Teens are definitely out of our comfort zone. I can speak for myself. Maybe because I still feel I am a teen myself? My music taste, my choice of food, the stores I enjoy the clothes I wear. Or maybe I just haven’t grown up.

We opened our home to D a 14 year old. Our first night together we let her pick her favorite food choice for dinner. We ended up eating Chinese food. Family style sharing stories. She was comfortable with us and ended up staying the night.

The next day we went to a farm in the rain. Got muddy and soaked, saw animals, enjoyed hayrides and face painting. The sun came out and we all painted pumpkins and chowed on lunch.

All she wanted was a cookie! I knew she would fit in because I always want desserts before meals!

Crystal and her played call of duty in the living room for hours. They had to sit so closely to the television because her glasses were broken. She ended up moving in a few days after.

Everything they teach you in our MENTOR classes can only prepare you so much for the real life of being a foster parent. Like the Honeymoon phase. It is absolutely true. Every child that comes into your home is going to have a honeymoon phase. And when people tell you it won’t last, you’ll think they are crazy!

Our Honeymoon phase with D lasted almost 2 months before we started seeing changes in attitude, behavior and everything all around.

We are taught and educated about trauma and past life experiences and have to understand where all of this behavior is coming from. It comes and goes in all ways. It’s like one minute your eating your favorite ice cream with all the toppings enjoying your best life and then you drop it in a pile of sh*t. And you sit there thinking what the actual fu*k are we doing. But we don’t give up.

D ran away once before, she runs from truths, confrontation and difficult situations. Only for a few dramatic minutes and she was back home. We have been threatened, attempted to be black mailed, loved, hugged, missed. This time is a little different.

As most of you have seen our posts all over social media’s. D ran away. She did not run from us, she did not run because of a relationship, she did not run away from her problems. She ran because she is sick of being in the system. She says she’s safe. She has blocked all of us on all and any social media. She’s in contact with people on tik-tok but will not disclose where she is. She is safe and “out of state”.

As much as we would like to say we get how she feels. We don’t we will never get it. We will never understand. We wish we could reach out and help. Until then all… ALL we can do as foster parents is wait. And continue to hope she is safe, happy and taken care of.

This morning Crystal took down her Jury Duty Form off the fridge. Under the form we found a note from D. Knowing what we know now. This was pre planned. She has been on a lifetime of adventure. Not the adventure yourself or I would want to be on however, this is just another chapter in her book. We know eventually she will come back. Until then we hope she is safe.