Snowflakes teach us so much about foster kids

Today I went to the park. I’m feeling very depressed and  Moonlight is not feeling well, so mostly she sat with me on a blanket.  I talked to Moonlight and together we watched the world pass by.  The snow was lightly falling and occasionally I gently wiped the snow off Moonlight’s black nose.  At one point, after I wiped Moonlight’s nose with my cheap blue knit mittens, I looked at my hand.  My mitten was covered with glistening snow.

It was at this point that I realized that these snowflakes sitting on my mitten were so much like foster children.

I love nature because it really does teach us about life and living, and I thank the Hippie foster parents for teaching me this and helping me learn to respect the land (Click Here).

Snowflakes are really magical and special.  They come in all different shapes and sizes; there are no two snowflakes alike, ever.  The snowflakes that we see are actually made up of a variety of different frozen ice crystals that surround dirt which had been swept into the atmosphere by wind. So, a beautiful snowflake starts out as a piece of dirt.  As the dirt falls through the atmosphere, traveling through different temperatures and humidities, the ice crystals change, develop, and grow.

Each beautiful, complex snowflake is made up of many ice crystals, from 2 to 200; that latch on as the dirt particle travels downward. Ice crystals continue to clump together around a dirt particle until there are no more atmospheric changes in temperature and humidity.  You see, snowflakes don’t reach their final true beauty until they are done traveling through different conditions…when there is stability in the atmosphere.

Snowflakes are very cold, but over time and under the right conditions, as they warm up…they begin to melt.  Many people find snowflakes a nuisance, but also find them inspiring and magical when they coat everything with their glistening beauty.

Don’t you see how amazing this is?

Foster kids are so much like snowflakes.  No two are the same, they are all different.  Many people might consider them coming from “dirt” or “dirt-poor” families.  Foster kids are swept  into “the system” where they travel from home to home, experience to experience; changing, growing, and developing.  During their “travels” they take with them different parts of the foster home, foster parents, foster siblings, group homes, teachers, CASAs, and GALs, that effect their lives at different places.  Foster kids are made up of different experiences both good and bad that have shaped their complex lives; just as a snowflake is shaped by its travels through different atmospheric conditions.  And much like a snowflake, a foster child does not reach its true “beauty” until they find stability in their lives.

Similar to snowflakes, foster kids may be cold when they land at a new foster home; but over time and in the right conditions, they start to warm up to the foster family and some of the “coldness” melts aways.  Many times foster children are a nuisance; they can be difficult, angry, sad, hurt, act-out, etc… but underneath all that exterior is a beautiful kid who is filled with life, love, resilience, and magic.

Like a snowflake, a foster kid if given a chance

can bring beauty to the world.

This holiday season, when you are looking at snowflakes in your part of the world or on TV, remember how they teach us about how beautiful and special foster children are…

Like a snowflake, they have experienced alot…

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