Moving In Together

One of the biggest adjustments that had to be made to our home in order to take in foster babes was our bedroom situation. We purposely built our home a few years ago in a way that worked for what we thought was our forever family size and our 5 bedroom home gave everyone a bedroom plus an office. When we pitched the idea of fostering babies to our kids, one of the things we first brought up to them was that the girls would have to move in together. They were excited about the idea of a baby and agreed easily until we actually started moving stuff. A teenager and an 8 year old sharing was tougher than we thought and there were a few tears. It was definitely a positive growth moment on both of their parts.

Aside from the obvious reason of helping little ones in need, as we believe the Bible commands us to do, one of our major reasons for doing foster care was for the character development of our biological children. We believe that seeing that not everyone is as blessed as they are will be a huge character builder in their lives. The idea that there are kids in their own town that don't have a safe place to go will change their world view and build a compassion in their hearts that we would struggle to build in otherwise.

One of the ways that we softened the blow was buying them a few pieces of new furniture to blend what they already had. Thankfully, they both already had mostly white furniture in their rooms, so it wasn't super difficult. The biggest shift was that Big Sis's queen size bed had to go. We did not, however want to loose this larger bed for guests. So... we moved the queen bed to brother's room and bought Big Sis a full size loft. After some paint, it made a great addition to their shared room.

We have had a few squabbles, but the growth of learning to share and respect others have been accelerated. In the same way our goal for our marriage is holiness and not happiness (although we will take both), our goal for our children is their ultimate holiness and journey with Jesus rather than their comfort or wishes (although we certainly consider these things!). We love watching them grow through these experiences and know that there is much more to come...