Is it crazy that I want to say yes?

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month and throughout this month we have been sharing the incredible stories of all 23 children who came through our front doors and helped form Hands and Feet into its existence. Check out one of the most successful stories we had the honor and privilege to be apart of and follow along at Facebook and Instagram to catch up on previous posts and hear new stories throughout this month. 

It was a Friday evening, and Josh and I were finally getting a little break. Our three girls were in respite for the weekend, and we were on our way to watch dear friends say “I do.”

As we drove, an email popped up. “Three siblings are in need of a home tonight. All are currently in the shelter, which is nearing capacity.”

I read the names and ages aloud and said, “Is it crazy that I want to say yes?”

Josh looked at me and said, “We tend to do the crazy things.”

And just like that, I texted our support worker: we’d take the 5-month-old baby girl.

The next few hours were surreal. We sipped champagne and celebrated love, while texting back and forth with the shelter to coordinate pickup.

By 10 PM, we pulled up to the shelter, rang the doorbell, and said we were there for Baby L.

They handed her to us with nothing. Her belongings were in such poor condition they had to be thrown away. They told us it was good she was leaving—there was a teenager in crisis, possibly being Baker Acted, and this was no place for a baby to spend the night.

Baby L stayed with us for three months while her parents fought with everything they had to bring her home. And after 118 days, she was reunited with her mom, dad, and siblings.

Her story is one of joy and love—but also a reminder of how broken this system is.

Because if her parents had been given support instead of judgment, she never would’ve entered care. They never would’ve been separated.

We were part of her story for just a chapter, but I still think about how it began. And how it never should’ve started that way.