they knew about."
Fast forward to a couple months later and my really good friend called me and asked if we would be interested in fostering him. The family that had stepped forward, for some reason, could not become his foster parents. Dennis and I both were really excited and our answer was "of course." We were on our way to Boise to visit family when this phone call came in. I'm pretty sure it was that weekend that we contacted his foster family and scheduled a visit with them to see how we could work this out. We met with them, saw this little boy and were starting on the paperwork to become his foster parents. He would have to move counties, so there was going to be some difficulties making this work - but we were ready to take it on! We ended up babysitting this sweet little boy for a whole Saturday and had a really nice day together. I was getting more and more excited about the thought of becoming a parent, even if it was starting with a 4 year old boy.
Then, on Thursday, I received a phone call from his foster mother - and the case worker found relatives who wanted to foster/adopt him. There was a couple who had adopted 5 of this little boy's half siblings and they wanted him. So, he got to move into their home. When I got the call, I was devastated. I cried and cried and then called Dennis and cried with him. He told me that we knew this would be a possibility. (And, immediately after this, I had a one on one meeting with my boss - which was not easy to do after receiving such sad news).
I had mentioned to Dennis that if we received a no that week, that we needed to get away for the weekend. When he got home Friday night, we packed and headed south on I-5. We had no idea where we would end up - we just drove. We eventually ended up on the southern Oregon coast on Saturday and had a really nice weekend away just focusing on us.
I would advise anyone who suffers a loss, or even anyone who is at a point of disappointment in their lives to take the time to get away, spend time with and love your spouse.
About a year later, I learned that this sweet little boy was back with his biological father, which apparently was not a good situation at all. I really felt for him and still think about him and hope he is doing okay.
Next up: switching jobs to work with kids
Fast forward to a couple months later and my really good friend called me and asked if we would be interested in fostering him. The family that had stepped forward, for some reason, could not become his foster parents. Dennis and I both were really excited and our answer was "of course." We were on our way to Boise to visit family when this phone call came in. I'm pretty sure it was that weekend that we contacted his foster family and scheduled a visit with them to see how we could work this out. We met with them, saw this little boy and were starting on the paperwork to become his foster parents. He would have to move counties, so there was going to be some difficulties making this work - but we were ready to take it on! We ended up babysitting this sweet little boy for a whole Saturday and had a really nice day together. I was getting more and more excited about the thought of becoming a parent, even if it was starting with a 4 year old boy.
Then, on Thursday, I received a phone call from his foster mother - and the case worker found relatives who wanted to foster/adopt him. There was a couple who had adopted 5 of this little boy's half siblings and they wanted him. So, he got to move into their home. When I got the call, I was devastated. I cried and cried and then called Dennis and cried with him. He told me that we knew this would be a possibility. (And, immediately after this, I had a one on one meeting with my boss - which was not easy to do after receiving such sad news).
I had mentioned to Dennis that if we received a no that week, that we needed to get away for the weekend. When he got home Friday night, we packed and headed south on I-5. We had no idea where we would end up - we just drove. We eventually ended up on the southern Oregon coast on Saturday and had a really nice weekend away just focusing on us.
I would advise anyone who suffers a loss, or even anyone who is at a point of disappointment in their lives to take the time to get away, spend time with and love your spouse.
About a year later, I learned that this sweet little boy was back with his biological father, which apparently was not a good situation at all. I really felt for him and still think about him and hope he is doing okay.
Next up: switching jobs to work with kids
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