Our Journey to Becoming Foster Parents

Wow. I haven't written on this blog for years. As we entered into this new chapter in life, I thought it would be one to blog about for our friends and family that live far away or people who are just interested in this journey. A long time ago, I named this blog Blissful Entries, and I felt like it still encompasses this process and chapter as well, so here we go!

The journey to Sterling and I becoming foster parents has been such a special one.

Before ever meeting each other, Sterling and I had both felt called to adoption. At that point in our lives, we didn't know which avenue we would adopt through (international, domestic adoption, etc.), but we both knew we wanted to pursue it. When we got married in 2014, we assumed we would have children biologically then adopt. Adoption continued to weigh heavy on our hearts.

Fast forward to 2017. We had decided we were in a place in life where we could bring in a child. We were financially stable, we bought a house, Sterling had graduated from seminary, and we were both in jobs we prayed for. We started to try to conceive. After a handful of months, we were put on a fertility drug. We decided and felt a peace that if it came down to the point to involve a fertility specialist, God was calling us to seek growing our family through the adoption route before the biological one.

While this is all happening, God started to put foster care on our hearts. It was something that was clear to both of us, and we knew when we were going to grow our family through other methods, it was going to be through the foster care system.

In January of 2018, we spoke to some individuals involved in various capacities in the foster care system and decided to work through a faith-based agency. We have felt a great peace throughout our hours and hours of training and paperwork (goodness gracious the paperwork!). Even though some deep and difficult things are discussed, we knew that this was where we were supposed to be.

If you have ever been close to someone going through the process, you know it's a long one. Sterling and I completed a little over 30 hours of training, mountains of paperwork, doctors visits, fire inspections, and the home study. In May, we were told that we had been officially licensed for foster care and adoption.

We can't wait to love on the children that come through our home. Whether it's for a season or for forever, we are so excited to see what the Lord has in store for our family! I'll try to keep the blog updated with this journey of ours!