That was a question I got from a bunch of people in the first month we got our foster kids. Some people thought they were neighbor kids we brought to church while others thought we had adopted them. We were fairly quiet about getting them for a reason. We were only supposed to have them for 3 weeks.
That's right. 3 weeks.
We ended up having them for 10 months. How did we get them? Why was it only supposed to be 3 weeks? Why was it 10 months? Those are all questions you probably have. And those are questions I am still processing 10 months later lol. The past 10 months have kind of seemed like a blur and I'm still remembering moments and struggles and fears that I've faced. I'm hoping that writing it all out will help me process what the past 10 months have been.
The story initially starts in August 2014. I was interviewing for teaching jobs and I got a call from Lake Placid Elementary that they wanted to interview me. I had had an interview at Sun N' Lake Elementary in Sebring and it went well, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to teach there. I didn't really want to work in Lake Placid because it's a half hour away and I didn't want to teach Kindergarten, which is what I would be interviewing for. Well, I figured, I should at least interview because it'll be a good experience and it'll help me get my around the district. So I went down to Lake Placid fully convinced I didn't want the job there. As soon as I drove down the school's road, I knew this is where I was supposed to be. The interview went great and I felt confident I would get offered the job. I wasn't sure why I was supposed to be there, but this is where I felt God wanted me to be. I did get offered the job (and they moved me to 2nd, yay!).
Fast forward to May 2015. Ben and I had been married 10 months and the school year only had one more month left. I had almost survived my first year of teaching! A lot of Mondays we went to the Wheelock's house for dinner and this week was no different. When we walk in, a friend of ours was sitting there talking to Matt Wheelock. They were in the middle of talking about these 2 kids who really needed a home for a few weeks. We sat down and I wasn't really paying attention to their conversation when she turns to me and exclaims, "Hey! You work at Lake Placid Elementary! Could you take 2 kids for the last 3 weeks of school?"
My immediate response was yes! I have always wanted to do fostering and even told Ben a month before that that's something I want to do someday. But that's what it was: a someday idea. Like maybe when we have a few kids and they're in school so that they can understand what's going on. Definitely not 10 months into our marriage. However I thought of it with the mindset of, if this was one of my students who was in need, wouldn't I jump at the chance to help?
Ben on the other hand was a bit more hesitant. And with good reason. We were only 10 months into our marriage, we had never taken care of kids before, we didn't have any toys, clothes, etc. for kids, we were only 21 and 22 and weren't sure if we could handle a 6 year old and an 8 year old.
We discussed it further on Tuesday. I really felt that God wanted us to do this and perhaps this is why God had brought me to Lake Placid Elementary. After some counsel, we decided that we could give 3 weeks of our lives to kids who needed a home and the love of Jesus.
Here was their situation in short: Our kids were 2 of 5 children who had been removed from their home with the hopes of reuniting with both parents. They could no longer stay in their current placement for a time and needed a place to stay until the end of school because moving them to another school or even county for the last 3 weeks of school was not ideal. After school they would go back to their current placement.
Not too bad, right? Yes, it was our first year of marriage, and yes it was my first year of teaching, but we could do it! 3 weeks!
Here's a spoiler alert....
*whispers*
It was more than 3 weeks ;)
Here's some photos from our first few months with the kids.
Here's our giant family!
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