I’ll tell you that as a man I am and have been the last to ask for help when I need it most. Now, I do ask for help from Carla, my wife but I’m talking about the kind of help in dealing with things men go through. My wife will talk to her friends and family constantly about many things going on and the struggles that she faces as a mom. I’m sort of resistant, now Covid didn’t help to much in my introversion and not by the true sense of the word but nonetheless I’ve become more and more introverted.
When Covid hit we took precautions like everyone but later in 2020 we found out that our boys (Sanders and Shepard) biological mom had given birth to a baby girl at 24 weeks gestational age (another story to share on how we found out and all of the details-true God thing). So, all of the summer and early fall we spend days in and out of Sacred Heart Neonatal unit (kudos to the great team at SH NICU levels 2 & 3). We decided to err on the side of caution due to her great struggle (80 days in the NICU unit-surgeries on her eyes, etc) to continue our isolation policy until things get better. Now, I am so blessed to work for a great company and great team who allowed maximum telework, that was a true saving grace for us.
Well fast forward and in that we have been doing online church and devotionals and bible lessons with the family. Perfect, no but we did and made headways in teaching our children God’s word and it has been amazing. We go to Olive Baptist church in Pensacola and love the church leadership and it’s staff, it’s home or our church home. We’ve been really active and until Covid in teaching the children and in Sunday school activities, and more. That’s how we saw the need of foster care in our community. The people of Olive mean a ton to our family and supported our move into foster care. There was a spark of interest in the church about foster care and becoming foster parents. We saw a bunch of families join arms in building safe homes for displaced children who are trying to survive.
Fast forward to two weeks ago and a email comes in about a gathering for the foster/adopt dads in our church. That was really a great thing because the dads who foster seem to be more on the sideline than in the middle of the action alongside their spouses. That was a misleading bias I had due to some iterations I have had in the past with families who foster. I’m an advocate and will tell you and everyone that they need to be a foster parent or come alongside of a family in support. My Myers-Brigs personality is that of a ENFJ-T or the Turbulent protagonist. To learn more follow this link: https://www.16personalities.com/profiles/cb12fe336501f
Going back on the don’t ask for help mentality, I went on Friday to the gathering of foster/adopt dads and let’s just say that God worked and God spoke. We shared and wept, laid our burdens down to the feet of the one who saved the world by his death, burial, and resurrection. I’m not the weepy or sappy kind but wow. We all struggle, we all have trouble wondering if we have done the right thing, that answer is YES. Fostering and adoption have made me a more compassionate and understanding person. I’m so grateful for men like Hesston, Shaun, and those who got to come. God really opened my eyes and heart to the hope that our church and churches can and will make a kingdom wide impact on those children in our area. I’m renewed and revived, thankful and grateful. God’s working, God’s moving, as the song lyrics go:
You’re the God of this city
You’re the King of these people
You’re the Lord of this nation
You are
You’re the light in this darkness
You’re the hope to the hopeless
You’re the peace to the restless
You are
There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God
For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this city
