Sunday Class

We had a full-day Sunday class this week (on top of still having our reg. Thurs class) and I have to say going in to it we weren't all that excited to go in on a Sunday for 7 straight hours of training. However, shortly after class began we knew we were in for tons of much needed information. Not half an hour after settling in to class we had to view a harsh video on signs of child abuse. It was very difficult to see how these tiny little beings had been mistreated by the people in their lives who were supposed to protect and nurture them. Instead of being raised up and encouraged they were degraded and malnourished. Instead of receiving hugs they received blows. When they should have been learning to crawl toward someone and receive praise - they were learning to merely survive and crawl away to hide from any form of abuse in their lives. That was hard to see... It was hard to imagine. I cannot fathom being in a situation where there is no choice and no way out, where there are no "big people" to hold you and to keep you safe...where mommies give you boo-boos instead of kissing them.

That video and Session was difficult, but nothing compared to the other one we had to view. Its funny because the second video was only words on a screen. Words from children who were in foster care. Asking us the tough questions about what we are prepared for. I was was trying to hold in the sound while I tried to make out the letters through my tear-filled eyes. To hear (see) the feelings of a child when they are removed from the only people who "love" them, taken to a place they have never been and to people they have never met, required to follow new rules, expected to just "fit in" to a new family while driving themselves crazy wondering what happened to their mommy and daddy and brothers and sisters and why these big men in uniform came and took them away. To see that they are doing everything they can think to do to push you away and keep you from loving them, just to see them say at the end "Can't you see I want you to love me?". It's amazing to me how different foster children are from "normal" children, yet just the same. They crave love and attention and want your praise and approval - while "normal" children will outright ask or tell you thats what they need - and foster children do everything to make you believe they do not want those things, but are trying to send the same message? They just don't have the same ways of delivering it.

We learned in that class the most common forms of child abuse and the signs to watch for if we think a child might be in harms way. We learned all of the terrible things the agency has seen first hand with children who have come into foster care. I personally was just dumbfounded about the many ways (crazy ways) a person can think up to cause harm to a child.

We also got our First Aid and CPR training Monday evening. It was really a great class. At first I thought "man this lady is crazy!" because there was no holding back in her descriptions of injuries and bodily functions, but as the class went on I really came to like her :) She was truly preparing us for the worst that's for sure! :) She did a really great job teaching us hands on and we are thankful to have this training under our belt...

We only have our physical exams to get and then our application process is over! We will then need the home study completed (where someone comes to examine your home) and then we are ready! I cannot believe we are almost there! I am SO excited! I know the Lord has great things lined up for us and the children we care for. I just know we will look back at the end of our lives and thank God for all the things we have learned and been a part of by making foster care a part of our lives. Thank you God for your awesomeness!!! :)

Love you all!
~Amanda