I've got peace like a river, I've got peace like a river,
I've got peace like a river in my soul
I've got peace like a river in my soul
Singing children's voices softly played from a cassette recorder as I stepped into a modest trailer home a few days into the New Year. Two children and their grandmother greeted me as they continued removing decorations from their Christmas tree. Their voices in greeting were as soft and gentle as the ones from the recording and it took me back to my childhood and my children's childhood and Sunday School and car rides with a sound track of sweet children's songs. The grandmother had that beautiful, almost translucent look of one who is channeling God directly into the room and the children, for the first time in their lives, were experiencing loving boundaries, a clean home, enough to eat, and security with a relative that was not a parent.
In the United states, 1 out of every 12 children live in households headed by grandparents or other relatives. In many families, this is an extreme economic hardship and in others an economic impossibility.
In a bi-partisan bill sponsored by Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Hillary Clinton (D-New York), federal funding was made available to allow states to institute subsidized kinship guardianships for children who would otherwise be in foster care.
After awhile, I said my good-bye's to the family, because after the guardianship goes into place next week, there will no longer be a need for my visits and as I was opening the door to leave, the oldest child said, "I can't wait until she can keep us". Hoping the tears wouldn't show, I said "Just a few more days." In that moment, I realized how very important permanency is for kids. This child had been with his grandmother for two years, nothing was really going to change for him, except that he would have the knowledge that now he had a forever home.
I've got love like an ocean, I've got love like an ocean
I've got love like an ocean in my soul
I've got love like an ocean in my soul
