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Home » Encouragement » Page 9

Boogers and a Mother’s Love

04.25.2016 by Sarah //

Boogers and a Mother's Love

I created the above image using Pic Monkey’s free photo editing website. Check them out here.)


Holding my breath, I extended my pinky finger, carefully, precisely.  I couldn’t afford to miss.  Doing so would cause pain.  I reached out and my nail sank successfully into pliable goo. I had done it.  I exhaled and breathed in again.  This time holding my breath as I skewered the goo, extracting it.

The precious boy in my arms blinked at me and rubbed his nose before snuggling back into me.

I was captive, my life held mid-sentence, by these moments when he let me rock him to sleep.

But I had boogers on my fingers.

He’d been getting off to sleep so nicely when he whispered into the dark.

“Boogies”

My heart melted and my immune system revolted simultaneously.

Mama kindness won out.

I picked those boogies ever so carefully and stored them on an undisturbed finger until he fell asleep in my snuggles.

This was contentment.

My goo smudged fingers proof that my heart had been blessed with a child to love.

I lay him in bed, crept out, and closed the door on the dark room.

Now In the light, I washed off the thick proof with as much soap and hot water as needed. I was thankful, thankful that I had a precious child whose boogers I was invited to pick.

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Categories // Real Life Tags // Encouragement

“He’s Talking to Me!”

04.23.2016 by Sarah //

Hes Talking to Me

I created the above image using Pic Monkey’s free photo editing website. Check them out here.)


“He’s talking to me!”

You’d expect the above sentence to be about a child finally opening up.  After all, as foster parents or adoptive parents we often have closed off children.

Nope, not even close.

It was a fight.

Between siblings.

In the backseat.

So why am I thankful? Why the celebration?

Because it was normal, oh so normal!

Finally, some sibling rivalry that was healthy.

They weren’t fighting for resources, my attention, or throwing each other off semi-trucks (Okay, so the last one is exaggerated – but you know they would if they could!).

This was normal, run of the mill, childishly irrational squabbling.

And I was thankful, oh SO THANKFUL for it!

What are you celebrating today?  Share with us in the comments.  Let us celebrate with you!

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Categories // Real Life Tags // Encouragement

The Hidden Gems of Foster Parenting

04.21.2016 by Sarah //

Gems of Foster Parenting

We struggle, our kids struggle, that’s just the way it is.  If we didn’t realize that when becoming foster parents or adoptive parents, we do now. But there is also this remarkable benefit to being foster parents.  We get to see our children’s’ accomplishments for what they truly are, explosions of progress blasting a route through the mountain of their past.

I pick up my kindergartner from school to see that she has paint on her shirt.

“Did you paint at school today?”

“Uh-huh”

“What did you paint?  Was it green?”

“Uh-huh, with my fingers.”

“You painted with your fingers today?!” I try not to over-react with joy and pride as she offers up her paper to me.

“Yes. Here.”

I take the paper from her to see that she very carefully painted inside the lines of a bubble letter ‘G’.

That’s it.  No mountain tunneling path here. No big explosion of growth.

Right?

Then why do I want to dance!  I want to pick her up and swing her around and beam in her face and scream to the heavens!

I don’t do any of those things. She’s tired. It would push her into her shell instead of draw her out.  Instead, I look in her eyes and say with conviction, “It’s great.  I love it. I’m so happy you decided to finger-paint this letter ‘G’.”  I hold her tiny little hands and smile at her, then let them go and walk her to the car.

That, my friends, was a moment.  A mountain blasting, tunnel boring, life altering foot of ground moment.

That was a child who had been so sensory deprived from the first years of life that touching goopy paint was a monumental accomplishment.

That was a child who, not only touched the ewwy, gooey, paint but who focused her efforts enough to control where she put the scary sensory stuff.  She didn’t fling it from her fingers, wipe it in her hair to get it off as soon as possible.  She hadn’t spread it all over the table, herself, and others.  No, with a crazy sensation running from fingers to brain, she had focused her attention and painted within the lines.

This was HUGE, life altering stuff!  And this little five year old had broken through all on her own.

Moments like this are the gems of being an adoptive parent.  They are overlooked.  They are disguised as “normal” but they are anything but ordinary.

Collect them.  Treasure them.  They are significant and YOU are a part of it.

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