“My journey as a foster parent began in the summer of 2014.  My husband and I attended a Sunday School class entitled “Project 210.”  This class was designed to answer two questions, “Why am I here?” and “What does God really want me to do with my life?” The class had us delve into many activities, based off of Ephesians 2:10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” During this class, there was a questionnaire to fill out individually.  It consisted of many questions to find out exactly how God has gifted each of us, and how we can walk in them through our daily actions.  Both my husband and I filled out this questionnaire separately and two weeks apart.  When we gathered to discuss our results, amazingly, we both found our answer to be fostering.  We quickly set up a meeting with Tim and Sharon King to discuss what fostering would look like in our family, what would be required of us as foster parents, and to secure their guidance through this journey.  We were both frightened to move forward and give our life away, but we felt the hand of God moving us towards this service.  After much prayer, meeting with our Pastor and the Elders in our congregation, and having the King’s to guide us, we decided to faithfully jump into fostering, and signed up for classes through Chilton County DHR.

While still in classes to become foster parents, we attended an Easter egg hunt hosted at Raleigh’s place with our church, Grace Fellowship.  There were two little girls that were taken into care the day before, and placed at Raleigh’s Place.  We (as a family) were able to meet them that day.  Little did we know God had big plans for those two little ones, and used the King’s to help place them in our home.  We became licensed in May 2015 and those two little girls moved to our home as our family’s first placement.  It was a difficult transition.  I went from a mom of two healthy well adjusted children to a mom of four children, of which two had been through unspeakable things.  Parenting children with a trauma background is completely different than anything I had ever encountered.  There is a balance of love, discipline, fighting for these children, not allowing your sorrow for their story to overtake your emotions while you parent them, and continuing to point these little lives towards Christ.  God used Sharon to help me understand behaviors, she gave me so much advice on how to handle the children, bio parents, DHR, court, and she was always there if I needed to call and ask a question. The Lord provided wisdom, peace, endurance, love, guidance, and put many people in our lives to help navigate this time.  I failed many times and struggled a good deal and the one consistent thing I was shown was that the moments of failure were the moments I relied on myself instead of looking towards Christ for my strength.

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Fast forward to Fall of 2017, our family adopted those two little girls.  They are happy, loved little ones and have added much to our family. Over the years, we have continued to take placements and help those children in need.  Raleigh’s Place has been a constant source of support over the years.  They provide clothes from Katie’s Kloset for our children whether they be foster, adopted, or biological.  Clothing children who come into your home with almost nothing is not an easy task.  This ministry is instrumental in helping families like ours continue to take placements and fulfill their needs.  Raleigh’s Place also gives food items biweekly to foster families and this has blessed our family tremendously.  Feeding our family of 7, that can fluctuate to more sometimes, can be difficult on a budget.  God has used the King’s and Raleigh’s Place to bless our life and provide tangible items to allow us to continue our ministry, to foster and serve children in need.”

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