Life at the Watkins house has been somewhat crazy over the past few days. Our little family of 3, has quickly turned into a family of 7!!!(and I didn't even gain a pound!!)
Here's a little background;
I have a younger sister that has 4 children. Over the summer there were some issues*(I'll save you the details) and the children were brought to our home for 3 weeks while these issues were supposedly ironed out. After 4 weeks, the State of Michigan felt everything was resolved and the children were then placed back into the home and we heard nothing more.
Fast forward to Monday morning. I recieve a call at 10:15am asking me if I'm willing to take the children once again. Apparently, the "issues" were not taken care of as they had hoped. At this point, I'm a little nervous and asking MANY questions. I wanted to be sure it wasn't a 2 week trip and then they would go back again. I was however, reassured this time..it wasn't for two weeks.
This time...It's for a while. A LONG while.
Now we are at today, there was a hearing, some discussions, a chat with a foster care worker and now? The Watkins family has added 4 people, a 10yr old, almost 6yr old, and 2 and a half year old twins!!!!. Right now they are looking at a minimum of a year. These children are going to be here a minimum of 12 months. And in reality, it could be permanently. You may think I'm crazy(and I haven't completly decided I'm not..) But put yourself in my place; this was the conversation Monday morning when I was first called "You have 2 choices, either the children are placed in your custody OR they are split up and sent to foster care homes"...It was a total no-brainer. I can't have my neice and nephews split up and living with complete strangers.
So..Here's the fun part. We live in a shoe box, if any of you have ever seen our house, you can barely turn around twice inside it. seriously. However, we're making some moves with bedrooms, turning the basement into a toy/rec/play/TV/whatever room. And we'll make it work. The most important thing for me to keep in mind is the children are safe. Healthy. Cared for. LOVED.
****I have asked God often lately for more children...I think next time, I'm going to need to be more specific with my prayers!!!
It's 11:51pm. I'm pretty exhausted, my day started at 530am and my alarm is set for the same tomorrow. I'm in for a couple LONG weeks of getting schedules and organized and trying to get some stuff for these kids. AND learning how to be a Mom to 5(YIKES!) awesome little people. It will be a struggle and I know we're in for some tears and some battle of the wills.
We could use all the prayers we can get. We are getting some assistance soon(hopefullly really soon- my grocery bill is OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!), but it's going to be a process. I keep my fingers crossed
I'm sure I'll have LOTS more to post tomorrow and maybe even some pictures(if I can find my camera!!!)
lessons in GRACE
7 years ago
5 comments:
Heather, yes, God is SO like that, answering our prayers beyond our dreams and in often unexpected ways. You certainly have my prayers and support, sister, and I truely admire what you are doing for these kids.
Nicci
I absolutely admire what you're doing! I will pray for strength for you all in getting thru the transition together. It sounds as if they are very lucky to have you all in their lives now!
Let Phil. 4:13 be your mantra!!! You have to not rely on your own strength, but on SUPER-natural strength... it is already there for you just grab it!!! We are praying!!!
love you!
Girl, I'll send you a super woman cape, ok? Maybe that will help. You are amazing and doing a wonderful thing for those kids. Don't worry - you'll do fine and it will work out how it's meant to. Easy for me to say, but I find that it's always true and often need people to remind me of that.
Awww sweetie, you are so wonderful for doing this!! You'll have schedules and all worked out in no time!!
Hang in there and let me know if I can do anything for you!!
xoxo
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