Yesterday was Easter. It was a beautiful day! My family and I attended Easter services at a church plant in a town near us. The first thing our eight year old said when we walked into church was, “Why is everyone so happy?” Indeed, everyone was happy! I loved seeing happy families enter church with their little ones dressed for Easter. We met an old friend of mine who had three foster children in tow. All three were dressed in their Easter best as were my own four, two born to me and two adopted. The service was celebratory and we all went home joyful and refreshed.
I spent some time taking in facebook yesterday afternoon. I loved seeing pictures of children dressed in their holiday best all over my facebook feed yesterday. Later, I browsed the news sites. I came across this news article about foster children in America: http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/16/opinion/soronen-foster-children/index.html?sr=sharebar_twitter
The story states that over 23,000 children age out of foster care at age 18 with no resources. Only half of them are employed at age 24 and 71% of former foster daughters will be pregnant by age 21.
I began thinking again about my friend. Her first children, both born to her and adopted, are grown and likely dressing their own children for Easter. God has brought her three more to dress in their Easter best and bring to worship. What a beautiful picture of God’s care for us! He takes us, cleans us up, and robes us in our Easter best. The need is great. The work is hard. The rewards are great. Foster care is orphan care.
