Lacey Family
Tell us about your family. Sami and I have been married for 7 years. We met on the Mission Field in Zambia and we’ve lived all around the country since we’ve been married. In the time we’ve been married things have been an absolute whirlwind, but neither of us would change it for the world. We have two biological boys who are an absolute blast to watch grow. Zeke is turning 4 in August and Eli just turned 1 in March. Including our two boys, the past few years as foster parents, we’ve had other transient members of our family as well.
What motivated you to be foster parents? Primarily two things motivated us. First, we believe our faith in Jesus demands action to live out the Gospel. Christ was an example of this by entering into our world and being a Light. We believe we should imitate him by also entering into the world around us to be a light for Him. The second reason is Christ was a lover of Children and the “least of these” (Matthew 19:14). Not only did we want to be a light unto those around us on behalf of Christ, but we wanted to exemplify that by loving his Children to the best of our abilities.
Share a highlight of your fostering experience. As a foster parent your role is reunification and reconciliation between children and their parents. Seeing that happen in a healthy way with a positive outcome was by far our best experience. Many children don’t get to be reunified with their parents and live a life “in-between”. In our case, we were blessed to be a part of not just a reunification, but a positive reunification.
Tell us something about your fostering experience that you didn’t expect or anticipate happening? Quickly after entering into the foster care experience, you are inundated with the obvious: taking care of the child that has been placed in your trust. The thing you don’t process beforehand is what your relationship will be like with that Child’s parents. Be prepared to change your thought process on those individuals; love them as fully as you love their child and Christ loves you.
What would you say to other families who are considering foster care? Foster Care is one of the most rewarding and difficult things a family can do. Be prepared for the un-preparable. There were moments in the process for us where we received phone calls we were prepared for, ones full of joy and rejoicing, and phone calls where we probably should’ve been seated when we heard the news on the other end of the line. The process of being a foster parent, before, during and after is one of unexpectedness, but Christ is one of faithfulness. Rely on him, seek him, and love as much as you can.