After four weeks of fostering zoomed by faster than I ever thought possible, our time with the boys came to an end. I’m not going to lie… this could have been the most difficult four weeks of our family’s lives, including PCS’ing with the military, being technically homeless with no car… (up to that point anyway… this was before a year long military deployment separation and the death of my sister.) 🤷🏽‍♀️

Once this time was over, I felt like I could breathe again. While coming up for air and taking my daughter for a little overdue beach trip, I looked down at my very non-pedicured feet. I noticed the dry skin, toenails with no polish, (which is rare for even me) the toenails that needed cut and cuticles in desperate need of some loving. I was annoyed that I hadn’t made time to throw some polish on, but thankful I had at least taken two minutes to take off the old polish that had grown out and started to flake off.

After walking through the sand deep in thought for a few minutes, I started to see my feet in a different light. I thought of Jesus. I thought of how He walked around technically homeless, in the heat, dirt, and rain. I wondered how badly His feet hurt and how dirty they got. He walked around from place to place, sharing God’s love, healing the sick, and providing encouragement, grace and mercy to the lost and hurting.

I looked back down at my feet and the Holy Spirit helped me to see them in a new light. Suddenly I saw the feet of a woman that fought hard through physical pain every single day in an attempt to be a good mom, wife, sister, daughter, friend, and most importantly the hands and feet of Christ. The feet of a woman with a servant’s heart. The feet of a woman that sacrifices trivial things such as pedicures to ensure she has provided the best temporary home possible to, not only her own children, but other children in need of love and security on the little island God placed her on for that season. ❤

(This was written originally in August of 2019 after fostering two brothers on Guam. God continues to open my eyes to many things, and I was reminded of what I’d written after a few weeks of working at a daycare, attending to children there, then coming home and attending to my own children and trying to find balance and the energy and motivation to care for my own needs too.)

𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯: “𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴!”
𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴 10:15 & Isaiah 52:7