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“Do I have to use that??” She said as she pointed to a top sheet wadded on the floor next to her bed.” I smiled to myself because I specifically remembered being in that same place 3 and a half years prior.

“Do you know what this is?” I asked her. She didn’t and so I told the 17 year old how, not too long ago I asked the same question to my husband. I had been in her same shoes. I didn’t understand the purpose of the sheet that didn’t have elastic on the edges.

I told her what my husband told me. “It protects the comforter so we don’t have to wash it as often.” Sure enough, I heard an, “oooohhhhhh I get it.” She had the same response I did. Then I taught her how to put it on her bed.

The next day I made tacos for lunch and after folding my taco a 15 year old girl said, “That is so cool. How do you do that?” I leaned over her plate, grasped the tortilla in my hands, and gently folded it so that all the taco meat was nice and snug just like my grandfather had done for me 16 years prior.

Every single thing I went through had led me to that moment. The moment when my husband and I were the guardians of two girls not too much younger than us. Girls who didn’t get to choose their upbringing, but because of their age and culture they found themselves struggling to find a place to lay their head.

They longed for stability but couldn’t seem to keep a house. Their faces had, “nobody wants me” written all over them. We thought we were crazy. Were we in over our heads? The circumstances leading them to our home only from God but this is not what we had in mind when we signed up to foster.

God laughed at our plans and threw them in the trash just like we knew He would. He gave us an understanding of the girls that we needed to parent them when few before us could. Everything we had experienced prepared us. The organizations we had volunteered with, past work experience, and life experiences were meant for the very season full of hormones and giggles. We had no idea but God did. 

The girls were great. They fit right into our house and we were beyond blessed to have them, even for just a season. Too young? Maybe. But if not us then who? In our area alone there are 593 kids in foster care. There are only 193 foster homes for those kids.

With our home full there is now 192 foster homes that need to somehow make room for 591 kids. A lot of times that doesn’t happen so kids sleep in DHS offices and shelters or they get shipped to a place hours away from their home making it hard for friends and family to see them. We’ll take being too young. We are willing to be uncomfortable and step out of our comfort zone. We may not be able to help them all but we can help 1 or 2 at a time.

In my moments of doubt I will remember that God has prepared us for moments like this. In my weakness, He is strong. He wouldn’t have put us in this place if He didn’t think we were capable.

Are you in a season of discomfort? Everything you’ve experienced has led you to this very place. It’s okay. We don’t have to understand why we are doing it. We don’t have to feel qualified. All we have to know is that God is in control and because of who He is, we are capable.

~ Lovelle ❤