This is the hardest part for me to wrap my mind around becoming foster parents: how much do you make them a part of your family when there is a good chance they won't stay? I've always had a problem with boyfriends/girlfriends being a part of the family picture because they might not stick around. I don't want to say so-n-so is my kids uncle until he marries into the family. If that guy and my sister break up my kid loses an uncle. But a foster kid? I'm not just going to give them one kinda aunt or uncle but a whole bunch of them, grandparents, great grandparents, and cousins too. I never had relatives that weren't related. Jared however comes from a very different family where he has people like uncle Randy who were never a part of the family in the first place. And Jared being part of a blended family also knows and has seen the hurt of step-grandparents treating step-grandkids differently because they weren't born into the family.
I don't know how to be a good temporary family. I don't know how I will handle including foster kids in our family pictures (where we live it's ok to include them in pictures, just no last names). I don't really even know how I will introduce myself, never mind family members. But I pray God helps us with learning all of that...
