FACT

07/30/2025

It always starts the same way.

A well-meaning conversation. A group of kind, lovely women. And somewhere in the mix, between the talk of toddlers and teething and Target finds, someone says it:

“Oh, I could never be a foster parent. I’d get too attached.”

“I wouldn’t want to give them back.”

“It takes a really strong person to do that.”

And I just smile. Because I can’t find the words. Because if I open my mouth, I might completely fall apart.

The truth is… we were just days away from saying goodbye to JJ. Our hearts already cracking. Our arms already aching. Our home already too quiet, even with her still in it. I stood there in that conversation, trying to breathe through the lump in my throat, and those words hit me like stones.

Do they think this is easy for me? Do they not see that I’m unraveling from the inside out? That I’m fighting back tears in conversations where laughter fills the air? Do they not realize I’ve already handed over my heart to a child I don’t get to keep?

She calls me mom-mom. She runs to my arms. She sleeps on my chest. And every fiber of my being wants to protect her, love her, raise her.

Do they not understand?

I’ve already attached. I’ve already loved her like she’s mine…even while knowing she never was. And now I have to let her go. And it feels like a part of me is being torn away with her.

I don’t foster because I’m strong. I foster because I’m called. And that calling? It shatters me over and over again. This isn’t some noble act of bravery, it’s surrender. It’s falling to my knees in the quiet, broken places and saying:

“Here I am, Lord. Send me.” (Isaiah 6:8)

Send me to rock the babies born into chaos. Send me to show up to courtrooms and case reviews when no one else will. Send me to love them fiercely, even when I know I’ll have to let go.

I get too attached.👏🏻 Every. 👏🏻 Single. 👏🏻 Time.
And I still say yes.

I say yes to sleepless nights and sticky fingers and court dates that feel like sentencing. I say yes to watching children I love leave with strangers, or with parents still learning how to be safe. I say yes to heartbreak, because they are worth it.

Please don’t tell me you couldn’t do it because you’d get too attached. That’s not a weakness. That’s the whole point.

Getting attached means they were loved.
Getting attached means they were safe.
Getting attached means that, for however long they were with you, they belonged. And don’t we all deserve that?

And on the days when the pain feels too big to bear, I cling to the only thing I know to be true: It’s not me holding this together, it’s Jesus. Because on my own? I am not strong enough. Not for a second. But He is.

He is strong enough to catch the tears I cry in silence.
Strong enough to hold the children I can no longer reach. Strong enough to carry me through the days when I feel like I won’t survive the goodbye.

So no… I’m not strong. I’m just willing.
And the willingness is where He meets me.

Over and over again, I whisper: “Here I am, Lord. Send me.”

And every time I say it, He shows up, faithful, steady, and full of grace. So if you’ve ever said, “I could never do foster care…”maybe that’s the very reason you should.

Because getting too attached?
That’s exactly what they need. 💔

07/29/2025

Giselle, a vibrant high school student, is on a mission to find a family who will support her dreams and love her unconditionally.

07/29/2025

https://forms.office.com/r/9Fv6e1r8dk

07/26/2025

Here’s a truth that might make some people uncomfortable:
The system is not designed to heal children.
It’s designed to process them. Move them. File them.
And if that doesn’t make your stomach turn, I don’t know what will.

We preach “best interest of the child” while dragging out cases for years.
We say “family preservation” while barely giving parents the tools they need to survive.
We say “children are resilient” while placing them in home after home and calling it stability.

Let me say this as clearly as I can:
Trauma doesn’t wait for the system to get it together.
It festers. It sinks in. It becomes the lens a child sees the world through. And guess what? They carry it for life.

And while foster parents are held to impossible standards…
Show up to every meeting. Be trauma-informed. Keep perfect documentation. Never say the wrong thing…
The system continues to get away with inconsistency, delay, and dysfunction.

Another caseworker quit?
Another visit rescheduled?
Another six months added to the case?
“Oh well.”
Except it’s not “oh well” to the child waiting. Or to the parent trying to stay clean, employed, and stable. Or to the foster family picking up the pieces again and again.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
This is not how healing happens.
This is not justice.
This is not mercy.
And it certainly doesn’t reflect the heart of God.

He is near to the brokenhearted.
He sets the lonely in families.
He commands us to care for the orphan and the widow.
But this? This system we’ve allowed to go unchecked? It doesn’t look like Him.

So yes, I will speak up.
Yes, I will say the hard things.
Yes, I will grieve out loud—even if it makes others uncomfortable.
Because silence doesn’t protect children.
Silence protects broken systems.
And I didn’t step into this to play nice. I stepped in to protect the vulnerable. To speak for those without a voice.

And for the ones watching who say,
“I know foster parents, and they don’t think like this…”
Oh friend, yes they do.
They’re just afraid to say it.
Afraid of judgment. Afraid of being misunderstood. Afraid of being told to sit down and smile and follow the rules.

But not me.
I won’t sit down. I won’t sugarcoat. I won’t stop.

Because one day, I’ll stand before God.
And I won’t answer for how well I fit into the system.
I’ll answer for how well I loved His children.
How fiercely I fought for them.
How loudly I spoke when others looked away.

This matters. They matter. And I won’t be quiet about

07/23/2025

There are only a couple spots left for Embrace's moms retreat! Register while you still can!

https://embracetexas.app.neoncrm.com/event.jsp?event=310&

This worry-free weekend away offers foster, adoptive, and kinship moms the opportunity to spend time with others on this journey and earn up to 12 hours of training credit with any licensing agency. We purposefully build rest and time to unwind in the schedule - this is a retreat after all! At Embra...

07/19/2025

07/17/2025

https://embracetexas.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/embracetexas/event.jsp?event=347&

Get ready to go back to school with fresh hair. This one-day event is open to all children in foster or adoptive families, ages 5-18. Please only register for children currently in your care/household. You will make a $25 deposit to reserve a braiding appointment or $10 deposit for a barber/haircut....

07/11/2025

People think they know.

They think we’re in it for the money.
Or the praise.
Or to feel needed.

They say things like
I could never do that
I’d get too attached
You’re such a saint

And the truth is
none of that feels true when you’re living it.

Because this doesn’t feel like sainthood.
It feels like heartbreak.
It feels like crying in the pantry.
It feels like sitting in another meeting with another stranger
explaining the same things over and over
just trying to get someone to care as much as you do.

People think foster parents are trying to “take” kids.
Most of us are just trying to help them feel safe.

They think we want to replace parents.
Most of us are praying those parents get it together.

They think we’re stronger than we are.
But we break too.

We break when they leave.
We break when they stay and the damage is deeper than we knew.
We break when no one listens.

But we do it anyway.

Because they deserve someone who won’t give up.

Even when everyone else already has.

And when people misunderstand us
when they talk without knowing
when they assume

I just remind myself
they haven’t seen what we’ve seen.

But God has.

And He knows the why.
Even when the world doesn’t.

07/03/2025

“Not every Christian is called to work with the foster care crisis.”
I’ve heard that line a hundred times.

And here’s my response:

James 1:27 doesn’t say “if you feel called.”
It doesn’t say “only if it fits your lifestyle.”
It doesn’t say “this verse is only for foster parents.”

It says:
“Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress…”

VISIT.
Not adopt.
Not foster 10 kids.
Not give up your entire life.

Visit.
Engage.
See them.
Show up.

And yes, there are pastors and teachers and missionaries and evangelists.
There are many callings in the Church. Absolutely.
But none of them cancel this one.

You don’t have to take in a child to obey James 1:27.
But you can’t use “different callings” as an excuse to stay uninvolved.
Because that verse wasn’t written only for the “called.”
It was written for the Church.

There are a thousand ways to show up without being a foster parent.
You can make a meal.
Hold a baby.
Mentor a teen.
Pray by name.
Give rides.
Drop off diapers.
Sit with a mama in court.
Text a foster family and say “I’m bringing dinner and staying to help.”

Don’t confuse calling with obedience.
We’re not all called to foster.
But every one of us is called to care.

So no, you don’t need a license.
But if you’re going to quote James 1:27 on Sunday,
don’t ghost the foster care system the rest of the week.

The Church should be leading this.
Not ignoring it.