Chosen One
By Sally Cat
Goldsboro, NC
I look at my life and I think...I could do better. I could stand to lose some weight, or attend church more regularly but I was chosen to take on a role that was unexpected. I became a Foster parent.
Now to some people that may sound like a scheme for money or a waste of time but I love taking care of these children and no, they don't owe me anything, not even their gratitude for having a warm bed to sleep in or home cooked meals. I was chosen to take them into my home and give them the love and kindness that they never experienced before.
It started with two children of Mexican descent who had been sexually abused. They came in the middle of the night...scared and confused with a garbage bag of tattered clothes. At the ages of 2 and 7, a boy and girl respectively, they had already been to 5 different homes. My first instinct as a mother of four grown biological children was to feed them. Everybody loves good food. They were hungry and tired and they went right to sleep. The next day we went shopping to get some clothes, pajamas and toothbrushes. I had to teach them how to pray every night and trust slowly, the established. Trust in God and learning how to socialize through preschool, elementary school and various programs like CC4C and other early intervention groups helped them to understand what was expected of them and removed their fear and doubts about the troubled world they had grown to know as "normal".
They were lucky...it took 3 years but their stay with me resulted in adoption and now they are happy healthy children living in a home filled with love by two extraordinary people who were unable to conceive. I don't want you to get the idea that there's a happy ending for all these children. It took patience and love to guide me through the tantrums and nightmares. But I look at them now and think how wonderful it was to be chosen. To be continued.
Publisher Note: If you’d like to give children without a home the opportunity to be loved, cared for and a better chance for a bright future, call the Wayne County Department of Social Services at 919-580-4034.
