Foster Care Affects Every Member of Our Family
Foster the Family Blog
by Jamie C.
3d ago
These girls of ours understand what it means to welcome a child through foster care. They remember their own experiences, make connections to their own lives. Continuing to welcome kids in our home has brought up a lot of questions and started many conversations with these two. And usually, what I’ve expected to be triggering, has most often been healing. Triggers aren’t meant to be avoided (forever). They reveal places that are broken, so that healing can take place. When our kids are ready, triggers can be opportunities—to process, to grow, to heal. I think the love my girls have for thei ..read more
Visit website
To the Friends & Family of Foster & Adoptive Parents...
Foster the Family Blog
by Jamie C.
5d ago
To the friends & family of foster & adoptive parents: there’s something we need to say to you… Parenting kids from trauma is hard. It’s messy. It’s confusing. It’s not about getting results, and it’s never a quick fix. Because trauma parenting isn’t (just) about changing behavior. It’s about healing. Our kids come to us with brains & bodies & beliefs that have been changed by the things they’ve been through. So now we partner with them in their healing, meeting them where they are and hopefully leading them to a better place. Our kids’ behavior may confuse you. You should kn ..read more
Visit website
A Redefining of What Connection & Affection Looks Like
Foster the Family Blog
by Jamie C.
1w ago
Parenting a child with an insecure attachment might mean a redefining of what connection & affection look like. One of my kids approached, pencil & pad in hand, and wordlessly handed me this note. I pulled the pad from their hand and wrote back, “I love you most. Forever.” They looked at the note and without lifting their eyes from the paper-no hug, no smile, no picture perfect display of affection-whispered, barely audibly, “...I’m going to go put this under my pillow...” and ran off. If I was too busy mourning the moments that never happen, I would miss the beautiful moments of co ..read more
Visit website
My Kids Need So Much From Me
Foster the Family Blog
by Jamie C.
1w ago
“Mom? Do you want to hug me?” I was in the kitchen doing dishes when he asked. “Yes! I actually want to hug you very, very much.” I turned off the water, pulled him into my arms, and joined him on the couch. Sometimes we’re so busy doing for our kids that we neglect being with them, seeing them, enjoying them. My kids need so much from me. They need me to serve & work & do. But what they need most from me is just *me*—hugging, playing, listening, looking into their eyes, teaching, laughing, talking, loving. It’s an impossible balancing act, so if I’m going to fall to one side rathe ..read more
Visit website
Foster Care is the Fulfillment of Hospitality to the Utmost
Foster the Family Blog
by Jamie C.
1w ago
The command to show hospitality is all throughout Scripture. “Do not neglect to show hospitality…” (Heb 13:2) “Show hospitality…” (1 Peter 4:9) “Seek to show hospitality…” (Romans 12:13) And countless other passages. But we’ve misdefined “hospitality” to mean something more like “entertainment.” Lavish spreads, fancy meals, friends & family laughing together. The Greek word for hospitality is “Philoxenia.” “Philo” meaning love and “Xenia”meaning strangers. So hospitality is best defined as “loving strangers.” The Biblical understanding of “Philoxenia” would be the law or custom of offe ..read more
Visit website
We Eat Dinner as a Family
Foster the Family Blog
by Jamie C.
1w ago
Our family eats dinner on paper plates now. We eat the same seven meals on repeat. Each kid has at least one other kid that they refuse to sit next to. Sometimes, someone eats and runs out to an activity right after. Many meals, one of the kids opts into pb&j instead of what I cooked. Everyone triggers my misophonia and I scold everyone to “eat with your mouth closed!” on repeat. Everyone talks over everyone. When we say it’s time for family devotions, we get a collective groan. Often, someone cries. But. We eat dinner as a family. We sit together and eat and talk. We each share our “hig ..read more
Visit website
Foster Parenting Will Wreck You
Foster the Family Blog
by Jamie C.
2w ago
Foster parenting will wreck you. In the very best of ways. It will wreck the lie that life is about you & your comfort. It will wreck your contentment with life *remaining* about you & your comfort. It will wreck your blindness to other people’s brokenness, to their need, to their humanity. It will wreck your ability to hold onto the belief that the same brokenness and need is not wrapped up in your humanity, too. It will wreck your self-sufficiency and self-reliance, your belief that—in and of yourself—you can do anything, change anything, make any difference in anything. And when ..read more
Visit website
The Sweetest Forgiveness Found in Jesus
Foster the Family Blog
by Jamie C.
2w ago
Our family is messy as can be, but if there’s one thing I think we do well, it’s apologies. In fact, it’s probably *because* we’re so messy that we’ve gotten so good at apologies. Our guy heard me apologize to one of the kids. “Why did you say sorry?” he asked. “You’re the mom. Moms don’t say sorry to kids.” This was my invitation to share about the beauty of giving & receiving forgiveness. “In a family, we give our family members our very best and, too often, our very worst. We will make mistakes and fail and sin, and we can be forgiven by simply asking for forgiveness—from the other pe ..read more
Visit website
Living a Life That is Immeasurably More Than All I Could Ask or Imagine
Foster the Family Blog
by Jamie C.
3w ago
You know how God is a God “who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine?” I, for one, have found that to very true. Because I didn’t ask for this, and I never would’ve imagined it up. And yet here we are. I now understand that “more than we ask or imagine” doesn’t mean “bigger and better” in the traditional sense. It can also mean “completely different and totally surprising and borderline crazy.” It means that God plans what’s very best for us, even if it’s not what we thought we wanted. It means that He is not limited by our here and now, comfort consumed, small and selifs ..read more
Visit website
"Can I Call You Mom?"
Foster the Family Blog
by Jamie C.
3w ago
“Can I call you mom? My mom said I could if I wanted to.” “I think that kids should be in families, not just homes. And I think that every kid should get to have an “every day, for now” mom who takes care of them when their mom can’t. Your mom will be your mom forever, and I will be your mom for as long as you need me. So if you would like to call me mom, I would like that, too.” “Ok, mom.” *Runs into other room with the kids* “Guess what? I just called your mom “mom.” Cool, right?” Every child should experience the love of a parent, even when they are separated from their parent. Every ch ..read more
Visit website

Follow Foster the Family Blog on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR