Meet the "Wampler Zoo"

I am so excited to be given this great opportunity to talk about my family, and as you get to know me better you will see that this and my Lord and Savior are the two topics that I love to tell others about the most. SO, if you are ready, sit back, grab a hot cup of tea and join me as we take a walk through the Wampler Zoo.

As I am writing to you, I am sitting in my office surrounded by crayons, coloring books, papers of all kinds and none of it is mine. My children love to sit in the office with me and color while I’m working and today has been a significant day of coloring and crafts so the room is far worse than it was yesterday. BUT what does a mother do? I enjoy the company and this evening before bed they will all come in here and straighten it up.

Over the years, I found that being the mother of eleven children is not always easy but is most defiantly rewarding. Looking back over the years and the struggles, I can say with every assurance that if I had to go back and do it over, I would not change one thing! If I did we might not have been blessed as much as we have been.

Nineteen years ago my beloved husband and I stood before our minister and took our vows of marriage, through sickness and in health, in good times and bad, I don’t however, remember him saying “Through a home full of children!” In fact, we had only been married a few months when he decided to inform me he did not want children at all. It was like a slap in the face! I had always wanted children and a full house of them, yet here I had married this man that did not want any. I felt trapped and I was not the least bit happy to say.

BUT as always God sent His miracle to me, I became very ill, took a pregnancy test; it said I was pregnant but according to God’s will I miscarried. With heart broken, I went to see the doctor. He ran several tests on both of us and we were informed that the odds were stacked against us. It would be impossible for us to have a child of our own without a fertility specialist, a lot of money and even then there were no promises. When we came home from the doctor’s; I was beyond upset with God, life and everything else. How could this happen to me, (the one person that adored children and would be the best mom in the world)?

I dropped out of church. I refused to go to church, and I didn’t want to worship a God that took my dream away from me. I didn’t want to talk to him or to think about him in anyway. I was brokenhearted. Then God sent an angel to us, in the form of a good friend that understood how I felt as she was in the same situation. She called and asked me if I would care for her foster baby during the day while she went to work. After talking to Rich we agreed the extra money would be good and I could use the company during the day.

We began the first part of God’s miracle to us, we found that foster children were so easy to love and easy to enjoy. As time went on we began to discuss becoming foster parents, I knew in my heart that I could not adopt a child, I did not have that kind of love in my heart for someone else’s child, I could care for them and love them but not “LOVE THEM AS MY OWN”. We called Family and Children’s Services and got the paperwork to begin the newest journey in our married life. We became foster parents. We had not completely finished our training when we were given our first baby, a 3 month old biracial baby girl who was born addicted to drugs. One thing I was not prepared for was a drug baby that cried continually and never slept. I remember one night during a particularly painful time for the baby; I looked toward heaven and cried, “LORD WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO?” I swaddled the baby tightly and we sat in the rocking chair and she slept while I cried.

The next week, we were able to return this sweet baby girl to her family. I remember sitting on the front steps and crying my eyes out when the social worker came to get her. The sleepless nights and the frustration were gone; but I missed having a baby in my arms. I remember asking the Lord to fill our home soon, because the silence was too much for me.

It was 3 weeks later when the call came to pickup two small young boys. Their mom was a little overwhelmed and was putting them in foster care for a few weeks so she could get her life back in order. This was going to be a snap. HA! God never does things in our time, those few weeks turned into four and a half years. We were also given their baby brother. By this time, I was a little overwhelmed but I loved it! Then we got the call, a 6 month old baby boy, mom was incarcerated and dad was not a good person to care for him. Of course we said, “Yes” very loudly and thought; “Okay the house is now full we have four children all under the age of 5.”

Our first baby leaving did not prepare us adequately for returning our second one. Our six month old baby boy was now two and a half years old when we were ordered by the court to return him to his birth mother. My heart was broken. We had signed intent to adopt forms on this baby, we were supposed to adopt him, but God was not following the plan at all. The heartbreak became so deep that I did not want to keep fostering, my husband and I discussed it and I called the office to let them know we were not going to continue to foster anymore. My heart could not take the pain of letting go. BUT as always God had a plan that He did not discuss with me first.

So sorry ladies but I have to run, and I don’t mean to leave you hanging, but you will have to tune in Tuesday, January 26th for the rest of this story. ~Smile~


Much Love
Rise’

Wednesday’s Blog: Michele Cousins, “Single Working Mom”