Making a difference for a child

It is heart wrenching to see what an impact our selfishness has on children. So many adults (and I call them adults only because of their age or their choice to have children) are so caught up in their own pleasures that they are neglecting and abusing their children. Whatever happened to the old school? The school where you payed a price for your actions. The school where you were expected to be respectful, responsible, and resourceful. The school where you followed the rules because you knew if you didn't, you would be punished enough to want to follow those rules next time.

At this time, there are hundreds of children in foster care. These children range in ages birth through 17 years of age. They are in foster care for many reasons. Some are there because their parents or parent is on drugs, some have been physically or emotionally abused, some have been raped or molested by these parents or their partners, some are neglected all together, and others are just unwanted by their parents. This breaks my heart...and to me and my family, this is a call for action.

While sitting in church one day, I hear this verse from James 1:27 that commands us to "look after orphans and widows". The passage holds to my heart...my husband and I talk about this on the drive home...what is an orphan anyway? You don't hear the term too often these days. Wikipedia says: An orphan (from the Greek ορφανός) is a person (typically a child), who has lost both parents, often through death. One legal definition used in the USA is someone bereft through "death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, of both parents" After talking about how there are no real orphanages here in the US, we come to the conclusion that children in foster care and children waiting adoption is our modern day orphans that God was talking about. We decided to obey and start the fostering process.

After the process of attending classes and training (PRIDE), home studies, background checks, TB tests, fire inspections and Health inspections...I am happy to say we are the proud foster parents of a 20 month old little girl. Her story is a sad one, but we are trying to make it a happy ending. In her 20 months of life, she has only been with her birth mother for 6 months. That means that for 14 months of her life, she has been out of her mothers care. She was removed at birth because her mother had taken drugs during her pregnancy and her precious newborn tested positive at birth. She returned to her mother's home at 13 months but was removed again 2 months ago because her mother admitted that she was still doing drugs. Did I mention that she also has 4 older brothers that this is their third time for removal because of her drug habit? Her mother told her oldest brother who is 16 that she will never quit using drugs because they mean too much to her. Can you imagine that? Your mother telling you that drugs are more important than you are.

That is what I was talking about...people being so caught up in themselves that something so important and precious as our children, get thrown aside and other people get the privilege of raising and influencing our children. When will she grow up? What will it take to make this mother see her selfishness? What if she loses her children? Will she snap out of her addiction then? Will she take life serious? See that rules are made to be followed? Or will she just be free from her responsibilities? Free to come and go as she pleases, free to do drugs without the kids in the way? Life is hard...doing the right thing is hard...but nothing worth doing or having is easy. Usually the easy stuff is boring and the joy you get is short lived. I know, I have three children of my own that I get the privilege of spending the entire day with. It has been hard and I'm sure it will continue to be hard as they pass through the many stages of life, but I love my children and I consider it a blessing to be their mother and teacher.

I challenge everyone to make a difference for a child, even if it is you own. Teach your children to be respectful of themselves and others. Teach them to serve others and take the focus off of them. Teach them that drugs are bad. Teach them to be self disciplined. If we do this, it might just help the next generation to end the self-centeredness.