My friend Heidi is such a devoted, informed, involved mama. She totally hit the ground running when she started this parenting gig, and I have been nothing but impressed.
But what sets Heidi apart is she is a foster mom.
She has had her adorable Bamm Bamm (her nickname for her foster son) for about a year. He came to her a little before he was one year of age. She has chronicled him endlessly, been devoted to him absolutely, and loved him fiercely. I have followed her journey through her emails and her blog (I grew up with Heidi, she was one of my best friends in jr. high and high school) and seen the amazing job she's been doing all year.
She loved him as completely as any mother ever loved her son. And she did this knowing she was going to have to step out of his life at some point.
That point came this weekend and I cannot say that I have ever known someone I am more proud to know. She has so selflessly given to this little boy so much love and stability. http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/blog/view/180 Here is her post about his goodbye. It just had me in tears, and yet, it gave me such a warm feeling to know that there are people like Heidi out there. So completely genuine in wanting to make a real difference in the world, and then selflessly doing something about it.
Foster parenting is not for everyone, but Heidi is an example of the best of the best. It reminds me of the story of the man walking along the beach each morning, throwing the starfish that had washed up during the night back into the ocean, saving their lives. Another man approached him and said, "Why are you doing this? There are thousands and thousands of starfish that wash up on the beach and die. You can't save them all. You can't make a difference." And the man reached down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the ocean and turned to the questioning man and said, "It made a difference to that one."
Anyway, I just wanted to salute Heidi and the difference she is making.
4 comments:
Your friend is amazing. Thanks for sharing.
Oh, Rachel, thank you for sharing this. I love hearing these stories, hard as they sometimes are. I hope to be able to make a similar difference to many little starfishes, though Chris and I are leaning more toward the permanent version. But if foster care is what God leads us to, then I'd be more than up for it. You have a very special friend, there. :)
All I have to say is wow. Your friend is amazing. What a wonderful and difficult thing for her to have done.
I was a foster child as a teenager. It doesn't matter when these amazing people touch your life, they change it forever. I will always carry with me the love and support given by my foster parents. I will also be forever grateful for lessons learned while I was there.
Your friend is truly an angel sent by Heavenly Father to a world He knew wouldn't be quite right for all of His children.
Tell her thank you for me. From the bottom of my heart.
Post a Comment