The cost (and I don't mean money)

So what would mean to foster/adopt? What would it cost us? Virtually nothing in the way of financial expense but emotionally - it could cost way more than we could ever expect. The emotional risk of foster/adopting is that we could connect so closely and intimately with a child, hoping and expecting them to become part of our family only to loose them back to their birth parents or other family members who are willing to adopt them. We could be placed with a child with soul wounds so deep that pain and struggle are inevidable. Pain that can't be understood by us no matter how hard we try. We could recieve a child with physical ailments that might never heal because his mother made a choice to drink alcohol and do drugs while he grew inside her.

This is a very BIG risk for all of us. Each in our own way will need to come to grips with this potential pain that we might incur and when it comes to big sis, we'll just have to walk with her through it should it come to such a loss. But we must also keep in our minds and hearts the real truth of the matter. Simply put, the gains outweigh the risks. At times, it is a little scary to think about all the things that are ahead of us in this journey. At times, I ask myself, are we crazy? Our life is perfect (well almost). Our home is pleasant, loving and virtually it's a pretty easy ride day to day - so why in the world would we want to invite possible chaos into the mix? Why would we want to invite a baby or a child with the potential of taking every emotional and physical energy out of us into home and into our lives? Why? The question isn't so much why as it is, why not?

We are a stable, supportive and loving family. We can give a child who otherwise might not have a chance at EVER experiencing that in their life, if even for a short time (but hopefully forever) the chance to see and experience love at it's deepest level. Love that loves simply because it chooses to, not because you were born "in to" it. Why would we not want to bless a child with love, support and a people to call family forever? In the end, we are all called to love one another and that's what we intend to do.