Magical Fairytale Land

There is this great thing in foster care called "respite."  It is also known as "Magical Fairytale Land."

We utilized respite care a little bit with "Baby Girl" and "Captain."  The kids would go to another licensed foster home to give us a break, a chance to catch up on life, etc.  It is also called "Magical Fairytale Land" because kids in foster care usually behave so much better when they are in respite.  Respite is all about having fun, having more relaxed rules, and the kids just getting loved on.

We have dear friends who now have their foster care license just to provide "Magical Fairytale Land" weekends to foster kids.  It is so rewarding and not nearly as draining as being a foster provider.

This weekend was our first time taking a kiddo for respite.  He's an almost 6 year old little boy.  Truth be told, I was not super excited about it.  I got the low down from his foster mom telling me why they needed a break and what made fostering this child challenging.  I sobbed after getting off the phone with her and felt a little PTSD from our own previous fostering challenges.  Not only did I not want to watch this kid for the weekend, I also (at the moment) was certain I never wanted to be a foster mom again.  But we feel like this is what God has called us to do and we know how challenging fostering can be, so we said "yes."

I asked a few friends to pray for this sweet boy coming into our home about an hour before he arrived.... he had never met us and was only staying for 2 nights.  It was an hour before he arrived because up until then I was trying to pretend it wasn't really happening.

We were committed to creating our own Magical Fairytale Land.  Marty was pretty instrumental in this because he is way better at playing then I am.  There was a solid hour of playing hide and go seek, a trampoline park outing, ice cream outing, movie night, and park time.  One solid weekend of play for the foster child and for our kids as well.

There were a few things that are slightly annoying that happened, but it's like being a grandparent - we got to have the fun and not deal with the day to day reality.  I know this kid is going home at the end of the weekend and I don't really mind the annoyances.  Our boys think having "the new kid" around is great because it means fun for everyone!

I'm writing this all with the question to anyone who reads my blog.  Could you be a "Magical Fairytale Land" person?  Get to know a foster family (ours or someone else) and commit to loving their foster kids for an afternoon a week?  Or an overnight a month?  It really is such a blessing to foster families - and these foster kids.  And it's FUN!  :)