A Turn of Events

I somehow feel this blog may be turning in a new directions. At least for now. Let me explain. After months of preparing to be foster parents, Kyle and I were licensed on Thursday. On Friday afternoon we received a call that three young children were in need of a home. Were we nervous and a little scared? Yes. But, this is what we had prayed about for a long time and we were ready to jump in. This all happened in the midst of a tornado watch turned tornado warning and while Ava and I were having our weekly cooking time together. We had been prepping Ava for months. She had helped us set up a room and knew that someday we would have other girls or boys stay with us sometime. When I told Ava that new friends would be coming she was very excited. Of course, she didn't have a full understanding of what that would mean or look like. But, then again even after months of planning we didn't either.

Our three "new friends", as Ava refers to them, arrived right before dinner. After our caseworker left we were now responsible for caring for 5 children all four and under. Gulp! But, with 3 preschoolers and 2 toddlers there wasn't really time to think about what this would mean. We had to jump into action.  The first dinner was a bit crazy. As Ava and Dominic ate the older of the two children didn't stop wiggling, shouting out, getting up and down up and down. I think I ate half a pancake the whole dinner.

I didn't sleep that whole first night. The kids slept great. I just kept waiting for one to wake up scared and a thousand thoughts raced through my head.  Was this the right decision? How would we balance our time between all the kids? The result of no sleep and the task of trying to set a routine and set behavioral boundaries with our new kiddos was a mommy who pretty much cried whenever anyone called to check in.

The first day was rough. Ava and Dominic were troopers. The youngest of the three went with the flow. The older two struggled to follow directions and understand boundaries. We remained firm, but kind. There were more time outs than I can count. And by mid morning we already had sticker charts and incentives in place (Ava included because we don't want to leave her out).We got through the first day with a lot of team work and an awesome neighbor who went to the grocery store for us to stock up on "kid friendly food". Funny how the night before I was making beet pancakes with Ava in an effort to introduce new veggies and nutrition but fun dinners. The next night I was cooking an entire bag for french fries and box of chicken nuggets because it was a fast and easy way to feed a family of 7.

We have been at this for only 48 hours and I have already learned so much. Are we crazy for taking on 3 more children very close in age to our own? Maybe. But, I do have to say that it felt right to answer the call. We don't know how long our "new friends" will be with us. Whether its for a few days or even months, I know it won't always be easy. There will be more tears and it will be frustrating. But, there will also be positive moments too. Those moments will be little gifts from God reminding us to keep going and to continue to share our love with not only our own children, but our "new friends" as well.