For the past several years our church has taken one of our county’s DHS offices and provided Christmas gifts for the foster children they serve. It has been a privilege. Every year, on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I set up a little tree, decorated with the names/ages of each child on a colorful ornament, in the commons of our church.
I am always amazed at the heart of my church family. One mom calls me every year before black Friday to get ‘her name’ so she can shop. Another man quietly steps up to sign up to buy a gift card for a caseworker. Still others line up as they wait for me to give out lists and instructions. Year after year after year. It is beyond heartwarming to a woman who is in the throws of foster care every day of the year!
And every year there are stories that bless me in deep, potent ways. This morning a woman touched my arm. She and her husband had taken 2 names off the little tree. She told me last week that she was concerned that the little boy they had chosen wanted a bicycle and she could not find one within her price range. I told her not to worry- to just go ahead and get some of the other things on his list. This morning, she had another story to tell! She had waited and waited and checked several stores repeatedly because she wanted a bike for this child. Finally, last night she decided they’d just get a few other things on his list and be done with it. They headed to the store and she asked her husband to check the bikes one more time. When he did, there was one bicycle that was .25 cents less than their limit! So this morning, there sat the bike alongside my little tree….a testimony that God is faithful to those who are willing to step out and care for the least of these.
Another situation highlighted my faith-less-ness! One of our couples had taken the name of an older teen. As I handed them the list, I marked through ‘laptop’ because there were other expensive things on the list. I made a comment that we don’t usually put laptops on the lists. Oh ye of little faith. This morning they placed their packages under the tree. She leaned over and said ‘I know you marked through the laptop last week, but an interesting thing happened. My pilates instructor mentioned to me that she’d gotten a new computer and had a perfectly good old one. I told her about our ‘girl’ and she gave the old laptop to me. I took it to the MAC store- they checked it over, cleaned it, loaded all the stuff on it- and there it is!” Like I said, oh ye, (uh, me) of little faith.
Still another young woman brought me an envelope with $27. in it. She said she had found it while cleaning yesterday and the Lord made it clear to her that she was to give it to me this morning! Wow.
Foster children are valuable to the Father. They are important and deserve the best. I am so grateful that there are so many people who not only believe that truth, but embrace it will great passion and enthusiasm! Thank you Summit Church family-I couldn’t be more grateful.
I would love it if my church could do something like this next year. Don’t know if I could convince “the powers that be” (urgh), but what would we need to do to get involved in something like this??
Hey Julie- We could just see if we could partner you guys up with a DHS office in Pulaski and you could cover their kids!
Or you could start smaller and just take one or two caseworkers…there are lots of ways we could work it! 
I think we would do better by starting small. I’d love to take a couple of case workers, if our church leadership would agree to it. I’ll talk to them. I think it would be a wonderful way for our church to love on the His little ones.
They would be blessed by it! We have heard some incredible stories over the past few years-it is always such a huge blessing!!
Let me know and I will be happy to help you with whatever you guys decide! 
Enjoy popping in on a fellow foster care giver.
Merry Christmas!
Anna
We got the gifts for our little boy S today, and I was reminded how generous your church is. I was very sad for him when I saw what he got. Grateful to get anything at all, but sad at how little it was. If I wasn’t able to get him more to add to it, it wouldn’t be a very exciting X-mas morning. The kids from your office are so blessed to have you!!