Handing Out Those Glasses

Most people whom meet my foster daughter M offer to wipe her eyeglasses off within the first 5 minutes of meeting her. This little 8 year old sports a pair of coke bottle glasses with a cloudy glaze covering the inner half of each individual lens. What people don’t know is that the film on the front of these lenses is actually a clear nail polish strategically painted on by her vision therapist in order to keep her eyes from turning inward. As M’s eyes begin to drift in, they struggle seeing through the cloudiness and have started to train themselves to kick back out. M received her first pair of glasses at age 6. At age 6! This girl most likely could not see more than 2 feet in front of her for the first 6 years of her life.

But for the first time in her life she is beginning to see clearly.

In the past 2 years she has started to see that God didn’t create the male to drift in and out of the home as he sees fit.

In the past few years she has started to see that she doesn’t need to stay in control to survive, but can relax trusting that full grown adults will do their absolute best to keep her safe.

She has seen what it means to worry about others first.
She has seen that life can be enjoyed.
That food will be provided
She has started to see what good and healthy hygiene looks like (and smells like).
She has seen what a committed married couple looks like, and that there is an actual gospel that is good news for her.

Many of us foster and adoptive parents make the decision to take kids in with a bit of a savior mentality. Yet all of us lay our heads down on the pillow every night with the clear conviction that we are far from a savior and in need of one more than ever before!

M has actually helped me see more clearly as well.

She has helped me see a God who brings us into His family, giving us a new birth certificate and new family rights.
She has helped galvanize a glimpse of a Father who loves regardless of our performance or whether we meet any type of expectation.
She has helped me see the brilliance and leadership of both of our biological boys (3 and 4 yrs of age), who have accepted their new brother and sister better than I do most days.
She has helped me see the need for prayer and the realness of spiritual warfare

We might not have the most time, the biggest homes, or the largest budgets, but there have been foster and adoptive parents around the world whom understand how far from savior they really are, but how easily they might able to help a little kid see. The sweet irony of the savior is that as we say yes to one of these kids, things begin to get a bit clearer for us as well.

For all those fostering and/or adopting, thank you for restoring the vision of the next generation. May we keep handing out those cloudy eyeglasses.