Keepers

I have friends who had kids almost exactly a year after I did. And they had a girl followed by a boy, like me. So their daughter is a year younger than mine, and their son is a year younger than mine. Unlike me, they also found out she was expecting again at her 6-week checkup following their son. During some of my weaker, self-doubting moments I remember wondering sometimes how she kept her sanity. I have always respected how great her attitude has been relative to her unexpected blessings. I recently saw these friends and now their children are 5, 3, and 2. I was inspired by them. Not only are they working hard to raise their own stair step children, but they have taken legal guardianship of a baby boy cousin. They took him home from the hospital when he was born and have had him for two months now. His mother is in prison. She gets fifteen minutes of phone time daily and has called them once to check on him.

I have a book with quotes about motherhood and one of them says, "Having kids is not like fishing--all children are keepers." And boy, is he ever a keeper. He was the sweetest baby and barely made a peep all evening. I held him awhile just to make sure I remember how to do it correctly. He went to sleep on my shoulder. This picture was taken the day Jaron was born. He was a keeper too. We talked a lot about the legal and emotional issues that come with adoption and guardianship that night. I just want to applaud any parent who has given a part of themselves to this process for the sake of a child. I understand loving a child as if it were your own. I would not have a problem with that at all. But this extra dimension that comes with foster parenting and legal guardianship and adoption--this possibility that you could love a child as your own and it could be taken away from you again--I believe any mother who opens themselves up to this possibility has strength and character that I could only hope to achieve someday.

There have been times when my patience has waned and I have doubts about my ability to be a great mother to three kids, but spending an evening with this couple and some other families we know really helped me to put things into perspective. I know God gives us the strength we need when we need it...and that He never gives us more than we can handle. I am so glad there are people out there that have the strength needed to take in sweet babies that need a loving home. And I am grateful that God has found me worthy to be a mother to three children. Knowing He has that much faith in me helps me to have more faith in myself. I am counting down the weeks until I can meet my newest little keeper!