Interview with David and Katie Kelley

We met David and Katie Kelly, and they can come on and make their way up if you would.

We met them, um, a month or two ago and had them come into the staff.

They have a tremendous story of the faithfulness of God in their lives and the, and the request that he made of them when it came to taking care of foster children.

And so I want to interview them.

I want us to, to listen for a few things, first of all, I wanna show this verse, if you want to put that up, James 1 27, religion that is pure and unfiled before God, the father is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction.

And to keep oneself unstained from the world.

It is the heart of Jesus to minister, to people who find themselves in the margin either by their own doing or by, by nothing that they have done.

Okay.

So we're going to be talking about that this morning, and I'm really excited about that.

I hope that you open your heart up, not just to fostering, but to how can we support those who do take a chance on and, and risk everything in order to welcome children into their home that are going through difficult times.

So Lord, we pray for this time, we ask Lord that you would lead and guide our discussion.

We pray that you would massage our hearts, that you would open us up, um, so that we can see your heart for those who are in the margin Lord, that we would, um, that we wouldn't feel an obligation.

That's not from you, but that we would feel a sense of, of, um, urgency to connect with those who are serving or who desire to serve, um, those children that just like we said before that you said, come to me, just like children.

We pray for, for this time we pray for David and Katie, as we share their story.

And we asked Lord that it would be inspiring for everyone who hears in Jesus name.

Amen.

All right.

Wanna see?

So why don't you tell us who you are.

I know your names, but tell us a little bit about where you're from and how you met match.com, right?

No, E oh, E actually, um,

Funny story, Katie.

Katie was my bank teller.

Oh really?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Interesting.

He was bringing in lots of Benjamins and you said she knew how

Yeah.

I saw his bank account and still married.

Okay.

That's true.

Love.

That is true.

Love.

Yeah.

She felt sorry

For me.

Yeah.

Okay.

whatever it takes, right?

Yeah.

yeah.

But, uh, yeah, again, I'm David and this is my beautiful wife, Katie.

And, uh, just before we dive in, just thank you so much for yeah.

Having this and, uh, just wanting to hear a little bit about our story and, uh, you know, why God is doing, um, doing, doing our lives and hopefully it inspires some of you to, uh, to dive in, in some capacity as well.

Yeah.

But, uh, we met 10 years ago.

I don't know.

No, it was like 12 years ago.

We started dating 10 years ago.

Okay.

And, uh, been married for eight years.

And, um, yeah.

Uh,

How, how

Did you, we live here in Knoxville.

We live live in Knoxville city.

Yeah.

Okay.

Very good.

And how did you, how did each of you come to know the Lord?

What is your, your abbreviated testimony?

Yeah,

Well, uh, um, my parents who actually here today as well.

Awesome.

Welcome.

You know, they, they modeled that for me as a child, so okay.

Uh, knowing Jesus is something that has been, uh, a huge part of my life since I was very young.

Yeah.

And, uh, got a little stupid when I was in my early twenties, but in that shocking,

Nobody else has ever done that.

Yeah.

But that really, that really, um, increased my faith.

Awesome.

And as a whole, I could spend an hour talking about that, but that's not what we're here to talk about today.

So, uh,

But y'all just have to come back.

Yeah, yeah.

Maybe

It's a, it's a doozy

.

Um, and same for me.

I grew up with two parents that were, um, first generation Christians themselves, and they had kind of plowed that ground.

And, um, I was just blessed to grow up in yeah.

In that home where Jesus was just a normal part of life and, um, you know, had my ups and downs too, but sure.

Um, yeah, we, we were blessed to find each other through, you know, mistakes and yeah, we, we always say, um, we, we Dodge some bullets there, you goly and, uh, very blessed to found each other.

That's awesome.

So, yeah.

Yeah.

I think, I think it's great when, when the Lord brings two people together and it's obvious that you're supposed to be together mm-hmm, um, and especially juxtaposition against maybe former situations that weren't quite, so quite so perfect.

And so I'm, I'm really, it's obvious that you guys belong together and that's really good.

So,

Yeah, we, uh, we knew pretty early on that Katie actually, um, before we started, they moved to moved to Texas to go ministry school.

Wow.

And so our first nine months was long distance.

And so, um, you know, we didn't have the, the fun date nights to go on.

Sure.

There was a lot of phone calls.

Yeah.

Um, overnight, you know, a lot of, a lot of communication.

And so, um, you know, we got to know each other really well in a very

That's

Awesome time and do pretty quickly yeah.

That we were gonna be together.

Yeah.

I, I feel obligated whenever somebody says something like that to thank my parents again, for paying at and T for months upon months and phone calls that I made to long this in a long distance scenario to my now wife of 29 years.

So yeah.

I definitely can, can relate to that fully.

So been married for a little while, considering family and

Yeah.

Been, uh, it'll be eight years, excuse me, years in November.

Um, we, uh, kind of had this, um, well, independent of one another before we even met, um, adoption was something that was very, um, very real to us.

Mm-hmm, something that we, that we both felt like we were called to in some capacity.

We didn't know what that looked like.

And our, our plan, what we wanted to do was to, uh, have a couple of biological children and then sure.

And then adopt, and, uh, the Lord had very different plans for us.

Yes.

Um, you know, with, uh, fertility journey, that again is another very long story.

Yeah.

Um, but, uh, but then ultimately leading us to, to become foster parents.

Yeah.

And, um, it really, it was not something that was on either one of our radars.

Sure.

We, um,

Foster care was like my line in the same, like, no, like I, we're not doing that.

Like that was the one thing.

Yeah.

You know, mm-hmm, mm-hmm

Yeah.

It's

Real messy.

What do you think the reason for that, for that thought was because I'm sure other people share that same kind of feeling,

You know, I think it was that I'd heard all the horror stories.

Yeah.

You know, like we all have, and, um, it seemed daunting and scary.

Sure.

It seemed outta my comfort zone.

Totally.

And, um, I think, I think it, I think it was a fear.

I think it was a fear of the unknown and not wanting to, um, I don't know, like be uncomfortable, I guess I was really familiar with my comfort zone and I liked it and I just wanted things to be predictable and I wanted to be able to know, you know, what was gonna happen and, you know, so God's dealing with me on some control issues, but anyway,

All of us, all of us.

Yeah.

And I think, I think that's really a, a fair thing to say, there's, there are a lot of misconceptions, I think.

Yeah.

That surround foster care.

And so one of the things we want to do today is maybe kind of DEIT some of those things, for sure.

I mean, there are horror stories, obviously there are things that happen that are very difficult.

We know people even now who are dealing with those kinds of things, but, uh, but there is also this other side to it, which you guys have experienced.

So yeah.

So once you kind of began to, to talk to each other about the idea of, did you start with, with the idea of fostering or did you start with the idea of adoption after the, um, after attempting, you know, to have biological

Children?

So we, um, the idea was always to adopt.

Okay.

And yeah, we, we didn't, we didn't know exactly what that was gonna look like.

Mm-hmm um, but, uh, you know, we, we also didn't want to adopt to fill void.

Yes.

We didn't want to be, well, we're having trouble conceiving, so we're just gonna settle, you know, and, and, and go adopt a child.

We wanted, we wanted it to be the perfect situation that was ordained by the Lord.

And, you know, we didn't, we didn't want to put ourselves in a position to where we were not able to love that child or those children as if they were our own flesh and blood.

Sure.

Um, you know, no child deserves to be that's right.

Second, you know, they all deserve every inch of love that we can give them.

And so fostering wasn't on our radar at all.

We, um, it's, it's funny actually.

We'd had many conversations about not doing it.

And, uh, and then all of a sudden, one day the Lord was like, Hey, how'd you feel about fostering?

And I'm like, Nope, Nope.

Not doing it.

And, and if I'm gonna do it,

Um, anybody else ever said no to God?

Yeah.

How's that working for you?

yeah.

Sorry.

And if you want me to say yes, then you need to talk to my wife about it too.

There you go.

Right.

Yeah.

And so, um, so Katie apparently had been hearing the same thing, but we were scared to talk to each other about it.

Sure.

Because both of us were like, no, we're not doing that.

We're that we're not doing that.

And so we're driving down the road one day and Katie says, Hey, I need to talk to you about something.

And a lot of guys can probably relate to me when I say I was terrified.

What

Did I do now?

What did I do?

Meaning to talk.

And, uh and I'm like, oh boy, here we go.

Um, but, uh, but she says, this is, this is kind of coming outta left field, but, but I just, I felt like I needed to tell you that the Lord has been asking me to, uh, to foster.

And I was like, oh, wow.

Okay.

Yeah.

Well actually me too.

And, um, wow.

And so we talked about it, you know, and, and, and really felt like we needed to say yes.

Yeah.

And so we did, we said yes.

And, uh, and then we dove in, started doing our classes, uh, but a month later.

Yeah.

What is that journey look like once you decided we're gonna become candidates for this, then, then what does it look

Like?

So we got on the DCS website and filled out the, you know, interest form or whatnot.

And then they have, and

DCS is I'm sorry, is

It department of children's services, department of children's service.

Yeah.

Sorry.

It's all these, you're all these, these acronyms that are so normal for us.

Yeah.

Um, and then they have a case worker, um, call you and, um, you can sign up for their next classes.

They have different ones all over.

This is where Knox county.

So all over Knox county, um, we ended up going, there's a church in, I don't remember what church it is, but anyway, north Knox somewhere, um, that hosted the classes and I believe it was eight weeks.

Yeah.

And we would go once a week and, um, and do that.

And we started our home home study process, which is, you know, a bunch of paperwork and like putting outlet plugs in and like, you know, baby proofing and all of that.

Um, and so, yeah, I mean, that was, I, we, I always like to I'm so real.

I'm like, I need to let you know it was not without the fear.

It was like we were stepping.

I mean, the fear was still there and all the doubts and all the, like, I don't think I'm equipped for this.

Like, I don't think, I don't feel like I can handle this.

I don't honestly deep down really want to, but I trust God enough to know that I can walk through this with him and he's gonna be with me.

And I don't wanna say no to him.

I've learned the hard way.

I don't wanna do that.

So, um, I don't know.

I just like to put that out there, cuz I think sometimes when people hear these stories, they think, oh, well, everything just changed.

And they were all excited and happy to do this.

And it was like, no, we were scared.

And we just kept taking steps forward and steps forward and like, okay, I guess we're doing this.

And um, just kind of growing with God in that and learning to trust him more and more with, um, you know, just our family, not looking like we ever thought it would look.

And, um, that was a hard thing to let go of.

Um sure.

But again, we were learning to trust God that he's good and faithful and knows exactly what we need.

And um, so, so yeah, we, we took steps.

We became foster parents.

I think we took a little longer than most people do usually.

Yeah.

One thing you mentioned to the staff was that you guys took some time to focus on your

Marriage.

We did.

Yeah.

So you wanna share, that's a good about that.

Yeah, we did.

So we, um, you know, we really wanted to make sure that we were, um, well equipped to step into this because it's, uh, there's so many different things that come with it and, and they're all wonderful things, but they're, they can be, uh, sometimes difficult to navigate.

Sure.

Right.

And also bringing children into your home, um, you know, is, is gonna put some, some stress on your marriage.

I mean, it's just natural, natural part of it.

Yeah.

And so we wanted to do the work and put in the work to make sure that we were, um, in a really good place with our marriage and well equipped.

And so we started doing some counseling with, um, uh, with these couples who, uh, or this couple rather who specifically counsels people in ministry great.

And foster care is absolutely a ministry.

Absolutely.

They took us on and uh, we ended up going to Colorado.

Uh, we, it was, it was all via zoom.

We went to Colorado, uh, did a, an intensive week, which was one of the craziest weeks of my life.

Sure.

Just all the things that were being exposed, you

Know?

Yeah.

It's, it's interesting how throughout life, we have all of these things that happen and we either deal with them or eventually they deal with us.

Right.

Yeah.

And so having a, a, a focused time to really look inside, not to just stay there, but to evaluate where I'm at and where I need to be is really a healthy thing.

It was, it was wonderful for us.

Yeah.

And, and really set us up for success.

Sure.

With, with inviting children into our home.

Yeah.

Well, and with marriage, it's like, it's never gonna be perfect.

It's never gonna be like, you can fix all your problems.

Um, I thought so at one point that I could fix all the problems, but anyway, um, found that out the hard way, but, um, you know, it's like going into being foster parents, we, you know, we had been through four or five years of struggle with fertility stuff and whatever, and we were just weary and sure.

I think we wanted to make sure that we could walk into this next phase of life knowing that there wasn't anything like festering between us, that we could walk forward on the same page, on the same team.

Like there wasn't resentment and bitterness that was like built up between us and like the big stuff that's gonna kind of like mess you up, you know, that's gonna trip you up.

And so, um, I think that was why we wanted to do that because we just wanted to make sure, like we're a team and we wanna feel like we can trust each other and, you know, have that love and support for one another through

That's

So good parenting and all that.

So I think that, you know, they knew, I guess you guys knew you were gonna be dealing with external stressors.

I mean, this is a brand new thing.

Everything is changing, but you wanted to deal first with the internal stressors to make sure that when you did face the external, your heart and everything was ready to deal with that as much as it could be.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, and then how did your journey kind of go from there as far as your first fostering or your, you know, uh,

You want me to share?

Sure.

Yeah.

Okay.

So, um, we had kind of laid out, um, had gotten some good advice from some, uh, some friends that had, um, been foster parents and we kind of laid out some like, Hey, these are the types of scenarios that would work for our family.

And this is what would not work.

This is what we feel equipped for.

And this is what we don't, as far as just the, the children and their backgrounds and maybe ages or whatever, you know, if you already have, um, you know, children in your home, sometimes you feel like, okay, we have all girls, we just wanna take girls or, you know, just things like that, just dynamics that work for your family.

And so we had kind of laid that out and, um, used that kind of as a guideline, but we started getting calls, I mean, Knox county needs foster parents.

Yeah.

And so we started getting calls and calls and, um, we ended up taking, uh, our first, um, placement was a little guy, little newborn baby.

And, um, he was with us for a couple of months.

And then, um, he suddenly left our home and, um, I was really painful.

It was really, it's one of the things of foster care.

That's like, you know, we chose to love hard and know that like our hearts might be broken, but sure.

That's okay.

You know, it's okay.

It's part of the process.

And, um, so we, we said goodbye to him and, um, a few days later we got, was it how a week later?

Uh, yeah, no, this I did 10 days something.

Yeah.

A week or 10 days later we got, uh, a phone call and, um, for two, um, a nine month old and a two and a half year old boy and girl.

And, um, I was a little bit like, ah, am I ready to, you know, take more two?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Two.

And I mean, cuz we're brand new at this.

Like we didn't have a clue on how to parent and um, so we ended up saying yes and um, they came into our home and then we quickly found out that their biological mother was pregnant.

So we thought, okay, we might be, we might have three under three.

Um, so that'll be fun.

And,

And then that's one word for it's fun.

And then,

And then side note, um, not through foster care, uh, like a week after we said yes to the two year old and nine month old, we got a phone call at like 10 o'clock at night from, um, an acquaintance of a neighbor of ours who was in a really low place.

She was really struggling and pregnant and wanting someone to adopt her, uh, baby that she was pregnant with.

And it was like just this bizarre out of left field kind of scenario.

And we were like, uh, yes.

um, because we, we just, we just felt like, wow, this is like, God's bringing this to us.

And we just wanna say yes.

And so we said, yes.

So we ended up, um, so the first two came to our home in July and then in November, both of the babies, the one that was the biological sibling of the ones that are in foster care.

And then the other one that's a private adoption.

They were born five days apart.

Um, wow.

So we brought home basically twins and they had four under three, um,

Four under three

During, in 2020 during COVID.

So it was crazy.

Can

We just say a prayer for blessing?

Yeah.

energy encouragement.

Okay.

The, the crazy thing, all that happened in four and a half months.

Yeah.

Woo.

So zero to four under three and four and a half months.

Yeah.

So we, uh, we dove in.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So they're yeah.

And, uh, David's parents are back here.

We can thank them and my parents for stepping in and helping because, we, we needed it bad.

Yeah.

Um, and we still have all four with us today.

They've been us for, with us for, um, almost two and a half years.

Um, and they're still in foster care.

It's a long process.

Um,

Yeah.

And just quickly on that, it's interesting cuz you guys shared something that I wasn't aware of and that is the ultimate goal of foster parenting.

Yeah.

If possible, if things could get right.

Is, is for what

Reunification with your family.

Yeah.

So the priority is always family first and biological family.

Yes.

First.

Yeah.

And so that's, that's something that you, you talk a lot about when you're going through your classes.

Sure.

And um, you know, and that's, that's something that we firmly believe into mm-hmm the family unit and we didn't, we didn't want to get into this to adopt a child.

Right.

You know, we look at this as, um, as, as a ministry, you know, to, to bring people in whatever capacity, uh, that we can closer to Jesus.

Sure.

And so, um, our goal has always been reunification first.

Yeah.

You know, and not being very, very intentional to not demonize the parents.

Yeah.

Um, you know, because the parents are a huge part of this as well.

Sure.

And they need love and they need support and they need all the things that the kids need.

You know, it's going not, not really being familiar with foster care prior to, to becoming a foster parent and just saying yes to the Lord.

Um, you know, it's really easy to, um, to think worst case scenario about families, you know, the reason that these children are in care to begin with mm-hmm and more times than not, um, you know, it's, it's because the parents have been given a really difficult hand.

Right.

And they, they just don't know how to play it.

Sure.

And so they, um, you know, it's, it's not really that they've done anything wrong or destructive to their home.

Right.

There are cases where that happens.

Sure.

But, um, but a lot of times it's just that, you know, there have been a lot of a series of unfortunate things that have happened in their lives.

Yeah.

That has caused someone to call.

Sure.

And, um, and you know, in DCS to extract the children from the home

Concerned about yeah.

And in thinking of that, how traumatizing would it be for the children obviously, but also the parents mm-hmm, you know, to be separated so quickly.

Sure.

And so, you know, the children absolutely need all the love and support that they can get in ensuring that they have as normal of a life as you can possibly provide for them yeah.

In that scenario, but equally as important are the, the parents.

Yeah.

And, and I think so often people forget about that.

Mm-hmm

yeah.

I agree.

I just think that, you know, God's about family, isn't he and, uh, family doesn't have to share a last name necessarily.

We're all a part of the, the family of God, those who are believers in Jesus, we're thankful for that.

But there is this, this idea that God puts people together.

And, um, there are times like you, like we said here where the parents just need a helping hand, they need a minute, a pause, they need a minute of time to be able to get some things figured out in order to be what the kids need for them to be.

So

Per I'm sorry.

I was just gonna say perfect example.

There's a girl that, that Katie has, um, um, kind of taken under her wing a little bit.

Yeah.

Just to, to be, um, uh, support for her.

Yeah.

Who, um, really to no fault of her own, uh, lost her kids to foster care.

Sure.

Um, or to the system they're, there's still in the middle of the case, but, um, but Katie's been, um, a wealth of support for this young lady and, and she's fighting tooth and nail to get her kids back.

Awesome.

And, uh, and she's pretty close, I think.

Yeah.

She's close.

It's, it's, there's so many hurdles when once you get into it's honestly, like it's been such a humbling and beautiful thing to be able to step into the lives of some of these people that I would never have come into contact with in my daily life otherwise and learning their stories, even, um, Samuel, our, the little guy that we're privately adopting his birth mom, I was able to walk through her pregnancy with her and go to her doctor's appointments and we would just talk, wow.

And she's sharing with me, you know, how she got from, you know, point a to point B.

And, you know, she was, um, recovering from drugs and had just gotten her other four children back from foster care and was just, you know, trying to dig her way out and just hearing the, these stories.

You can't help, but go, wow, I can see the humanity in you.

I can see just your worth and your, and just, I don't know.

I just fall in love with these people because it's like, I could be there.

I could, you know, like if my life had gone a couple of different ways I could be in your shoes and like, its just, um, interesting to see how, um, you know, I have a lot of resources in my life.

I have family that if I break down on the side of the road, my family, my can call my dad and I can call my husband.

I can call who, you know, and I'll have five people that could come and help me.

But seeing people like her and like this other, um, lady whose children are in foster care, they don't have anybody.

Right.

Anybody.

And um, and so it's difficult for them to find childcare or find a job or find the housing or whatever.

Cuz a lot of it, a lot of times is word of mouth or, you know, and so it's just, um, it's a unique opportunity as a foster parent to not only, um, love on these, these kids that are just put in just such a rough situation to be taken out of their, you know, family of origin.

Um, but also to go, okay, God, what other opportunities do you have for me in this that I would not have if I had not said yes to being yeah.

A foster parent, because again, we wouldn't, we would pass these people maybe in the grocery store.

If we live in the same community, we probably don't live in the same communities, you know, as these people.

Um, but uh, it's just such a cool thing to go, okay, what, what could happen if I just stepped in and said yes, like through the fear, you know, mm-hmm and, and had the courage to say yes.

And then I came expectant and curious to see, okay God, what are you doing here?

What do you wanna do?

What do you wanna do through me?

And how can I love in such a way that I'm watching you, God do miracles in these people's lives because I'm just, I mean, we, we take for granted our love sometimes, you know, and what it means to look somebody in the eye and go, Hey, you can do this.

Or Hey, I believe in you.

And you know, again, it's not everybody that, that you find, you know, families in foster care where it's like, I mean, you do find sometimes where the parents just, they just seem to be so broken that they just don't care.

Or, you know, I mean, you see a lot of it, but a lot of different scenarios, but there's so many, um, families that they just need that extra mentoring and support and love.

Um, and it's just a neat opportunity for us to come alongside and just go, okay, God, this is a unique situation that you've put me in and how can I bring your love to anyone and everyone involved and, and watch you work.

So

That's awesome.

Yeah.

So you'd say it's worth the risk.

Is that what I'm hearing you say?

Yeah,

Absolutely.

Okay.

Absolutely.

And you know, Katie just said, you know, pushing past the fear.

Sure.

Um, something that has stuck with me through this entire process, we, uh, there's a, there's a, a guy who's a mentor for me who said years ago.

And it stuck with me for a long time that, um, that the Lord will provide what he requires for you to do something that's right.

So if you say yes and push through that fear, you may not know what the next steps are, but he's going to provide everything that you need in order to fulfill your yes.

Yeah.

And that's been so good for me to lean back on.

That's good.

That's, you know, that's and be able to walk this thing out with yeah.

Well just kind of finishing out.

What would you say to people who maybe feeling the need to open their hearts to fostering?

What would you, what words of encouragement would you give?

What, what steps should they take?

You know,

Uh, let's see that.

Well, I think we can both say, say a little bit here.

Um, I think if, if you're considering it just know that, um, that there, there is a wide range of ways that you can support it doesn't necessarily mean that becoming a foster parent, it could mean providing childcare for, for foster parents.

Um, you know, it could mean bringing them a meal.

It can, there's, there's so many ways that you can support, um, you know, going and, and sitting with the kids at the DCS office, because there, there are kids that, you know, are staying the night at the office right now because they don't have places to go.

And, um, even though you might not be able to open your home, these kids just, they want that love interaction and that interaction.

And so, you know, being able to just go and volunteer and then that sort of way, um, on the way over here, Katie was sharing with me that, um, a friend of hers asked her the other day, she said, do you feel like fostering is a calling or is it a responsibility?

And, and there's an element of both right.

To open your home and to, you know, to, to actually be a foster parent, I believe is a calling.

Yes.

But I believe that we, as the body of Christ have a responsibility to these, to these families, to, um, to level them and in really unique ways.

Yeah.

And especially you guys, the overturning of Roe V Wade means a lot, but it doesn't have as much impact unless we, as the body of Christ are willing to step up and help those who are in crisis pregnancies who have crisis scenarios in their families that to give them alternatives options outside of, you know, abortion itself.

So that's one of the reasons we wanted to really highlight this as well.

Yeah.

So yeah.

Yeah.

I, I would echo just what David said and, you know, uh, I would just encourage you to step past the, because a lot of questions, you know, if you feel that kind of prick in your heart and you're like, oh, I feel pulled toward that, but I don't know we got this thing going on.

And what about our kids?

And what about this?

And what about that?

And I don't know if I have time or I'm a single person I'm not married.

I don't know if I could do that.

Um, I encourage you to step past those things and find out, talk to people, talk that's good to, um, talk to us.

We're happy to share with you, um, you know, any, any in information or knowledge that we have, um, reach out to, um, the department of children's services, ask them questions.

Um, they're happy to talk to you.

Um, I just, yeah, I just would encourage you to step past some of those unknowns and those questions and, um, really let the Lord, like, like David was saying, provide all that you need in order to step into the calling that he's placed in your heart.

And, you know, if you really are just like, I just cannot, I don't have any space in my home.

I don't, you know, or what, whatever the case may be.

I can't be a foster parent, but I wanna be involved again.

Um, like David was saying being a support system to other foster families is massively huge.

I mean, we have so many doctor's appointments and errands and, you know, tons of stuff going on that sometimes it's nice to have that extra helping hands sure.

For different daily things.

Um, but also, um, like David was saying, um, I got an email just two days ago that there's three teenagers, um, sleeping in the office through the holiday weekend because there was nobody to take'em in their home and they were asking, Hey, can somebody come bring a meals?

Can somebody, you know, they're requesting a certain kind of deodorant.

Can somebody bring that?

Can somebody, um, come by and grab dirty laundry and take it home and wash it and bring it back.

Things like that.

I mean, there's just really practical things that I think all of us could do, um, to support these kids and, um, and even, you know, adopt a single mom or dad that there you go, that you feel like that you, that, you know, that's in your community.

I mean, it is hard to be a single parent.

And a lot of times some of these people find their children in foster care because they just, they needed a few more dollars to make ends meet, or they needed somebody to help with transportation and, you know, or whatever the case may be.

And so, you know, even getting there before it gets to the point of foster care and going, Hey, let me come and be family to you.

That's what this is about.

Right.

That's just, that's huge being family and welcoming people in to family.

Yeah.

That's what, that's what God's all about.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Thank you guys so much for sharing this powerful, these powerful truths.

And I'm gonna ask if you would just pray for us as a church, because we really, I, I believe that God's called us to be a church that surrounds people who are in these kinds of scenarios.

We can't, we can't help everybody.

We're not called to help everybody, but those that God does bring our way or those that are in our church.

I know there's a couple in our church right now, that's in the process.

Think they've just been approved for fostering.

And so we want to come around them and help them.

And there's some others in our church that already have foster children.

Um, and so we need to, we need to come to pull together and, and see what the Lord would ask of each of us in regards to helping those who are able or willing to give so much of themselves with the chance.

Pretty good chance that it's not going to be a lasting scenario, you know, but, but it could be the difference between literally between life and death.

Right.

So do you pray for us?

Absolutely.

Okay.

God, we, we worship you Lord.

We, um, thank you.

We thank you for your goodness.

We thank you for your never ending undying love for us, Lord, we thank you for, um, for each and every child and parent who is, um, being affected, um, by things that might put them at risk or have already put them into the foster care system.

And Lord, I just ask for a stirring, um, over this body here at Trinity.

Yes.

But God also over the city of Knoxville for people to step forward and say, yes, I can help in this capacity.

Thank you, Lord.

Yes, I can open my home.

God.

Yes, I can.

I can bring deodorant to a child at the DCS office, whatever that looks like.

God, we just asked for yeses across the city of Knoxville.

Thank you.

And within this body and God, would you, would you just work through them?

Yes.

To stir up and change this generation, this the upcoming generation of children and families for your good God.

Yes.

Would you let the love of Jesus just be so real and present and tangible through these yeses to these families?

Yes, God.

Would you just completely wreck them with your love?

Thank

You father.

Thank you for doing that

Lord.

We bless this Jesus family.

We bless this body.

Thank you, Lord

God.

And we, we just, we thank you for, for, um, stirring that you're that you're beginning to start up right now.

Yes.

In Jesus name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.