Our crew had an absolutely amazing Christmas. Starting with Christmas parties, an awesome Christmas Eve service at our church, and a Christmas morning filled with happy smiles. I LOVE Christmas morning. I love to see the smiles, hear the giggles, and feel the hugs. That is something our kids are really good at. From new jammies to tablets, the kids were so thankful. Big Brother even shed some tears exclaiming this was the best Christmas ever.
This is our second Christmas as a family of 6 and it is feeling so right. Birth parents and families of origin hardly come up anymore. This is their life right now and they are settling in. Little Brother is getting used to his new meds and we are establishing a great routine with him which is helping with his behavior. They are part of our family. Little Sister keeps saying 'I love my flamily!'
I read something the other day on the juvenile courts webpage when I was trying to locate the panel review calendar. It says "If the Panels are operating effectively, no child should be expected to grow up in foster care." I would have to argue that there isn't much of the juvenile court system that is doing their job. Our three kids ARE growing up in foster care. While we pray we are getting close to the end, they (the kids) continue to grow and bond with us and their life here and there is still a possibility that they will leave. They (the court) are still looking into other family members, one of which has never even met LS. To me, keep in mind that I'm ONLY the foster mom, that seems to not be a good idea to remove them from a healthy bonded family to someone they don't even know!!
Recently, more and more people have been asking me about foster care and becoming foster parents. I have gotten the chance to share some of our journey. I have grown more spiritual during this than I even thought possible. But honestly, you HAVE to give it all to God. You seriously have no control and our only comfort comes in knowing that God does and that our journey serves His bigger purpose.
As we look to the coming of a new year, we continue to pray that 2016 will be the year we can make this permanent and the kids will be Allens officially. :) We continue to pray for all foster children and the people God is leading into foster care. It is a mission field, and you need to prepare your hearts to be changed forever.
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