On Monday evening the girls left.

On Tuesday, I was heading back from Illinois and received two calls from our agency with possible placements.  Because I wouldn’t be home for a few more hours, they looked elsewhere.

I arrived home early Tuesday evening and later than evening got another call from our agency.   We accepted the placement, but before our agency could get us approved, another family was selected.

On Wednesday I received two more phone calls, but didn’t accept either placement.

On Thursday, the entire day went by without a call from our agency.  After dinner, our agency called again with another potential placement.  We accepted and around 8:00 p.m. CPS came to our door with a 2-yr-old little boy.  On Monday, we’ll be getting his newborn baby brother from the hospital.

Each placement is special and challenging in different ways.  You begin learning more about the lives of these children as time goes on and my heart breaks for each of them.  No child should endure neglect or abuse, but it happens all too often.

For the little boy we have now (who I’ll AC for privacy), we are quickly figuring out what his home life.  He has learned many things that we’ll be working to correct.  I’ll need to take him in for testing to determine where he is developmentally.  He is getting used to having two older children in his daily life, which is new for him.  Soon, he’ll be getting used to having a baby brother here as well.  He must get used to new rules or possibly rules for the first time.  He is trying to get to know our family in the same way we’re getting to know him.  This is a lot for adults, let alone a two-year-old.

When certain behaviors arise, I have to remind myself that he is two and going thru more than any child should endure right now.

Parenting is challenging.  Foster parenting adds another layer to parenting challenges and we must do our best to make sure this little boy and his brother are given love, stability and a chance to reach their fullest potential while in our care.  We don’t know how long we are given to positively impact these little lives, so we must make the most of each and every day.