ENJOYING THE RIDE: HOW A GOD-SIZED DREAM BECAME A REALITY
SEE THE VIDEO OF THIS AMAZING STORY HERE!
In an ever-changing home life and busy social schedules, sitting around the dinner table together is not always a possibility. But riding together? Inevitable.
For Tammy Swiggart and her husband, Russell, taking in foster teen girls meant more responsibility to loving the whole person and, invariably, loving their friends. As the friendship circle grew wider, the number of seatbelt buckles grew smaller.
“We started thinking about needing a vehicle when we started fostering teens, and we noticed friends are the most important thing to them. Not just one friend. They need an army of friends around them to help them feel loved and supported while the rest of their world has been uprooted. With multiple teens in the home, that just amplified the need,” Tammy said.
Getting a large, oversized van with enough space for everyone seemed like a far-fetched, God-sized miracle that was possibly years down the road. So when a white, 15 passenger Chevy Express pulled into their driveway late one afternoon, they were nothing short of speechless as keys were placed into their hands.
Their God-sized dream had finally become a reality thanks to the enormous generosity of Hudiburg Auto Group, a car dealership based out of Oklahoma City. Their willingness to step in and meet a need has forever changed the course of this ever-growing foster family.
As children and foster children climbed in and out of the shiny new cruise liner on wheels, ecstatic exchanges of glee and tears were shared as the family began to dream of new possibilities. More room meant more foster children could be taken in, which meant more time together to heal.
According to the Swiggart family, healing is a beautiful thing. Whether it happens sitting around the table together, during late night chats or car ride confessions, the result is always the same – progress.
“A foster family has amazing dynamics. It may mean two sets of parents are helping to raise cool kids. Maybe it means a single mom and grandparents are raising them. There’s just a weird, amazing, dynamic of people who love kids from hard places,” she said. “It entails a lot of grit, but when you can start to see healing happen, it’s really beautiful.”
The Swiggart family began fostering in 2012 out of a desire to have kids in their home at any cost. “We want to teach them that family is important,” Tammy said.
Tammy’s advice to anyone considering fostering in the future is to parent each day as if it was the last day they would be with you, because it could be.
“Expect the unexpected. Nothing happens until it happens,” she said. “Enjoy the ride.”
Bright Sky Ministry is a 501(c)3 charitable organization and runs off of the generous donations of its partners. Please consider giving so more foster families, like the Swiggarts, can be reached.