Home (AJ #30)

This past weekend fire ravaged many parts of Southern California. One area hit by these fires was the city of Brea. Since we live in Brea this created a considerable amount of anxiety, but also a renewed awareness of what is important.
We had been out and about from early Saturday morning and were not aware of the fires building in our area. As we were heading home in the afternoon we received a call from my father asking us if we had been listening to the news (we hadn’t), so we turned on news radio to hear the reports. As we drove home we entered a field of smoke thicker than fog. By the time we got to our home our neighbors where all filling up their cars and trucks with belongings and heading out. We quickly went inside and began doing the same. We left for the night with two car loads of stuff and went to my sister’s home (on the other side of the county) for the night.
Now for most people, fire is anxiety producing. As I looked out from our patio I could see huge flames on the side of the hill about 100 yards away. Yet, when I looked in the house, there was our daughter sitting on the floor playing and watching a movie without a care in the world.
Mandy and I don’t have a lot of “stuff” so there wasn’t any great fear of losing a lot; however, we did fear losing our daughter. We knew she was physically safe with us and that she would be safe at her aunt’s house, yet we had another fear. If our home was damaged or destroyed in the fire, then we would no longer be licensed as a foster home with the county. Our daughter would have to be placed in another foster home until we found a place and got that licensed. This was our concern. To lose our daughter for even a little while would be devastating to us. Even after a short while, we had seen her make such progress and such a connection to us that we feared what a displacement would do to her.
Well, it all worked out. Our home is safe, although the same is not true for many in our communities. We learned, or at least were reminded, of certain truths during this.
One thing we learned is that time isn’t always the most important thing. We have known our daughter for only a month (only 16 days actually living with us), but we can’t imagine a life without her. She is not legally our daughter, but she is in our hearts closer than any court order could make her. Looking around at what to take when we left the house all we could think was “diapers, snacks, dolly, her pictures” and her paper work. After that it didn’t seem to matter much.
We were also reminded that we have a great community of support. We could have stayed with any member of my family and our daughter would have played and played and been content. The fact that this is possible is a reminder of God’s providence.
Finally, we were reminded of the value of family and home. After coming home from my sister’s house our daughter walked through the doors and said, “Home.” She had never said that before. She has never lived anywhere that she called “home.” We looked at her and felt such a joy knowing that she knows we are family and this is “home.”
We are thankful for our “Home” (not the place we live, but “Home” in the big picture). We are thankful for family who supports our family and Home.
We are thankful for our daughter who understands that we are family and her Home.
Again, this journey continues to be an education we did not expect and could not have anticipated.