To Share or Not to Share

Lee and I have the privilege of being a part of a media campaign coined, 'We Need Families Like Yours,' to help recruit foster families for the city of Alexandria. A part of this involves sharing our experiences with others in the form of a video taped interview as well as potential interviews on radio shows or local news channels.

Neither of us are big fans of public speaking, but we feel very passionately about fostering and always love to share about our amazing kids and 'extended family.'

The other weekend I traveled up to NY by bus to be with my family. The poor lady sitting next to me made the mistake of overhearing a phone conversation I was having with Lee about David and asked, "So you have a son?" Little did she know what she was about to get into! I had my lap top next to me and was quick to share pictures and proceeded to tell her EVERYTHING...well almost everything.

I was surprised that I didn't cry or anything as I shared Ashley's story complete with pictures. Even as she began to tear up...I felt alright. I was happy to be sharing her story...excited for someone else to learn of the miracles God performed. I felt pretty confident about this whole 'recruiting' business:).

Yesterday was a different story. As we sat among a group of eight other foster families listening to their stories, both Lee and I were dreading the spotlight for the same reason. How much do we share? What do we say? How will everyone react?

We couldn't avoid it. Jaqueline and Ashley are a part of our family. We can't tell our complete story without them...and so I began. I think I made it to the part about Ashley becoming sick on her birthday and that was it- the tears started flowing and thank goodness Lee was there to take over! As foster parents, everyone in the group was obviously very empathetic and I would venture to guess that there were about three other women crying along with me.

Anyway, let me get to the point of this post. We need your suggestions/opinions. As we begin to share in hopes of recruiting other foster parents, do we tell Ashley's story or do we avoid it? If we do mention it...should we focus on a certain part? The last thing we want is to scare people away! The city of Alexandria and the foster parents of Alexandria were amazing during the whole process and so perhaps we can emphasize that in some way...it certainly took an entire community (and then some!) to make possible everything that happened.

Thank you in advance for your suggestions. Overall, we are just praying that God can use us as a tool to move the hearts of those who are meant to be foster parents.