Foster Parenting - More Than A Home

Great Piece this week at the Pinelake Church blog about my good friends Howard and Stephanie Wilson and their adventures in foster parenting:

At 16 years old I found out I couldn’t have children, which wasn’t an easy thing to deal with. Then in 1993, when my husband and I were married, I learned he didn’t want children — another big blow to my desire to be a mom. But not long after, my husband and I decided to become foster parents.

Though I wasn't able to have children, God blessed me with more children than I ever could have imagined through foster care. We’ve fostered 19 children and have adopted two. I feel like it’s a calling to be a part of foster care and adoption, which can look different for everyone. We know it’s about helping others, but it also brings healing as we put our focus on these children and families and know we are helping.

"Our desire is to see these children learn that God’s love goes deeper than any person’s love ever could."They may feel abandoned but it’s important for them to know they have a heavenly Father who loves them and will always be there for them. We want them to know the number one relationship in life is the one with God.

Our oldest foster child just graduated from high school — the first in her family. Her life was changed, and she has a strong love for God and wants to adopt one day. You do get attached to the children you foster but that’s what that child needs. They need someone who loves them, someone who is stable and someone who will provide for them. When they leave your home, they often go back in to what they came out of, but you have to know that God has put you in their life for that season to care for them. You never know what that little bit of time, and the seeds you plant, will bring into their life.

—Howard and Stephanie Wilson, Pinelake Reservoir