Sweet Way of Putting It

by: Elisabeth Richerson, a Connected Foster Care mother

“You’re crazy taking on a 5th child!”

“Don’t you know what causes that?”

“I could never do what you do.”

“Doesn’t it break your heart to fall in love with these babies just for them to be ripped from your home?”

These are just some of the millions of comments and questions I hear daily.

When a child comes into our home my love for them is immediately strong. I get so attached, probably more so than my husband would like. I love deep. So yes, when they leave a piece of my heart goes with them. And the only way I know how to describe it is like mourning the death of a child even though you know they are alive and out in the world somewhere else.

But I carry on knowing I loved hard, planted so many seeds, and now it is up to the Lord to tend to them.

But the reward is so much greater than that. I am loving the Lords children. As I am playing the role of mom, we pray that their family does all that is needed to support them, and they return home or are reunited with family.

Tonight as I sit here getting all these new born cuddles, I think about his momma. And how somewhere she is going through all the things a woman goes through after giving birth, but without anything to show for it. She is somewhere sitting there with crazy hormones, pain from birth, milk coming in, and all the things. While I sit here and calm him while he cries, feed him, change him, and care for him; doing everything she should be getting to do.

And my heart hurts for her. I will continue to pray hard for her and love her for being such a blessing for bringing him into this world.

And these cuddles may be temporary. Only the Lord knows His plans for our sweet little pumpkin, but for now I will step up and do my job as the role of caregiver and his temporary mom. I will love him forever even if one day he doesn’t know me. Because this is my calling. My calling was to be a mom and to share Jesus with every single child no matter how small.

"Whoever welcomes one of these Iittle children in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."
- Mark 9:37 NIV