The Otte's

Love one another as I have loved you.  John 13:34

John and I are trying to educate our kids, give them experiences, and help them stay humble.  We want to do it by example, so we are.

We have a new foster kiddo, who is a sweetheart.  John and I have talked and prayed.  Then we talked to our kids, and prayed as a family.  We have gone into this experience having everyone in our house state they are good with this situation, and are willing to love and nurture anyone coming into our house.  If even one person in our house was not ok with this, we would not have done it.  We have listened to our families and talked with friends.  Understanding everyone's thoughts and understanding the responsibility we are taking on.  We also have a good understanding with our Fostercare group, that they are willing to help us with taking care of our new friend.

We have now had him a few days, and everyone is pitching in.  Denali and Isaiah have had the great experience of seeing the paperwork involved in a foster child placement, and things that happened with them, that they were not aware of.  It is good for them to see that many kids in the world use foster care when they need to.  We pray this gives them more understanding and closure on their experience.  Quinn has been excited to see another person in a wheelchair, and all the kids have learned how different people in wheelchairs can be, and how they can not be compared as they are all so different.

We know our special friend will be going back to his bio family, and this is just a small amount of time.  We also understand that as we get older we will not always do foster care.  We believe now, we are helping show our family humility, a caring heart, acceptance, and love.

We are seeing the love and acceptance in all our kids.  We are also being careful to give our own kids the love and skills they need during this time.  Denali just got her clarinet.  Quinn is still getting in her therapies.  Isaiah is sharing his room, and doing great with it.  As he had to be ok with it, and if he has any issues, he knows he can talk to us.  He also understands that not everyone has the knowledge or acceptance we do, and how we are helping our friend and his family in their time of need.  In turn we hope that people will do the same for us, when we have different needs and helps in the future.  As so many people have helped us in the past and we are grateful.  

We are learning acceptance, humility, love, and helpfulness.  We don't know if this will last a couple weeks or a few months.  We do know we will learn about cultures, religions, and special needs of a special kiddo.  It's been fun getting to know him, seeing his beautiful smile, and seeing how giving and wonderful my kids are with him.

We are grateful for this experience for our family.  We are grateful that everyone in our home was willing to tackle this experience, and we look forward to growing emotionally as a family, and helping our kids understand how to love others unconditionally.  We are so fortunate to be in a situation where we are doing well, and we can help others.  We know that will not always be the case, so we are willing to work hard now, and share the love.

So we would appreciate prayers for our family, our new friend, and the bio family of our friend.  Prayers for our extended family,  prayers for his new teachers and para's, prayers for our Foster care unit, and everyone helping us help our new friend.

We can not share pictures of our friend, as pictures of kids in foster care can't be plastered all over, so that is why you will not see pictures on here, but feel free to stop by any time and meet a wonderful kiddo who we believe has been placed in our home for a reason, and the short time we can help him will help us grow as a family in so many ways.

Blessed!  The Otte's