Foster Care – The First Four Days

I want to list a few things I have learned after four days with our first foster placements.

1.       Three C-sections 4 years apart are easier on a body than 2 toddlers 11 months apart, arriving at ages 3 and 4.

2.       “Consistency with discipline” can mean time-out 47 times a day.

3.       Toddlers do not appreciate time-out.

4.       Toddlers are very strong when someone is trying to put them in time-out.

5.       “One Day At A Time” never meant so much as it does now.

6.       When adoptive friends say you are in “survival mode” – they know what they are talking about.

7.       You will ask yourself at least 10 times a day if you are doing the right thing…..and you will question your sanity twice as often.

8.       Everything they told you could happen during fostering classes – happens.  Everything.

9.       Things you talked about in foster classes are much easier to talk about  than they are to LIVE.

10.     When you are giving the “We don’t hurt one another in this house, we love each other and we are friends talk” for the 10^th time and a little person says…. “Well I love YOU!” – you might start to “think” you are doing the right thing.

11.   When the same little person tells his brother “We can’t hurt each other because it makes God and Jesus sad.” – you start to “know” you are doing the right thing.

12.   When your house is a big fat mess, but you realize you schooled, prayed, fed, played, patched boo-boos, read, made sidewalk chalk roads and houses, held, rocked, and corrected,…..you start to realize it will be okay.  You can clean the house another day – if we have another day – “One Day At A Time” – it’s all we are promised anyway. 

13.   This is hard, really, really hard, but I can be strong because God is strong and his Son is strong – much stronger than my doubt and fear, much stronger than any obstacles Satan may throw in our way, much stronger than 2 confused, hurt toddlers.

14.   I got this.