Enter Jen Hatmaker and her book 7:An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess. Those who are my Facebook friends have heard me talk about this book many times. It's been life-changing for me and for Matt (he had to read it just because I was talking about it SO much). I'm still not sure how to eloquently communicate everything that has changed in my thought process and actions after reading her book, but maybe someday I'll get it all down on paper (or on my blog). One thing, though, that it convicted me about was to love as Jesus did and does...and to especially love those that our society sometimes views as "unloveable." Matt and I talked a lot about this, and about how our passion fit into this conviction we were feeling.
For the last 10 years or so, we have toyed with the idea of foster care. We usually dismissed the idea fairly quickly...we already have a big family, a busy life, things are crazy, how could we really make that work? But this time was different. We felt like we needed to pursue it a little further. We don't have many friends who've ever fostered (3 to be exact--one on the west coast, one on the east, and one here in Indy). We felt like we needed to sit down and talk to someone with a little experience and talk through their experience and our questions and concerns. So our friends here in Indy agreed to have coffee with us and talk about their experience. We loved hearing about how they fostered and later adopted their youngest daughter. But when we told them that we had a deep desire to help kids, just not necessarily to have more of our own (adopt), they had the perfect answer for us!
Safe Families for Children. Through SF, parents in crisis can place their children in a loving Christian home for a short period while they work through whatever challenge they are facing (homelessness, medical issues, etc.) We felt like this was the perfect answer for our family. After talking with the kids and getting the go-ahead, we applied to be a host family. This was NOT the service project I thought we'd be doing together, but it has been such an incredible experience. It's been challenging but rewarding. My kids have stepped up and helped out. I've seen a nurturing side (especially in my boys) that I would not have seen otherwise. I think my kids have gained just a tiny bit of perspective, realizing all that they've been blessed with and learning about how little some kids have. We got our first placement the day before Matt left for Paraguay. It wasn't perfect timing, but the needs that week were so great that we just couldn't ignore it. We have grown to love our little 3 yr old guy. He stayed for 2 1/2 weeks, but was back again after a weekend at home. We ended up (to date) hosting him 5 weeks and he is currently at home with Mom. We aren't sure it he'll be back or not, but he has a special place in our hearts and I'm sure that we will visit with him again, even if he isn't placed in our home. We love that Safe Families is there for these struggling families, being the hands and feet of Jesus and helping to keep these kids with their parents instead of ending up in the system. I wish I could show you a picture of N's awesome smile (he has a healthy 3 yr old temper to balance it, be assured!), but for now I'll leave you with this one...
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