A Blast From The Past

GREAT is HIS faithfulness....oh God my Father. I have to shout "Glory" today. There are pressing moments every day that cause me to sigh out to God. I ask for strength to continue on when my weak body is not living up to my expectations.

Then, God showers down strength, grace and blessings and my spirit is running in the rain of them, like I did when I was a little girl delighting in a spring rain.

Today I had a blast from my past. Kevin received an email from one of our fosters sons from about 26 years ago. A little baby came to live with us for two short weeks. We named him John Mark....after two beloved men in the New Testament. John Mark now carries another name that was given to him by his adoptive parents. He is searching for some of his roots and found our names on a letter that I wrote to him as he was leaving our home and then found our name on the internet.

Thank you, God. It has always been a dream of mine to reconnect with our past foster children in some way. I don't know how much 'John Mark' wants to reconnect and we will respect his desires about that.

I enjoyed having foster babies. The foster 'children' were much more challenging and difficult. The babies I always thought were the most fun. We were the interim family that the baby stayed with until the red tape could go through for their adoptive parents.

Those two weeks that John Mark lived with us were filled with infant fun. We didn't know we would only have him for two weeks and we were shocked when Christian Homes of Abilene called to say the paperwork was through and John Mark would be going to his adoptive parents.

Being a foster parent is special. I always saw it as a gift from God. It was a special time for all our family. And when the babys went on to their new home, our heart strings were stretched. Happy for them; happy for the baby, and us? Well, our mission was 'accomplished', but it took longer for the heart to let go.

Trusting that the Lord's will is perfect, I could again and again place my hand in His and allow Him to sooth my heart strings. I would throw myself into special time with our three children and maybe do some special projects with them. There was always, coming home from the placement, stripping the baby crib and putting away baby toys etc. That is when my tears would flow and I would pray. I waited until Israel, Jessica and Rachel went down for their naps and then, I would go through my grieving ritual.

Our fellow foster parents that we went to church with would also call and ask how we were doing. THEY understood the grieving and the rejoicing and how sometimes it would get a bit mixed together.

.........and then, today. Voices from the past rain upon me. I remembered the name, "John Mark"....it took awhile for me to remember which baby the name went with. All day, little details have been coming back to me and I would smile. It's like Christmas in my heart, opening these little memory packages of this little baby who is now grown with a family of his own.

Wow. Such a blast from the past. Thank you, God. I needed that. "Glory"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!