our first placement

We had a meeting last week with our adoption case worker and the subject of our other foster care placements came up. It brought back many memories and I have decided to share them here. In a summer that started out very sad we had a bright little boy who came to stay with us for 2 weeks while his foster family went on vacation. We accepted the foster care placement for Steven a sweet 8 year old boy, when the worker called to let us know he would be coming over she kept saying to make sure we had house rules in place. Seeing as this was our first ever foster care placement we started to get worried we were in over our heads. Steven arrived and we decided to make house rules together. We had a fun filled 2 weeks and learned a lot about being parents. (we felt like long term babysitters.) This little boy thrived in our home, he was very well behaved despite what we were told. He really bonded with Mr. Dave and enjoyed calling out, "Hey Mr Dave" when he wanted to make sure he had David's full attention. We found out very quickly that Steven had a weak stomach and was prone to puking...before he got sick he would announce loudly " I'm gonna puke". The other exciting thing we did was an indoor camp out , we set up our tent in the house and had smores from the microwave. Steven was so excited he kept jumping in the tent and out of the tent. We settled down for our s'mores and after one bite he stands up and says, "S'mores have chocolate, chocolate has dairy...I'm gonna puke!" And boy o boy did that kid puke! As I think about this little boy most of the memories are just of his big smile. He has a great little laugh and we had a fun two weeks with him. My dreams for my life have always included children and the amazing impact each of our foster children has had on me will stay with me for the rest of my life, even if I dont get to stay in contact with them.