Broken, but made new

Last night I had to run an errand that was more driving than errand. The errand part only took about 5 minutes, but the driving was more like 35+. I took the oldest and youngest with me because the daddy was with the middle.

My girl chatted away from the backseat about several topics in her middle elementary mind. As we neared home, she needed to relive the story of the youngest's entry into foster care. This happens sometimes because we are open with our kiddos about why a child would need to be in foster care. We also are very open with them as the case progresses, always emphasizing that the little one has a family who is working to bring them back home safely. We always emphasize that God has a plan for everyone in our home. Sometimes my kiddos need to work some of their thoughts and feelings out by asking questions.

I answered her questions to the best of my ability, and then she blew me away. I thought we were done, and started focusing on what we would need to accomplish when we got home in order to get everyone to bed on time. From the back seat my girl says, "Mom, one day our family will break because ________ will leave. It will hurt, but I know that God will put it back together again. We just need to love ________ today."

Oh to have the faith of a child.


You know people ask me sometimes if I worry about my forever kids growing up with foster siblings. If I worry that it will be too hard on them. The most honest answer is sometimes I do worry about them, but the truth is I should not. God has a plan. My daughter trusts him with her family's life because He is the only one who holds our future. She trusts that no matter what hurt may be ahead of us, that God loves us, He has a plan for us, and he will bring beauty from ashes. She believes these things because she is seeing them lived out in front of her little eyes. My children have benefitted from this road in ways I don't think we will fully comprehend until they are much older.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Phillipians 1:6