Dear Leah - a note from me to the me before foster care

Dear Leah,

You have no idea what you are getting into, but you know that feeling you have of "this is gonna be hard"?

Well, double it.

That's about what it is going to be like.

You know that feeling you have of "this is going to be amazing and so worth it"?

Well, triple it.

That's about what it's gonna be like.

It will NOT be easy to navigate this system.

It WILL be easy to love the kids.

People are going to fail left and right, most of all you.

God is never going to fail ANY of you.

You are going to have little girls.

You are going to love every second of it.

You are going to have little boys.

You are going to love them too.

Now, I know you don't want to let ANY of them go, but you are going to.

You will be happy for some of them and horribly sad for others.

You are going to question God.

You are going to feel like things aren't going right.

You are going to hurt.

God is still there.

You are going to learn so much about yourself, about life & about YOUR God.

You are going to do something that is so worth it.

You will hurt but YOU WIL NOT REGRET IT.

Oh, and don't give up. Don't ever ever EVER give up.

-Leah

PS While you write this you will have a little girl smiling and giggling because she is busy trying on every item of clothes you own, and when you look at her you will know that everything I just told you is absolutely true.