Now some of you may be wondering what I do to prepare myself for a
goodbye. How do you say goodbye to a child that you've mother's for weeks or months. What could you possibly do to make something that seems impossible possible?
When the process is works the way it’s supposed to, we are given some
time before the child actually leaves our home. When we are first informed that
they are getting ready to move a child in our home I usually take a day or two
to process the news. You see I don’t handle change well. Which considering the
life I am currently living it is almost laughable! Since starting down
this crazy journey our family has fluctuated in size more than a few times. But
once I’ve come to terms with the move that is going to happen, my next step in
the grieving process is to pray. I always pray for 3 specific things during
this transition time.
1. The first
thing I ask God to help with, is looking out for the child who’s leaving. I don’t
like being out of control but with these bonus children I don’t have a choice.
They are leaving no matter what I do or say and once they are no longer living in my home I have zero control, so I ask God to watch over them,
and to keep them safe in the months and years to come and that although they may not always remember my love they will always know love!
2. The second
thing I take to God is my family. Every time a sweet face goes to live in
another home it affects our family. Some worse than others, and so I ask our
Father to help my bio children to be accepting and understanding of the move
ahead of our family. I also pray over their grieving process, because in the
weeks or months that bonus child lived with us, we’ve loved them as our own and
so when they leave there is grief. Each of my children are unique and so I ask God to be with them in their personal grief, however that looks!
3. The third
thing I pray for is for the soon to be empty bed and for the next little person
who’s going to fill it. I don’t know who that person is ,but God does. He knows
where he/she is living. What the situation for this child is in! God knows it
all and so I ask him to protect that child and to prepare them for what’s
coming in their little life.
Physically in the weeks before a child leaves our home I go through all our stuff to make sure that I’m not forgetting anything that belongs to them. I begin to pack their belongings. I fold up all their little clothes into boxes or suitcases. I pack their toys making sure there’s nothing I’ve missed. I make sure on the day they leave that they have all their favourite things with them so that even if there new home is completely unfamiliar there is something familiar.
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