A 10 Month Journey Part 3: The Summer

Like I said in the first post, this was only supposed to be three weeks!  So how did it turn into 10 months?  Well this is the answer: the summer.

We told the agency we couldn't keep them into Summer Break because I had a class I had to take, we were going to visit my family for a few days, we were going on an anniversary trip, and we had a church conference in July.  We just didn't have time for them and we didn't want to ship them all over the place and have them resent us.

The time was coming for them to leave.  I was exhausted, excited, guilty, all sorts of emotions and feelings.  One night I casually mentioned to Ben, "I wish we were able to keep these kids."  Knowing of course we can't, remember.  They were finally starting to open up to us and trust us and we had some fun times.  Not all of it was chaos lol.  Plus, they were starting to settle in and make friends and we didn't really want to take that away from them.  Ben and I talked about possibly keeping them and agreed to pray about it and consider that possibility.

Long story short we never really told them, "Yes, we will keep the kids."  But that's what happened.  They never found anyone else to take them and we didn't kick them out.  So we were in it until the end now.  Our first caseworker warned us that that might happened and we laughed naively.

Thankfully for some of the times we were away the other families who were fostering with us agreed to take our kids.  This occasionally happened between the three families.  Unfortunately for the two weeks we were gone the kids were taken to Lakeland and separated.  For the most part they seemed to have fun though.

There were a couple of great things that happened in Summer.  One was that we joined a new family.  Honestly, we couldn't have survived without the Holton and Bledsoe families.  Not only had they been doing it longer than us, but they each had their own children so they had way more parenting experience than us.  Seeing as we had no parenting experience.  We would have weekly family dinners and the children would play with each other.  I became an aunt for the first time.  (Hence the name "Titi" which means "aunt" in Spanish.)  And we were a support to each other.  Even just the rest of our kids playing with others so we could hang out with other adults was greatly appreciated.  Our kids loved seeing their other siblings an extra day a week and I think seeing them in a home made a huge difference.  It wasn't a park or a room in an office, it was a home.  I hoped they saw how godly families interacted and treated each other.  And since our two were the oldest of their siblings, they kind of got a break from having to take care of the younger siblings.  There were more children and more adults in this family unit, and they could be themselves.

The other thing that happened was that our children met Jesus for the first time.  They went to our church's Day Camp in Summer and grew a passionate love for the Lord.  Shoutout to Rebekah Eshelman and the rest of the Ignite crew for changing lives.  Their transformation was not wholly us.  There was a large amount of people who invested and continue to invest in their lives.  The Wheelocks, the Leasures, the Fredericks, the Schroeders, the Bells, the Daileys, Jesse Brown, Zoe Jones, Carrie Russell, Andrea Farley, Anna Miller, Larissa Smith, and many more.  I'm most likely forgetting people and I'm sorry if I did.  I could probably list the whole church because they all came around them to make an impact.  We could not have done it without these guys helping us out with babysitting, training in the Word, praying, and even just spending time with them and listening and understanding the hard things they were going through.  We saw our kids grow and change and develop a hunger for the Word.  They would sit and highlight in their Bibles they were given and learn Bible verses.  By the end of Summer they were different children.  They were not as angry, aggressive, petty, mean, etc.  They refer to the time before they came to us as "the time before they knew Jesus".  Recently, Bud has asked about this.  He asked if Ben had always known Jesus.  If the rapper Lecrae had always known Jesus.  I'm wondering if that has been a fear in his heart lately.  But I'm hoping he was encouraged by our answers because I know he looks up to Ben and Lecrae as men of God.

This was not a Ben and I accomplishment.  Many people praise us for our sacrifice, our flexibility, our strength, but this was not a journey that the two of us took.  It literally took a village to raise our children.  We would not have made it without them and strength from the Lord.  I wholeheartedly believe that.  Because there were times I wanted to give up.  Times I doubted I could make it through.  That's why we value our local church so much.  It's a community.  It's a family.

Here are some photos from that summer.

Teaching JJ piano.

Bud loves to play Checkers.  He's actually really good!

Collage of pictures from a family dinner.

Picture of the children from the three families at Bud's 7th birthday party.

The Leasure Family

Pastor Andrew and his family have become an important part of our church family in the last year.  And their family got bigger!  Beautiful Kataleya June Leasure was born on June 2, 2016.  She is already so loved and I cannot get over her sweet, little face!  I was so excited when Katty asked me to take pictures of her and their family!  Here are some of my favorite shots!

Noah and Iliana have been so excited about their new sister and were very helpful for the photoshoot.  They both loved holding her and you can tell by the looks on their faces.  Little Kataleya will have two great siblings to grow up with!

 

I've really enjoyed getting to know these guys and they have such a beautiful family!  We've been very fortunate for their friendship and our foster kids enjoyed playing with their kids as well.  I really appreciated our kids having sweet, godly children to play with.

 

 

 

 

 

   

After I took these photos I was overjoyed!  I couldn't wait to show them to everyone because they are so beautiful!  Kataleya is so sweet and I loved how these pictures turned out.  There is something about seeing a new life and imagining how it will blossom.  Thanks for letting me take these, Leasure family!

Hammer and Orange Juice

        So normally I am strictly a photo blog, but I have something to blog about today.  I've been student teaching the past 4 months and am finishing this Friday.  A lot of emotions going on right now.  I'm excited to be done with college!  But also really sad to leave my great kids and coworkers.  A chapter of my life is closing, and that can be really scary.  Part of me doesn't want to move on because I'm comfortable right now, but that's not what life is about.

        For our student teaching seminar, our department head asked us each to write a small essay on our student teaching experience.  There was a lot I could write.  So, if you want to know what's been going on in my life the past few months, here is my essay: 

        I was incredibly nervous my first day of student teaching, but I shouldn’t have been.  The third grade students in Mrs. Dougherty’s class are some of the best kids I’ve ever known.  Each one is unique and has his/her own little quirks.  John* doesn’t like to smile, so he tucks his lower lip into his upper lip and tries his best not to smile, but occasionally I will get the pleasure of his smile.  Jessica* can be very nosy and sassy, but is sweet and has the makings of a great leader.  Tommy* loves to learn random facts and probably knows more about animals than anyone else I know.  I could continue on for all my students, but I only have so much space to write.  

It has been a joy to get to know these kids, and they’ve probably taught me just as much as I have taught them.  One of the biggest things I’ve learned this semester is that the things children need the most are love and care.  Students who were really shy and not confident in themselves have opened up and blossomed after taking the time to get to know them.  Who cares if not as much was done that day?  The attention and care that they receive might be the only that they get all day.  It’s so important that your students know that you care about them.  If they don’t trust you, they will not learn as much as they could.  There is one student in my class who has a rough home life and as a result has behavioral issues.  I’ve talked to him about it and have even had to report child abuse.  He is so smart, but gets in his own way, and doesn’t really seem to care about anyone but himself.  But one day, he did something wrong while waiting for the PSSAs to end and I let him know that I was disappointed.  He asked to speak to me and with tears in his eyes told me that he didn’t think he deserved the reward for that day.  In that moment, I realized that I had made a difference in his life.  He had never reacted that way to getting in trouble before.  Moments like those are the things that make all the stress, all the frustration, and all the tiredness worth it.  That’s what keeps you teaching.  

         How does one summarize an entire semester in just a few paragraphs?  Four months of learning and growing, laughing and crying, teaching and being taught.  Sometimes I ask myself, “How are you going to leave these children?”  And sometimes they ask me that.  I always become extremely attached to people, and it’s even worse with children because they seamlessly become a part of your life.  They are so malleable and soak up everything around them and I want to be the one who is their hammer and orange juice.  

*names changed to protect privacy