The Phone Call

Bathtime can get a little hectic in our house with 3 kids under the age of 5. On this typical evening in our household the kids were splashing away in the tub singing, laughing, and getting louder and louder by the minute when Josh’s phone began to ring. My curiosity was instantly piqued. We had been waiting for a phone call for our first foster placement and I couldn’t follow him around the house while he walked and talked like I normally would because I needed to stay with the kids in the tub.

Minutes later he came back into the bathroom and told me that we had received a phone call from our agency worker about a baby in need of a foster home. After that first call Josh and I tagged team bathing the kids and as we made several more phone calls back and forth between myself, Josh, our agency worker, and the Department of Child Safety. In less than 10 minutes we had a plan in place to pick up the baby in the morning.

The limited details we had were heartbreaking. I clung to Josh outside the bathroom door trying to put a coherent thought together and tears started streaming down my face. Everything about this child was the complete opposite of what we had expected. I started second guessing myself and wondering if I could do this. Could I take care of a baby whose health was so compromised and faced so many unknowns?

I picked my 14 month old up out of the bathtub wrapped him in a warm cozy towel and my tears dropped down on his blonde hair as I breathed in his clean baby freshness. Many thoughts swirled around in my head at that moment but I knew saying yes to that phone call wasn’t just me saying yes to a child but me being obedient to the Lord and what he was asking our family to do.

And it was in that moment that I knew I had to completely surrender, yet again, my ideals and expectations. Up until this point Josh and I being foster parents had been something that would happen in the future. Now the clock was quickly ticking to the time when we would get to meet this little person and welcome them into our family. I felt somewhere between throwing up and obsessively cleaning to release my bundle of nerves after all the kids were in bed but I knew that saying yes was the best choice.