“Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage. And He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.” –Psalm 27:14
We have completed 18 hours of mandatory classes in the last 6 days. We are on track to get our Legal risk license by the end of the month. Last night we attended our final course. The class was full of foster parents, some seasoned (27 years) and some newbies (3 months)..and us(just a week away). We all introduced ourselves and listened
attentively to the instructor for 2 ½ hours. The other students shared stories of experience from their many placements. My husband and I listened, knowing we were entering this strange new world of foster parenting and only God could give us the grace to succeed.
Our caseworker happened to be the assigned “monitor”, so she sat quietly
at a side table organizing completion certificates for everyone. When the class concluded everyone made a mad
dash for the door, except the couple next to us. To our surprise, they
approached us as we gathered our things and said, “You are waiting for children
to adopt?” We nodded. Then they said, “We have two children in our
care that are going up for adoption.
Their caseworker should be sending out a broadcast any day, probably
this week or next.” My husband asked, “How
old are they?” while I stood helplessly confused. The wife pulled her phone out and scanned
across a few pictures to show us, “She is 3 and he is 2.” My husband beamed at me and said, “Perfect!”
I still stood frozen trying to process everything. I managed to ask, in confusion, “Their parent’s
rights have been terminated?” She nodded
and said, “Yes, last month. That’s why they are up for adoption.” Oh…duh. I glanced at their picture briefly
and smiled. I was still confused. We were there to get a legal risk
license. We had all but given up on
straight-adoption cases. What was God
doing in all this? We were helpless to
do anything because everything goes through the caseworkers anyway. Oh! Our
caseworker! “That’s our caseworker right there!” I blurted out
enthusiastically. She said, “Okay, well
tell your caseworker that the kids should be broadcast within the next week or
two so she can submit your homestudy.”
My husband and I both nodded obediently.
She told us the children’s names, birthdays, temperaments,
and how loved they are. I finally asked,
“Why aren’t you adopting them?” They
both laughed and the husband said, “We’re too old! We’re worn out.” The wife added, “They are really good kids,
they have been wonderful, but we just can’t commit long term to them. They’re too young and we’re too old.” My husband listened with a huge grin. We
chatted a little longer and then waved goodbye. We approached our caseworker
awkwardly as she packed her briefcase to leave.
“Um….those people said they have two children….for adoption. The parent’s rights have been terminated and
they should be broadcast next week or something.” She said, “Oh, okay. I’ll keep an eye out.”
On the drive home, my husband and I mulled over our “chance
meeting”. How weird that they approached
us like that. Do you think those are
really the children God has for us?
Well, then what would the legal risk license be for? More kids?
I guess if we would have never come to this class, we wouldn’t have met
that couple. It just seems to good to be true. I guess we’ll just have to
wait and see what comes of it. If God has chosen them for us, He will work it out.
The next morning I emailed our caseworker all the info
(names, ages, location) we had received the night before from the children’s
foster parents, so she would be prepared to recognize them when they came
through on a broadcast in the next week or so.
I was a little nervous that she might miss them and wondered if we
should have exchanged names and numbers with those foster parents (which I was
too busy looking dumbfounded to do). I
pondered it all again and again, finally asking God for clarity.
I received a phone call an hour later from our caseworker: “Hey,
I wanted to talk to you about those kids you told me about last night. Their broadcast already went through last
week.” I sighed, disappointedly. Then
she continued, “but, I actually thought they would be so perfect for you, I
submitted your home study for them last Thursday.” “WHAT?
You’re kidding me!”
“No, I just saw them and thought they were so perfect for y’all
I didn’t even call you to ask. I just submitted for you. In fact, I ran in to
the caseworker yesterday and she said they hadn’t made a decision to narrow
down for the top 3 yet, but you were still being considered. I guess they received
a lot of home studies, so it is taking a while to go through them all. I told
her to keep you in mind.”
God’s irony is always beautifully timed. Even if we are not selected for this sibling
group, this was surely not wasted on us. We will continue in His work.
We were told to wait on the Lord, so we did. We were told to be of good
courage, and we were. He promised to strengthen
our hearts, and He did. And so, we are
commanded again, to wait on the Lord, so we will.
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