not know what that meant. We had this beautiful home, four healthy, loving,
tenderhearted children and we were blessed beyond what we deserved.
One Sunday evening we were watching a show on TV about a teacher who
lived in a one bedroom trailer and had adopted three teenage sisters because their parents had died. We started talking about how we are blessed
beyond what we could have asked, imagined or deserved and, were only using three of our five bedrooms. We talked about how we had these amazing
blessings and felt like God would want us to share them with others. Ryan
came to me a few days later and told me that he felt like we should adopt
through foster care. If you knew my husband, you would know that only God
could have been speaking these words because Ryan never would have said
them on his own.
We looked into foster care and started the process of getting licensed. We
started and stopped the process a few times out of fear. Mainly driven by the
stories people shared with us about terrible situations that had happened in
foster care. Yet, we trusted God, pushed forward and got licensed. We received our license on April 15, 2012. On June 10, we received a call from our
agency with a foster care placement for us. When we were licensed, we explained that we would take any kids from birth to age five that had behavioral
issues but we did not want a child with medical issues because we could
not handle medical stuff. The licensor explained to us that the little boy was
three months old, was in the NICU and gave us this list: he needs open heart
surgery, could be deaf, have vision issues, Cerebral Palsy, was born at 24
weeks weighing 1 pound 8 oz., is on oxygen and the list went on and on. This
was the beginning of the “big thing” that God was calling us to do. He had
been teaching us, blessing us and preparing our family to serve Him through
foster care. We thought we could not handle medical issues and God blessed us with an extremely medically fragile baby that changed our lives. He is
now our adopted four year old son, Kooper. We have done respite care for
some other foster babies and have had a short-term placement since 2012.
We knew that once God opened our hearts to foster care and adoption this
was just the beginning.
We are all called to care
for orphans. Not all are
called to foster and adopt
like the Meberts, but we are
all called to do something.
During the Mebert’s journey
of doctor visits, hospital stays
and court hearings, their
church family cared for them
in numerous ways. We need
volunteers to care for families
like the Meberts by providing
respite care, making meals and
babysitting.
We have a ministry at Calvary
that connects you with foster/
adoptive families who need
support. Contact Sheri
([email protected])with
Forever Hope Orphan Care at
ext. 5524, to get involved.
FOREVER HOPE
Last August when we had our annual renewal for our foster care license we
told the licensor that we would take another medically fragile baby but we
could not handle a baby with a tracheotomy because that was too hard. We
received a call in November for a foster baby that was born at 25 weeks and
had a lot of similarities to Kooper. On November 7, 2015 we picked the baby
up from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. After having a routine surgery on
December 4, he spent 55 days in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and came
back home with us on January 27 with a tracheotomy. We could not handle
a baby with a tracheotomy but God can! It is not us at all. It is 100% the
grace, love and strength of the Lord Jesus Christ that equips us and allows
us to serve God through foster care. We set out thinking, let’s share this
amazing home that God has blessed us with, and help some kids in need of
a loving home. We thought we would be the blessing, but we are the ones
who have been blessed more than we could ever give in return, by these
beautiful, precious children God has allowed us to care for.
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