Finding the motivation to continue being a foster parent

Being a foster parent has been one of the best things I have ever done with my life. It has opened my eyes and changed who I am. It has changed how my family looks, and how we love and accept others. It has changed the number of chairs around our table, the size of our home, where we live and the pictures hanging on our wall. Foster care has grown our hearts and the number of people we call family.

Foster care has been one of the greatest blessings of my life

Still, sometimes foster care has made me want to quit. There are moments when I do not think I can do it anymore. I’m tired and weary and the road ahead looks too long.

If you choose this life for any amount of time, you too will want to quit, or maybe you already do want to quit. Let me say to you, “Don’t quit, keep going.” Get out of bed in the morning to a new day, put one foot in front of the other and push forward. Choose to love your foster child who has pushed your every boundary and button for one more day. Surely you can give them that — just one more day.

Choose a different perspective

Sometimes we become stuck looking ahead and thinking things will always be the way they are now — moments of hopelessness and difficult days. But if we can choose a different perspective, it will look less daunting and often get us over that slump into a brighter place.

So tonight, when the day is done, all the kids are asleep and I finally crawl into bed, I will leave today in the past and wake to a new day — one more day to love all the kids who have been placed in my home and the family connected to them. And the day after that, I will do the same — because I always have one more day to give.