Foster Parenting

Fostering Parenting... well I don't really have any advice since we are NOT licensed yet, BUT we are in the journey. First we went to a meeting in Gilmer put on by CPS back in January (It was very well attended). There they talked about what it means to Foster as well as Foster to Adopt and straight adopt through the "system". Buckner and Grace Manor were represented there as private agencies. Both represented themselves well as did the CPS representative. We were unsure at that time who we would go through... this was a tough decision and one tainted by rumor and speculation. I will explain later in detail. This meeting led us to search out the best class times for us. They are called PRIDE and are 6 weeks/ 30 hours of info. Everyone has to do them... private as well as public agencies. Finding classes that would fit around our famiy schedule was a challenge. Of course, they needed to fit our schedule. HA!

Our first rule was that our kids would not be inconvenienced (seriously, did I say that, was I hit in the head at some point???) Well, we learned that in everything there is a price..... our kids are way too active and involved to not run into their schedules somehow (how about that for unsocialized homeschoolers). God didn't say our world would be perfect and nothing in our world would be rocked. First lesson learned... that would not work in this situation. After chasing CPS around by phone calls to find that the process was less than laid out for their classes(No blame placed on CPS, but their load is heavy and therefore they have to fly by the seat of their pants sometime just to stay afloat even with the best of intents). Their classes would be all over East Texas. Needing a little more structure and predictability we moved on to Grace Manor... classes would begin in late March all day on Saturdays right in the middle of soccer season. Yikes... that makes things difficult for us with Caroline and Colin involved. Buckner... the only significance of Buckner being last is that we knew their classes were Saturdays starting on Valentine's Day and we were trying to find evening classes... NOW... impatient... yes! I was adopted through Buckner so I have a great heart for this agency. Well... we began... missing some basketball games and now soccer games along the way. We will go with Buckner because they are a gentle buffer between us and CPS. They will hold our hands, cry with us and rejoice with us in the journey... CPS will just get the job done without too much more being given.... again because they have to do it that way to maintain the incredible loads they are carrying. We might need our hand held every now and then and want to know there is a hand available.

Now on to the speculation and rumor... we truly considered going with CPS because (you can take classes from anyone and then license with another agency... no problem) we had HEARD that all the easy cases and best cases were saved for themselves and that they wouldn't "share" with other agencies if they could avoid this. WRONG! This is illegal... a central board contains all children and the first agency to get a matching family in will get the child. We will put our faith in that and we will even further put our faith in our God who places these children in homes long before any agency gets involved. We have absolutely fallen in love with Buckner's philosophy, dedication and Christian ethic as well as the wonderful staff in Longview. They love people unconditionally as well as children. They are willing to go the extra mile for each and every one of us as if we are the only ones. Quite a task, but you feel it when you are with them. They are wonderful men and women and now we feel like part of something much bigger. I feel like God completely placed these people where they are and put them in our lives. We journey onward.. the classes are never ending, but I tell you as much as we hate to miss the kid's activities it has been delightful to be together all day during these. We get to talk and just enjoy each other's company while meeting new people and having adult conversation and YES, LEARNING. Inconvenienced... yes in the standards of the world... did we miss a game of our child's? Yes. Did we miss a wedding? yes. Are we glorifying God by being willing to be inconvenienced to further HIS Kingdom? Yes. We move forward with prayer and love and a sense of purpose. We are gearing up for battle... battle to add children into our world... maybe some for a short time, maybe some longer... maybe some forever... all will be ours because we are all God's. All will be loved because we were loved first. All will be prayed for and are being prayed for now. Do I have the strength for this battle... no. I have nothing without the power of God. I will march on and let HIM take care of the details.