Respite Care

Wow. What a weekend. Some of you already know, but if you don't, we did respite care for a 5yr old girl this weekend. Respite care is basically just short term care for the child's current foster parents. Reasons for the foster parents needing respite care could be that they just want a little break or maybe they have something going on that they can't take the child with.

Anyways, Tuesday morning my mother in law and I went out shopping for a baby shower gift for a girl at our church. After shopping we had some lunch and then headed home. Our licensing worker called shortly after I got home and said, "I have a question for you. I was wondering if you and Aaron would want to provide respite care for a little girl this weekend." After I got some information from her I hung up and called Aaron. It took us about 5 seconds to decide that of course we would do it. We were told her foster parents would give us a call to set up times and such.

We were over the moon excited for this. We knew it was just respite care and that she would return to her foster parents but it was still an opportunity. An opportunity to care for this little girl and maybe open a few more doors for placements later.

Per licensing standards we have to have all chemicals moved up and locks on cabinets. Basically a safe house for children. Well we didn't have locks on cabinets yet and some chemicals were still down. We didn't see a need to do all these things now since we didn't have a placement. It would just remind us of the fact that we're childless.

We spent Tuesday and Wednesday night getting all those things done. It took a lot of time so we ended up thinking maybe we should have done it beforehand. The animals knew something was going on and kept following us around the house as we were moving lots of things around.

This little one would be joining us from Thursday-Sunday. I had lots of things planned such as swimming, fingerpainting, sidewalk chalk, playdoh, and bike riding.

When her foster mom dropped her off I was shocked as she jumped out of the van and came all smiles up the sidewalk with her Minnie Mouse suitcase. I showed her foster mom the room she would be staying in and we talked for just a minute. Thankfully there were no tears when she left. We immediately started playing and having a good time.

She did so well, I was so proud of her. She listened very well and we hardly had any problems. She got upset at Walmart because the horse wouldn't work. I put a $1 in that stinkin horse and it wouldn't move. She ran over to another machine and I said, "No we're going home, the machines aren't working." She got upset and started crying saying she really wanted to ride one. She even did a little feet stomping. It didn't last long and I talked to her about it when we got home.

We went to church this morning and I couldn't believe how well she did. She didn't hardly make a sound. It was so cute because she walked down and sat on my father in law's lap and stayed there the whole time. I heard her whispering a few times but nothing else.

We went out to lunch after church today and the waiter was taking our orders. He came over to me and I ordered my food and handed him my menu. He said, "Um..what do you want for her?" I was like oh duh. I'm only used to having to worry about ordering food for myself.

Aaron and I noticed we did a lot of spelling this weekend. C-A-K-E, B-I-K-E R-I-D-E, P-A-R-K. Lil cutie picked up on everything we said. It was like she could hear everything we said no matter how quiet we were. We did a lot of whispering and tip toeing around when she was asleep. Its funny because earlier tonight I got up to walk to the bathroom and tiptoed down the hallway forgetting she wasn't here anymore.

I ended up doing a photo book at Walgreens that she could take home with her. That way maybe she would remember us. She really liked it and was carrying it around with her. I printed off tons of pictures and plan on putting them in a photo album. I'm thinking I will get just a really big 4x6 photo album and then I can put picutres of all the kids in it. I can take cardstock and cut it to that size and write the child's name, their age, and the dates we had them. Then I can put all the photos in the slots and then just keep going with each child. Maybe we'll end up filling a few albums. Who knows...God already has that planned out.

She was such a cutie and I miss her so much already. It was so hard to let her go back to her foster parents. Aaron and I already felt attached to her. We can't imagine how upset we will be if we take one in for a few months or even a year and then have to send them home to their bio famiy. Its not something we can ever prepare for. But knowing that we stepped in and provided love and care during that time makes me happy.


I'm so thankful for this opportunity. It was such a good first experience dealing with a child in foster care. We'll be praying for her that God would be holding her close and healing the pain in her heart.

We're praying for more opportunities and of course an adoption opportunity.

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!!