The Emotionally Draining Part

Here I am at 1:17 am writing at the computer. It seems that if it isn't one kid, it's the other waking me up and stealing sleep away from my eyes.

3.5 days into fostering and I can already tell the hardest part to work through are my emotions.

Talk about draining! No wonder people say Foster Care is tough, a good tough, but tough none-the-less.

Taking care of them is the easy part, it's not knowing any information about a child for what feels like an eternity, and then when you do find out information, it comes slowly in puzzle piece size nuggets that I feel like I'm fitting together to figure out a complex story; the story of their life. 

Each puzzle piece is loaded with emotions and a clue as to what their life was like before coming to you.

Most of them just stab you in the heart, because as you are at home completely falling in love for a little one, their story is just making you sadder and sadder as the pieces come flying in. There is good mixed with pain, like when Jesus died on the cross. It's his love and his sacrifice so hard to accept all in one place.

And that's where your protective instincts hop out and completely take over for the child in front of you. Suddenly, this child is worth fighting for in ways that I don't think people around us can understand. It's why I can rush them all over the city figuring out how to make them better, why I could do whatever is necessary for their best, no matter the cost, or emotional drain.

These little survivors are amazing miracles from God himself. We are thankful that He has given us this time with this little one to love and cherish, because I don't want her to just survive, I want her to THRIVE!