This Is What Our Family Is Called To Do
We have been a foster family in the past, and are now enjoyingbeing a host family with Better Together, an organization that is focused on helping to keep kids out of the foster system. We have learned many things in our first year as a host family with Better Together. One of the biggest lessons is that God expands our capacity to love others. We never knew how much we could love children we had never met, who did not share our DNA, and who only lived with us a short time. We could never have imagined how instantaneous that connection can be. We’ve loved them almost as soon as we received the call to say they were coming! We’ve heard, “you are doing a great thing for that child,” but the truth is, we get back much more than we give.
Hosting a child and serving a family brings our own family closer together. We have two teenage daughters and they are quite independent and often out and about. When we are hosting a child, our family works together, and we develop a closer bond. The girls often ask me what they can do to help, and they spend more time at home. I love watching them show sisterly love for other children.
The community support is incredible, and we are not doing this alone! Through the Every Child Initiative (ECI), we are able to borrow items for any placement that we receive. We have rarely had to buy something ourselves. Better Together, ECI, and our Community Group have rallied around us to provide resources, meals, and respite to make being a host family as easy as possible.
We are grateful to have the support of so many. One of the reasons we chose to become covenant members at Summit Church is because of the church’s support for foster and adoptive families. This is what our family is called to do.
“This is what our family is called to do. ”
I have learned to love people where they are and to trust God. Being able to video call with a mom in jail so that she could see her newborn was a blessing to her and to me. We have been able to get to know people whose paths we wouldn’t normally cross and to see their humanity and need for grace, just like we need God’s grace every day.
The Coggins