2 Trash Bags

My Wife and I have been fostering children for over 8 years now, but our first placement was what convinced us of why we needed to foster. A friend of ours had been encouraging us for years to become foster parents. We continually resisted because we didn’t want to go through the anal exam you have to become one. Finally our boy’s were almost grown our youngest was 13 at the time. We decided to at least go through the training and certification process. You see my wife has a true gift of caring for and nurturing children, she had already been a mom to many. Her ability to express her uncompromising values has helped many a young person, so it was a natural progression for her. I was the provider and the support system that allowed her to use her God given gift for children. So we did it we went through the process, the uncomfortable questions, the background checks, the home inspections and examining our motives. The whole process is totally necessary to make sure that the children that would be placing with us would be in a safe and caring place. We were convinced that because we had been as honest as possible they would never place any kids with us. But finally the fateful day came; I got a call from our certifier about a little boy who needed a home for about 2 weeks. As I recall our first placement, it cements in my heart why we were so needed.
Being our first placement our certifier gave as much details as she could and if their was a problem the child could be immediately removed. My wife and I were a little concern or maybe a little scare, so we asked if we could a least see him. From his history we were sure he would have horns and pitch fork. He was in evaluation facility, to determine how to best deal with his issues. You see he was 7 years old and he had already been in the foster care system for over 4 years. In that time he had been in many different homes (3 different ones in the last year alone). What we saw was a very polite little boy full of energy, so we decided we would take him in. So we called back the case worker and told her we would take him. We scheduled to pick him up the next day. He came out with these 2 large trash bags of his total possession in the world. My wife open them and found that one of the bags belong to someone else. His 1 bag was full of clothes too small and broken toys. Imagine being in the system for over 4 years and having nothing.
It broke our hearts; at that point we determined that no kid would ever leave our house with trash bags. They always left with a suitcase and plastic totes and all the stuff they had accumulated from their time with us from birthdays, Christmas and all the pictures. We also determined our goal for these kids that they would stay with us until:
1. They returned home
2. They were adopted
3. Or we would become their forever family(we adopted 3)
You see this little boy ended up staying with us for over 2 years and was reunited with his brothers in our home and they were all adopted together (something his case worker said wouldn’t happen). We still have contact with them today. My wife got to visit them last year.
It took me years to learn the lesson of the 2 trash bags. You see that was me with those bags. The things in those bags were the things I had accumulated in my life. All my stuff which was broken and worn out. The true measure of my life is not what I have, but who and how I have touched people. I know I will never be rich with material things, but I wouldn’t trade the relationships I have with people, those are my true wealth.
So look around is there someone you can help or serve today, it is never too late to start. If you focus on helping other people, your problems and challenges will not seem so big.

To Your Success
http://daneley.info
“In 100 years from now it will not matter how much money I had, the kind of house I lived in or the model of car I drove. But it will make a difference that I was important in the life of a child”