After praying and seeking the counsel of others who are serving foster children, we quickly arrived at what our vision would be.  Bridge of Hope Ministries will provide a home for boys, ages 13-18, that are currently in the foster care system.  We started with $0, like nothing, zilch, nada.  But, we all had a sense of urgency and longing to do something to help these kids.  And when God is with you, great things are going to happen!  We each shared our vision with family and friends.  It's as simple as that.  People were very supportive and encouraging and before long we were getting donations and planning fundraisers.  At the time of this writing, we are waiting to close on 5 acres of land just outside the city limits of Pocahontas.  Then, we will begin to build our home for boys!

We want our home to be a normal home.  We want these boys to feel safe, secure, and loved while they live there.  Our plan is to hire house parents that will take care of the boys just like any other normal mom and dad.  The boys will attend the Pocahontas Public School System and they will be encouraged to participate in sports, band, or whatever extracurricular activities they are interested in.  The house parents will be available to take them to practices, help them with homework, and be there for any support they need.
The boys will also attend church.  We will try and be accommodating if they have attended a church they like in the past.  We are a non-denominational ministry, so we will not be focused on any one church.  We plan to teach the boys about God's love for us, our salvation available through Jesus Christ, and that God has a good and wonderful plan for them.
We also want to make sure that the boys will be able to function when they are out on their own.  They will have chores and responsibilities around the house.  We want them to know how to do laundry, cook meals, clean properly, and manage money.   The men on the Board of Directors have goals of teaching the boys wood working, gardening, fishing, hunting, or any other thing the boys might have an interest in.  
While the house parents will be solely responsible for the boys, the Board sees itself as aunts and uncles.  We want to create an extended family for added support.  We plan to be involved however we are needed.

Husbands, Boys, Etc...
This calling that we felt was definitely a shared interest among the women in the our group.  During one of our first meetings we started talking and brainstorming ideas about a possible group home.  By the end of that meeting, we believed we would possibly be working on building a group home for girls.  We as women felt that we could understand and lend a great deal of help to young girls in need.  All of us are mothers.  All of us are nurturers.  We all had some different experiences and back stories to share.  We felt that reaching out to young girls would be easy because we were women.  We wanted to share our lives with these young girls and help shape them into well adjusted and successful God loving young women.  God had a different plan!  

One of the first things we did was pray!  We prayed and talked and prayed and talked.  We also thought it would be wise to seek counsel from other people who have done what we were hoping to do.   We met with a woman who started a wonderful Children's Shelter in Walnut Ridge.  She shared her story starting at the beginning of her journey.  She gave us lots of great information but one of the things we walked away with that really stuck with us was....teenage boys are really hard to place. 

We also contacted the Department of Human Services in Pocahontas.  We were excited and nervous, but really felt like this was something we needed to do.  We shared that we had a vision to help foster children but didn't really know any details of what that would look like. Imagine our surprise when we were told that it is young boys who needed the most help in our area.  This was the second confirmation we received that maybe we should be helping boys.  Boys?  Hmmm Boys?  Really?  It turns out that boys age 13 and older are the hardest to place within a family seeking adoption, and sometimes even foster homes.  Children at this age can choose to NOT be adopted.  These children will remain in the "system" until they turn 18, or 21 if they attend college or join the military.  This means they may move from foster home to foster home.  This could result in changing schools, losing friends, and missing milestones.  We as mothers all know and understand the importance of stability.  From that moment on, our goal was to build a home for young boys.  We wanted to provide that much needed stability, love, and guidance.  We wanted to give them a place to call home until they graduate high school. 

Our husbands all came on board right away.  I don't believe one husband questioned us, laughed at us, or even thought twice.  They were ready and willing to help.  Their visions seemed to line up with our vision!  That is a God thing for sure!  How often do men and women come together and agree so easily on a topic?  Our husbands are beyond excited to be involved with this boys' home.  We hear them talking about the animals that the boys can raise, and about taking the guys fishing and hunting!.  They also talk about sharing God's love and promises with the boys.  They are excited to be role models for these young men and want to be the 'Bridge of Hope' for these boys. 
Jenni 

When people ask me how or why we started Bridge of Hope, I always say, "It's a God thing."  It all started at a women's bible study I was having at my home.  The group consisted of new friends and old friends with everyone there wanting to have more Jesus in their life.  Technically I suppose it all started even before the women's bible study.  God had been preparing each of us and giving us a longing to help foster children even before we thought about it.  Before we even knew each other.  
My husband and I had been debating about whether we should become foster parents for about a year before this bible study started.  We attended a foster care class along with another couple (who are also on our Board).  Even after the class we were still back and forth about it.  We have four children, all girls, and I often wondered if there was enough "me" to go around.  Could we give a foster child who needs lots of love and attention enough love and attention?  Even though I doubted my ability, God kept foster children on my heart and my husband's.  And it seemed to get stronger and stronger.
Another couple had been having the same debate about whether they should adopt.  While I didn't know about their inner struggle at the time, I find it interesting that God would bring this woman to the bible study (because we really didn't know each other very well before she came).  
Another lady from bible study grew up in the foster care system.  She has good and bad memories from her time spent in different foster homes, and she has a compassion to help these kids that none of us can understand.
The other two ladies on our board both have hearts to help children, one being a nurse and the other being a Family and Community Partnership specialist (fancy title that we kid her about but it means that she is helping kids and families in our community).  
One more lady from bible study is our director of the Board of Advisers.  She is a stay at home mom now but was a teacher before that.  She too has a heart and compassion to help kids, and she and her husband are taking classes to become foster parents. 

God knew that one day we would all come together and create a ministry devoted to helping kids in foster care.  This amazes me and I love to see how God works when we let Him!

At bible study one day we had the question:  What is one area in your life where you are disobeying God?  Basically, what is God telling/leading you to do that you know you are not obeying.  For me, it was simple.  I knew the answer quick and assuredly.  We are not going forward with being foster parents.  It was hard to share this, mainly because the reasons (excuses) we had for not going forward were selfish ones... We don't have any extra time, we don't want to lose sleep at night (I know, sounds lame but it is what it is), we already have four kids.  But, I shared this anyway because I knew the group I was surrounded by wasn't judgmental.  They were all moms and I knew they would get it.  I was surprised to see one of the ladies tear up.  She was surprised by my answer because she and her husband where feeling the same way, except their debate was about adoption.  Wow, I think we both felt relief that we weren't alone in our struggles.  God was working in that group that day because this ladies' husband sent her a text right in the middle of this conversation that said, "What about foster care?"  Now, he had no idea what we were discussing, and they hadn't talked about foster care at all.  At this point I think several of us were fighting back tears just in awe of our awesome God.  And yes, this couple is now an approved foster home and they are awesome!!

So, at the next bible study I remember being nervous about bringing up the subject.  Would they think I was crazy or nuts?  God had put it on my heart to share "the what seemed crazy idea" I had in my heart.  As I told the ladies I dreamed about starting some kind of home/shelter/facility/ for foster children, I was not met with looks of uncertainty or doubt.  Instead, I saw excitement and hope and possibility.  Everyone seemed to have ideas about what we could do to help foster children.  I think of that day in my den as the beginning of Bridge of Hope.  
Amy