For how long, O Lord?

When we went to foster parent training we had to draw a picture of what our "ideal" foster child would look like.  I drew a fat little baby all swaddled up, sucking on its binky, sleeping like an angel.  Of course I did... Who wouldn't want an innocent, sweet little bundle of squishiness?

Our trainer was quick to let me know not to get my hopes up.  She explained the statistics of kids needing homes again, and told me to keep an open mind.  Yeah, yeah... whatever.  Almost a year later (the "system" is a little slow moving around here) we got our first call.  It was for a nine month old little boy.  I was ecstatic!  I was going to get my bundle of squishiness after all! What did that trainer lady know anyway?  I raced over to the DFCS office, picked him up and brought him home.  We had a chaotic afternoon, didn't sleep a wink that night, but I didn't care.  I was following God's plan, and He was giving me exactly what I wanted... perfect!

And then we got another call... almost exactly 24 hours later.  We needed to return him to DFCS immediately.  The judge had ruled to put the child back with his previous caregiver. What?!?  I was heartbroken. I had not ever imagined that you could fall in love with a child so quickly, or that you could be so sad to see them go when you had known them for less than a day.

Our next child was a 6 year old little boy with a sad, sad story.  I'll never forget taking him to Target that first morning to get the bare necessities.  While riding in the cart eating his popcorn and drinking his slushee, he looked up at me with his big brown eyes and said with amazing innocence and trust, "What's your name again?" I reminded him... He replied, "Mrs. Selena, I think I love you."

He'd been in my home and care for less than 6 hours, but he was in love.  And so was I.  That little guy stayed for almost exactly six months before moving out of state with grandparents.  In those months, he taught our family so much.  It was amazing to see him experience things for the first time, over come fears, and come to a personal relationship with Christ.  He was searching for a "new life", and I truly believe he found the way to that through Jesus.  What a privilege to be apart of that before he left.

We delivered him to his grandparents, and 24 hours later we got a call from DFCS again... This time it was for a two year old and one year old brother and sister.  Apparently, they had called "everyone", and no one could take them.  Of course we said yes... What were we supposed to do?  That was six weeks ago, and holy cow has it been a wild ride!

Throughout this year we have asked the same question Isaiah asked over and over...
¹¹ Then I said, “For how long, O Lord?”
And he answered:

“Until the cities lie ruined
    and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
    and the fields ruined and ravaged,
¹² until the Lord has sent everyone far away
    and the land is utterly forsaken.
¹³ And though a tenth remains in the land,
    it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
    leave stumps when they are cut down,
    so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”

And the answer we received is the same that Isaiah did... until the job is finished.  It might be 24 hours, six months, or a lifetime... We have to follow the call, finish the race, and do the job - until it is finished. There have been times that we thought we couldn't make it one more day.  There have been times that we wished we could stop time and make the moments last longer.  But each day we wake up knowing the same thing... the job is not finished yet.  So we press on to finish the race and complete the task.