August 2024
Yeah yeah I know it’s mid-September. I have a decent excuse that I will get to later. August was mostly just a normal easy does it sort of month, until it wasn’t. The first few weeks ramped up with school as George started first grade and Louie began Pre-K. Life was busier but it was expected.
We finished the final steps of becoming a foster family and then one morning we received an email, “Congratulations! You’re an open foster home!” Relief, we made it, sort of… We really thought it would be a while before our first call came in. They say they need families but when we were open years ago we went 3 months with no calls and did respite once, the same week we found out we were expecting Louie. This time was different. We were surprised but the Lord wasn’t at all. We got a call within just a few hours. I had just finished a meeting that same afternoon with my therapist where we were like, “Hey Josh, you seem in a good place, things are stable, Let’s start meeting monthly.” I kid you not two hours later a baby that we knew nothing about was in our home and I was panicking.
Despite the plethora of training,, you don’t really know what to expect but they do quite literally drop a kid off hardly any knowledge about them. They perhaps know the child’s name and approximate age, and we are left to navigate learning this new persons every need. Do they want to be rocked to sleep? Do they drink water or milk? Can they chew this? How many teeth do they have? Do they nap?
We cared for our little friend for just a bit and in that time, we obviously went through many cycles. When you introducing a new person to a home there is a period of adapting. Depending on so many different things, that period could be short or take a long time. Thankfully, this was quick for us. It was tough to welcome such a big change so quickly and at first, this made us miss our little moments with George and Lou. Our routines had to shift but we could not have been more proud of their capacity to welcome and love and care for this person they had never even met before. It was so special to see.
The goal of fostering is to be a safe place and help kids feel at home while they’re with you - which means you naturally establish emotional bonds. You’re basically tearing off pieces of your heart, on purpose, for these kids sake. So they can feel loved, safe, heard, valued, and seen. And when its time to say goodbye, Its hard. This first experience with foster care has given us chance to explain to our kids that joy and grief can exsist together. We can be sad for us that the little one has t ogo but we can also rejoice with them that they get to be with their family! The way family was designed to be. We have surely felt these bittersweet emotions as a family and im sure it wont be the last time. We’re very expectant that the Lord is going to grow and shape each of us on this journey of fostering and i’m confident that it will all be for his glory and our good.
In our short time with the little one, we took a trip to Julep Farms in North Georgia for a short weekend. We couldn’t let them leave our home without indoctrinating them with a trip! The downside is, I can’t show any of the photos they were in, which as it turned out was the majority. It was a wild few weeks. Worth every second.
Jumbled thoughts from Katie,
watching - Fly the Nest’s YouTube Norway series and Preston Goes “I built a sketchy food delivery robot” I have never laughed so hard at my TV. Josh and I were CACKLING. I’m not sure if it was just the mood or the video or both but, core memories for me.
listening to - Ellie Holcomb’s All of my days album In the mornings. So soothing for the little one staying with us and singing it is the easiest way for me to write it on my heart and mind. In Josh’s car, we hear a lot of Caamp, Michigander, John Vincent III, and the Head and the Heart. There’s something sweet about driving around in his old Lexus hearing folky fun music.
reading - Psalms always, but specifically 116, 68, 139, and 71. And Colossians. I’ve also enjoyed Ruth Chou Simmons devotionals in her Graceland book. So beautiful and always threaded with scripture and truth and beautiful art. It’s been the perfect start to a morning, with a cup of coffee before the kids wake.
So much baking in august,
minus the week we had fruit flies. That was so yuck!! Apparently they can nest in your drains, so we poured bleach in the drain at night and that did the trick. Sourdough has become something so special to me. It feels very mundane sometimes, putting flour and water in a jar and waiting for it to bubble- it also feel so rewarding. It forces me to slow down, use what I have, and be patient. It leaves me with much less time to want the new, more, best, prettiest, easiest, on sale, worth the investment things and It gives me space to truly sit with my thoughts. Space to enjoy my kitchen, even the cabinet that doesnt stay closed and bumps my head most nights. It brings a type of quiet that allows me freedom to be content. Sourdoughing usually happens in the still morning hours or after the kids are in bed and the house is sleepy. I’ve noticed in those moments that I truly enjoy being tired from things like baking, homeschooling, laundry, or reading one more chapter of Narnia. Serving, nurturing, encouraging, comforting, snuggling, playing pretend with, board games, bike rides, and back yard soccer are always worth extending myself for. I never go to bed regretting that I did too much of these things. Anyways, these are all things that are so worth spending yourself on.
May the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that by his spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13
