Fun Fact #19 – National Adoption Day is important because…

National Adoption Day is a collective effort to raise awareness about all of the children waiting to be adopted from foster care in the United States, but sometimes the children that need us the most are the ones that unexpectedly come into our lives. I’ve “officially” fostered 1 child in my life, and I can tell you from experience that it was the best and worst thing I ever went through. Saying goodbye is always the hardest part.

If you’ve ever considered adoption or fostering, I can guarantee you that there is a special child out there, waiting for someone like YOU to step into their lives and change their world. Fostering is an amazing, scary, fun and wonderful experience. But as beautiful as fostering can be, It’s not easy. there will be struggles, but there will also be moments of pure happiness. You’ll have ups and downs, and HEY! You may even doubt yourself and say things like, “I don’t know what I’m doing” or “am I doing the right thing?”

Why yes. YES you are doing the right thing.

For all you foster parents or prospective foster parents out there, I’m here to tell you that every moment will be worth it. At the end of the day, you ARE changing lives. So if you are currently fostering, you are amazing and I just wanted to remind you of that.

If you ever thought about fostering, do it. Now is the best time to start. There is no “better time” than THIS TIME. Today. Tomorrow. This week. This month. Grab a brochure, Google an agency, make a call, reach out! Ask questions. Sometimes all it takes to change a life is for someone to CARE and you can be that someone. In fact, if you are unsure of where to start, let me provide you with a little resource called the, “National Foster Care & Adoption Directory Search.”

CLICK HERE: https://www.childwelfare.gov/nfcad/

You’re welcome.

Now, In honor of national adoption day I wanted to talk about my two unofficially adopted children, (names changed for privacy) Pax (age 15) and Axel (age 16). Pax plays the saxophone, loves camping, motorcycles and doing arts and crafts. Axel loves video games, cards, pokemon, pumpkin pie and learning new things. They are both awesome little people that my husband and I are lucky to know. We met these boys about three years ago as neighbors, when they randomly wandered into our garage. Curious and bright eyed, they wanted to learn more about the motorcycles we had parked there. They spent the next few days, weeks, months and years, learning, growing, playing, laughing and spending time with us. Today, I jokingly tell everyone I have three kids because these boys have become such a big part of our lives, I can’t imagine not having them around.

There are over 400,000 children in foster care waiting for a family and thousands more waiting to be adopted. Then there are the children that just need someone to look up to. Someone they can spend time with and learn new things with. Fostering to me, means having another little buddy to do things with. It means having an extra smiling face to pick you up when you are down. There are so many children that are just waiting for someone to walk into their lives and make a difference. Having the opportunity to watch a child grow into successful little adults while teaching them things along the way is nothing short of a miracle. It’s a journey that will enhance your life in so many indescribable ways. Children just want someone to pay attention to them, spend time with them, or teach them new things and we should. Because at the end of the day, these kids are the future. They are the next generation of humans that will define our world and if we take the time to open our hearts and homes then one day we will have helped paved a path for someone who will grow up and do amazing things, because every child deserves someone who cares, someone to tell them they can be anything they want to be. My daughter tells me that she wants to be the president one day. Yanno what I tell her? WHY NOT? GO FOR IT!

Even though Pax and Axel are not adopted, my daughter tells everyone she has two brothers. You don’t need to share DNA to be considered “family” and these boys are family, because a family can be anything you want it to be. There is something special to be said about when a child makes the decision to call you “mama” or “papa” I could literally have a terrible day, sick in bed and then suddenly, without asking, this bubbly faced kid will hand me a cup of tea with freshly squeezed lemon and tell me to “drink up mama” It’s moments like those that mean the most.

Sometimes life is about the things that we learn along the way and the people that we create and share experiences with on this journey we call life. For me, it’s the little things that bring moments of joy, make a difference and keep me grounded. Fostering is about giving second chances. But it’s also about having a crafting buddy to make dream catchers or t-shirts with when i’m bored. It’s about learning how to bake together or having family game night. It’s about watching movies late, carving pumpkins, making random crafts and camping. To me, life is just about making good memories with good people because you never know how long you have left on this planet, and having extra kids in your house just means that there is extra room for extra love AND extra memories.

So again, if your still thinking about fostering, my only advice to you is that… You may have to change a little to gain A LOT.

America XOXO,