Foster Parenting

There is a couple at my church named John and Suzanne that have taken on a wonderful new endeavor. They serve as foster parents to newborn babies while the adoptive parents work out all the legal stuff required tobring their baby home.

John and Suzanne go way above and beyond the job requirements of foster parents. They realize that these children’s adoptive parents are missing the first days, weeks or months of their child’s life, and they do everything possible to fill in those blanks. They take tons of pictures every day and write down all of the baby’s firsts. When the babies they foster arrive at their permanent homes, they come with a scrapbook full of pictures and information chronicling their young lives.

This couple treats these little babies as if they were their own, even though they know that their time with them is limited. And, every late night feeding, each cuddle and kiss and even every diaper change makes it harder to say good bye. But, Suzanne says she knows that the babies have a loving mom and dad who long to bring them home, so she is able to let each little one go, knowing they are being sent into the arms of loving parents.

When I think about what John and Suzanne do, I realize that my job as a parent isn’t much different. Listen to these verses from John 1:12-13 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. So, while we tend to think of our children as belonging to us, that’s only partially true. More accurately, we are foster parents, temporarily assigned to care for God’s children. Our duty is to love them, care for them and fully prepare them for the day they will go to their “forever home”. And, when we look at it that way, we can realize what a great honor it is that God has chosen us for the job.