30 Posts Challenge: #5 Me and Foster Care, part 1

Hey, Guys. Did you think I forgot, or quit? Praise the Lord it is not that. I had another spinal block recently, a combo actually, and I have had some challenges. Maybe I could put that in another post. For now I am sharing with you a time the Lord gave me in foster care. Yes, that’s right. So many people are often surprised when they learn that me and my brothers were in a children’s home. I was surprised the day we were left there. I did not understand it then, or for a long time, but God knew what He was doing.
Like the writing, it was right after being saved. I was 9, my older brother 10, and my baby brother 8. My mom and dad took us on a Sunday drive, something we did a lot. We’d either make sandwiches or popcorn to take with us, or grab burgers and drinks, and just drive around. Sometimes playing I See a Color, picking houses we would like to live in, or just random things. We came across a place that had a playground at the bottom of the hill. Mom asked if we wanted to play there. My little brother quickly said yes. He was such an adventurer and pure boy. While playing she asked if we wanted to meet the people who owned the playground. We were willing. As we were sitting and talking with the strangers, mom asked if we wanted to stay the night. My little brother was all for it, but I said no. My mom left. When the house parent wanted to show me my room, I told her I wasn’t staying and my mom would be back. She let me know my mom was not coming back that night, or at all. We now lived there.
At home I was used to sharing a room or bed with all 3 of my siblings, or at least me and my sister in a bed, and my brothers in their room. Everyone was always up late at night, playing music, card games, talking, sometimes with the light on all night. All of a sudden I had to go to a dark room alone, no talking, be in bed by 8pm, asleep by 9pm, leave the light off, and keep the door shut. I had no idea what had happened and kept trying to figure out what I had done wrong. I was scared to be alone in the dark. I was trying not to cry too loud because they emphasized about not making any noise.
Suddenly a knock on the door, as it opened a kind voice asked me if I was okay. She snuck in the room and told me she could hear me crying. It was an older teen girl, 16 or 17. When she asked what was making me cry I told her I wasn’t used to be alone, or in the dark. She briefly left and brought back a huge stuffed Winnie the Pooh Bear. She told me to hug him and he would help me not be alone. Then she whispered from the door, “If you don’t cry so they don’t hear you, I’ll leave the door cracked.” That let the hall light shine in. I’ve never forgotten Diane to this day. There are people who have places in my heart where I KNOW God sent them to me. Diane was absolutely one of them.
My little brother loved the place and every loved him. He lived downstairs with the boys, while I was with the girls upstairs. My older brother had been put into another cottage, and did not want to be there. It was a good walk, and we had to have permission to go. We were kept way too busy and monitored closely. We had daily chores, special weekend chores, went to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, and of course school too.  My older brother had to fend for himself alone with his strangers. At first we saw each other at church, but the church complained that they could not handle all of the cottages, so each cottage went to a different church. We had came in July, but by April my older brother had ran away so often because of the abuse he suffered so my mom took him home.
Just in case you are wondering where my sister was, as most people do, she was living with my grandmother. The year before we went into the home my granddad died. My sister had been with her since. I don’t know who was fighting first, I just know my mom and grandmother were fighting for her in court. We spent several home visits watching the war in the court. The judge asked my sister where she would rather stay and she told him she promised our granddad that she would look after our grandmother, and that she wanted to stay with her. The judge sent her home with mom and dad.