New

I'm not sure how it started. Maybe it was just a passing thought that I was barely even aware of, but then the thought kept coming, and I would brush it off. Soon it kept coming and coming and I knew I needed to heed it. So I told Leland, I think we should take another foster placement. There were a lot of reasons why we should not do that. Those reasons pressed on my mind too. But after pondering and praying and reading scriptures I knew we needed to. I knew that the Lord wanted us to. So I put my fears aside and told our worker we were willing to accept another placement.

The next day we got a call around 5:00. A 3 year old boy. I listened to his heartbreaking story. I called Leland, he agreed. I called the worker back and said yes. I went to Walmart for a carseat and a few other items. Then I went to The Christmas Box House and picked him up. His paperwork said his usual bedtime was 9pm so we let all the kids stay up until then and they were all ecstatic to meet him. That was March 24th.

"O", as I'll call him, is so sweet. He's been with us about three weeks now and I'm not sure if we are still in the honeymoon phase, but he is just so chill and easy. He sleeps through the night and naps like a champ. He gets along well with the other kids. In fact he is a little peacemaker, bridging some gap that we didn't know was there and they all get along so much better now with this new sibling to play with. 

He loves Paw Patrol and dinosaurs and monsters and robots. He loves to play outside. He has been through hard things and I can tell he is scared. We are working on bonding with him and gaining his trust and slowly he is warming up to us. His story is so sad and his situation different than any other foster child we've had.  I don't know how his story will end but I'm so grateful I took that nudge and had the courage to say yes to him. We truly are the lucky ones.

 I know I said this with four children, but having five small children is really stretching me . Trying to meet all their need and my own and keep our house livable is hard. (Not to mention all the global pandemic stuff going on.) But this quote from President Nelson keeps coming to my mind.

"Of course it's hard. Everything to do with becoming more Christlike is difficult. (But) the Lord loves effort."

So here I am, giving my effort. Some days are better than others, but I know that when we do give our best effort, the Lord will make up the rest.