This past April, Buster preached a sermon focused on one of the new initiatives to foster or adopt 200 children. After listening to the message, Community Group leaders Corey and Emily Gill became burdened to help reach this goal and decided to broach the idea with their group. Their multigenerational group meets every other Sunday night, and they agreed that they wanted to help the church work towards this goal. "While the people in our group didn't seem to be at the stage to foster or adopt at that point, we wanted to help support the initiative in some way," Corey explained. They remembered that Buster had mentioned coming alongside families who are adopting or fostering and offering wrap-around care as a support ministry. Wrap­ around care often involves short-term childcare, help with meals or errands, and even help with housework to give the caretakers support and a reprieve. It is a manifestation of the body of Christ working together in different functions and capacities for the sake of God's honor and glory.

A bit unsure of what this support would look like, the group reached out to a foster family in the church and asked if they could help in any way A couple weeks later; the group arrived at the home of Leland and Sarah Brown to help out Leland and Sarah have been licensed foster parents for several years and are currently caring for two foster children alongside their three biological children. A few people took on the task of yard work while the rest of the group stayed with the kids so Leland and Sarah could spend the morning out of the house. The group spent about 6 hours caring for the kids, doing yard work, and helping out around the house. It wasn't a relaxing Saturday morning, but it was a wonderful way to expend energy for the sake of the Kingdom.

Jumping in to help out definitely looked different than they expected. "My expectation going into that day was that it would be like any other babysitting job, but we really got to step into their world of handling their own three kids and then caring for two more children that had joined them recently We realized how much help they actually need. It was a challenging day," Emily shared. The group was able to have a glimpse into the day-to-day life of the Browns and saw more clearly the daily challenges that come with changing family dynamics.

Several weeks later, the group reflected on their time with the Browns and saw how sweet it was to have the opportunity to love the kids and give Sarah and Leland some time away They recognized that although the Browns could have made it through without this half day of reprieve, it was much better for them to get a time of rest While a day of childcare and yard work will never completely alleviate stress or offer enough time to rest to fully recover from a lack of sleep, it did provide a much-needed opportunity for the Browns to step back, refill their tanks, and come back to love on these kids. "It's one of those things that is not required, but we could alleviate some of the stress and worry for them," Corey explained.

Serving together in this way not only grew their desire to serve within the church, but it also grew their relationships with others in their group. They saw that serving together as a group was much easier than doing so on their own. Plus, they felt they got to better understand a need within their church family and see how they could show Christ's love in a tangible way "Even though it was challenging and different than what we expected, it was a growing experience. We have a little bit more knowledge and understanding for the next time we serve them," Emily shared. "I think this is what it looks like to be a part of the church. We don't do it perfectly all the time, but serving others is what we are called to as members of East Cooper."

East Cooper has a goal over the next few years to foster or adopt 200 children. This goal was created because our Heavenly Father has adopted His children into His family and He commands us to care for the orphaned and vulnerable. There are several ways to support this initiative, including becoming a licensed foster parent, adopting children, of providing wrap-around care.