Have you ever been in a moment where the reality of a major life change hits you? It may be your wedding day. It may be a graduation. Maybe it is the birth of a child. It could be the moment your best friend moves away. A new job. These are moments where we realize that life is changing. Sometimes we have a say in those moments and sometimes we don’t. What if you could help change some lives forever for GOOD?
Children in foster care have a chunk of my heart. I will never forget the feelings as we sat in our first training classes. I felt an awakening, as if I was on the brink of doing something I was always made to do. When I think of how I have been wired, there is a piece of me that just beats to be an advocate for these kids. They are innocent. So often their life has been messed up and they are merely the victims. They need hope. They need open arms. They need patience, grace, and a whole lot of love.
We recently said good-bye to the little boy we were loving on. He was with us for four months. When I look back on that experience, there are parts of me that can’t believe we did it. Fostering children is hard. You are dealing with hurting little people trying to make sense of a world that doesn’t make sense. More often than not you are showing them a new world. All they’ve known to be normal…is suddenly gone and there’s new faces in the picture.
It’s hard.
Then you add in appointments, therapies, visits, and numerous other things…it’s just hard. There are several faces that come to mind when I think of our experience, and they kept my head above water.
They saw the hurt in my eyes when I said I was ok.
They told me they were coming to help with the kids for the day.
They brought meals.
They sent me songs and verses.
They hugged me just a little tighter.
They let me cry and they cheered me on.
They watched my kids.
They gave me a playset.
They opened their homes to our craziness.
They cared for a sick one while we were in a hospital with another.
They kept calling me, when I stopped returning calls.
They were angels on earth.
What is often overlooked when thinking of foster care is it takes an army. You do not have to have a child actually live in your home to play a part in helping children in foster care. There are numerous other ways to help and make a difference. I will tell you from my experience, the people who are housing hurting kids…have a hard time asking for help, but they need it.
They need your support.
They need your eyes to see and heart to hear.
They need a break and they need advocates who understand.
These precious souls I call angels on earth. I would not have survived and been able to be in the trenches without help.
Just a little before we took our last boy in, my sister and her husband took in a little foster girl. They slowly learned she was one of five and have worked to get three of her other siblings reunited under their roof. Olivia and Cody are caring for their own two biological girls and now a sibling group of four. They have six kids 6-years-old and younger in their care. They are in the trenches and truly being the hands and feet of Christ.
What was originally approved as an acceptable bedroom placement and living situation has now been deemed not acceptable. They are a young couple. Their hearts are bigger than their home.
It is their heart’s desire to keep these kids united without having to be moved yet again…until it is time for them to go home. Weeks before Christmas, they are in jeopardy of being split up again and having to move and change schools a third time this semester.
A temporary living arrangement has been approved at their home with the understanding that they will start construction process to create an addition very soon. You can help us make this possible.
We can’t all take in a foster child, much less a sibling group of four to love as our own, but we can all help support those that do. These kids are on the brink of being split up. They can’t fight for life together on their own. We are their voice.
Would you consider giving to this Go Fund Me Campaign?
Would you share this post with your community?
Some of us can do a little. Some of us can do a lot. All of us can do something, and every little bit will add up to make a difference.
To help make this fun and add a little incentive for you, I have set up a giveaway. Enter as many ways as you want/can for your chance to win these handmade goodies of mine. This prize pack is valued at $75 and will be shipped right to your doorstep when you win.
As I recall all of my angels on earth and the ways they helped us through our last foster placement, it excites me to be on the other side of the equation. Please join me and let’s be an overwhelming army of support for the Sing family. Ready… Set… Give! Share! Go!!!
When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a librarian. Visiting used books stores and using my baby-sitting money to buy books was one of my favorite things to do. Today, I still have a lot of those books. My Baby-Sitters Club series I know is a hot commodity. I just hope Reagan likes those books too or I have saved them all these years…to just save them.
Supplies needed for each shelf: (The length of wood or the amount of each item is up to how long your shelf may end up)
The shelf seemed a little crooked at first. Keep in mind you are working with wood that could be warped, so look for the strongest/flattest boards when picking up your supplies. This can take some time and patience. Big box store wood is usually crappy but if you dig through the pile you can find some good pieces. Also, keep in mind the boards may settle a little once there is weight on them. Finally, once all of your shelves are in place and staged, it is very difficult to spot minor imperfections.
We placed our shelves the same 18″ apart. This step is totally up to you. I wanted room for tall books, decor, and to still see some wall which is how we came up with our distance. Matt completed the same process on the two lower shelves. Once we had the pipes in place, it was easy to tell how long our boards needed to be cut. We cut them and placed them on the pipes to be sure it was what we wanted.
This is where we realized the pipes we had bought did not look right. We started with the 10″ black iron pipe, but ended up returning them for the 8″. If you buy the 8″ pipes than you wont have the large gap in your shelves. What we also realized is that the threads on the pipe will not screw all the way into the flange or the cap. Below you can see the difference in using the 10″ inch and 8″ pipes. Of course you could purchase 2″ x 10″ wood to give yourself a wider shelf. That’s what I love about this shelf system, it’s totally customizable.
I was not sure what kind of color I wanted to make the shelves, so we tested a few out. Since this room is a little smaller with only one small window, it tends to feel darker. I painted the walls a light, light blue and decided to keep the shelves light as well. I thought if the walls and shelves were lighter overall, I could add pops of color for fun but still brighten the room up a bit in the overall feel. I ended up going with Rust-oleum’s Driftwood Stain. I love it!
I used a sponge brush and painted the boards. I let the stain sit for a while and then I used an old t-shirt to rub the excess stain off.
Once the stain was dry, we put the boards in place. I loved the look, but decided I wanted one more shelf. I opted for it to not go any lower, so the kids were not at arms reach. We did something a little different and ended up turning around the corner and adding another shelf out of the middle of our current series.
I love how it turned out! I even got most of our books out on the shelves in the process. I plan to switch out the books in the basket (on the floor) with new ones from the shelf or kids room, so our kids can be regularly reading/looking at books but not having to try to get them off the shelf themselves.
I’m so excited at how fun this little corner turned out while still being very functional. We rocked all three of our babies in that rocker, and now it’s in a room where we hope to love on more kids that come into our home.
When you walk in our front door, this room is immediately to your right. I love that it looks like a fun, welcoming spot. We all love to sit in there already. Matt called it my library the other day, and my heart smiled. This room will hopefully get lots of use.
What do you think? Do you have a place in your home that could use some fun, industrial type shelves?
I first showed you this bathroom 
There are moments when I see that they do matter. As we have tackled our paper work, gone to doctor visits and prepared for home visits. I have asked my kids…
Yes, it is true.
I knew the minute we stepped into this house that it was for us. In a short recap, we moved out of our little 70+ year old ranch (you can see
Doors have opened and we have a peace about what is next for us. It’s a big change, so there are lots of different emotions but God is so good and we have a peace about the calling to what God has next for us.
