fosterkidsplaydate

Our last fosterkidsplaydate has been so intense and so beautiful.
God had continually put it on my heart to have a lot of structure and a lot of rules in those fun 2 hours we spend together every other saturday, even though it´s sometimes so hard. We had several situations were we were tempted as a team to give in and have it as our only goal to keep those kids happy for the time they are with us and to avoid any kind of major conflict.
Especially last saturday. So many kids were not acting accordingly. We had have several time- outs already. And than came Dan (name changed). This cute 8 year old boy just dropped himself in the middle of the classroom, in the middle of the story time. I interrupted the story and asked him to come back into the group but he didn´t react. As i told him he has to go into time out if he is not willing to come back into the group, he crawled under a shelf and clung tight to it. There was no way for us to carry him out of the room. He was too strong. I tried to win this conflict with all kinds of warnings and threats until i realised what it was all about. I leaned over him and whispered into his ear: "Dan, we care about you. We do love you and we want the best for you. Do you trust us? Do you believe that there are people who care about you?" After talking to him like that for a while, i sensed that a battle started within this little child, who had been let down so often already. Should he trust again? Should he make himself vulnerable? Should he allow himself to give and receive love? Should he take the risk to care about others and about himself? As i continued to whisper into his ear, his little body began to shiver and finally he let go of the shelf and jumped into my arms. This was such an intense moment for both of us. I know that he felt the same way. We had gained a victory.... together!
And this was my great lesson for that day: If we take Kids into our homes that had experienced any kind of trauma, we have to expect that they will struggle immensely. They will struggle to love, to hope, to dream, to feel.... and we have to accompany them in those battles. And we have to gain victory.... together.
As we are getting to know more and more fosterfamilies here in the area, i am so immensely proud of those families that sacrifice so much of their comfortable home to restore hope and love and peace in those shuttered souls. Have you ever considered restoring a life?