Valuable

We started fostering because I couldn’t say no…
to a 2-year-old little boy that had been so brutalized that he had black eyes,
teeth marks all over his body, head trauma, broken ribs and healed broken ribs…
and in child abuse, healed broken ribs just means
it has happened before.
He screamed and screamed 
He still screams sometimes.

I couldn’t ignore the 10-month-old girl
that was so silent,
The 4-year-old whose face was swollen
from a swat to the face with a stick,
The 6-year-old convinced
that my husband should be using drugs
because that is what daddies do.
The 7-year-old that
hated me for a really long time…
I was not his Mom and life is definitely not fair.

It was and is hard.
They have a little more than your average child to deal with,
but that doesn’t make them less loveable.
It usually just makes them more vulnerable…
Even if they can’t express it in a way that makes sense to you or me.
It is also so exceedingly easy
when you hear the giggles
and see the smiles
and get the hugs
The normalcy is so precious.
 
It is so painful to give them back.
I thought I would choke on my bitterness
It turns out the 7-year-old was right
life is definitely NOT fair.
Some of ours left and came back again
and that isn’t much better, it just means they have seen more,
been hurt more, or ignored more…
But because it might be hard on the adults,
doesn’t mean that they don’t need a family
even if it may be a temporary one.

I continue…
Because the Lord says children are VALUABLE
and I believe Him.
Because of the golden rule.
Because I am a grown-up and being a grown-up means knowing
just because something might be difficult doesn’t mean it isn’t right.
Because there is always another child that needs a home…

http://www.adoptuskids.org/