Peace restored!

What a glorious day!!! We had our first fostering experience this weekend and if you didn't hear from us, that is because we were completely consumed and exhausted....more so than having a newborn. We picked him up on Sat. evening and he was very distraught. He was an 18 month old Romanian boy whose entire family was incarcerated. He was still breastfeeding and had a pretty good cold and mild fever, but it was very clear that he was well taken care of...seemed strange to us how this could happen. He was crying and saying, "mama, mama," over and over for hours on end. The only time he was silent was in the car because he thought he was going to see mom, so we went out, just to go out. He was sooo smart. He'd bring us our shoes/coats and get his ready, so that he could head out the door and find his family. If he could drive, he would've done it. What a determined little boy. This was VERY difficult for us...to watch how sad he was and the longing to be with his mom. The nights were very long and Ryan mentioned to me on Sunday that he didn't know if he could do this. God had a plan and he knew just what everyone in the situation could handle.

I went to pick up Reggie today from school and got a call that he was going to be returned to his family. I cried tears of joy for Avi. What great news :o). She asked if they could come get him with her (to avoid him being handed over to a stranger yet again), so they raced over and it was a joyous reunion, filled with lots of hugs and tears. They were so very grateful. Ryan raced home, but they were already gone when he arrived. The social worker said it was very rare for a child to be released at the first hearing and after the reunion, she said she'd never seen anything like it....the bond they had.

It was so awesome to see the support we got from friends....dinners, baby clothes/gear...thanks guys! The kids did absolutely awesome....I'm so proud of them. Reggie was a little overwhelmed the first day and told us he was ready to go to school so he could have a break....according to him little ones are a lot of work. I think the constant noise was hard on all of us, but they adjusted and after awhile, we got kinda used to it. Ainsley was very motherly and got him to smile several times. He followed them around and they liked that too. Ryan almost got him to laugh this morning, but his happy moments were few and far between. Even the kids were happy that he was going to be with his mom again...they saw how sad he was. Ryan asked them tonight what they thought and if they would like to have another foster child and they said, "yes." Of course Reggie wanted an older boy that he could play with :o).

All in all, I think that most foster children are not like this little boy as most are neglected and don't have that strong determination to get home. Hopefully, timing will be a little better next time...Ryan was pretty jet-lagged and I was still recovering from his trip too (I don't think I posted that the night before Ryan came home, Reggie had a double ear infection and we were both up most of the night. He's NEVER had an ear infection before, so I took him in just because and the Dr.'s face said how bad it was). We'll just wait and see who God has next for us.....