Fostering Grace - assisting local foster families

01/11/2026

It was a blessing to fill 2 needs for foster babies today! Thank you to those who donated! If you have a in like new condition baby bed you’re looking to get rid of, please message us. This was the last bed we had in storage for when the need comes.

Also, thank you to Storage Box in Lincoln for donating a unit to us to store big items in.

If you were wondering if we were still serving foster families?! We are! 💜

12/25/2025

Worth a re-share

HOW THE CHRISTMAS STORY IS AN ADOPTION STORY

BY TRISHA PRIEBE • 12/05/2018 •

IN A FEW DAYS, WE’LL GATHER WITH OUR FAMILIES TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS.

Many of us will open our Bibles to reflect on the Christmas story.

While reading Luke 2 or Matthew 1, we’ll learn with Mary that she’s been chosen to give birth to Jesus. We’ll travel with Joseph and Mary to the tiny town of Bethlehem—population: 300—and witness the humble birth of Christ in a lowly stable. We’ll then observe the shepherds and hear the angels.

We will marvel with Mary as she treasures these things and ponders them in her heart.

But if we’re not careful, we’ll miss one of the most extraordinary characters in the Christmas story—a gracious Middle Eastern day laborer named Joseph who learned and accepted with joy that he had been tasked to raise the Son of God as his own child.

Joseph of Nazareth is not merely a prop in the manger scene. He’s not a plastic or ceramic piece to stick between the shepherds and the manger.

Joseph is a real and necessary example of parenting a non-biological child for the glory of God.
By accepting a woman and her child into his family and raising the Son as his own, Joseph teaches us—

3 THINGS ABOUT ADOPTION

1. Adoption creates family. The book of Matthew traces the genealogy of Christ through Joseph’s bloodline—as opposed to Mary’s—to establish the qualifications of Christ as Israel’s Messiah. The Bible communicates the legitimacy of Jesus in Joseph’s lineage.

2. Adoption is not Plan B. To believe that adoption somehow diminishes the good plans of a loving God is to believe the Christmas story was a mistake. Adoption—and adoptees—are not the exception to God’s goodness. Yes, adoption includes loss and heartbreak. No question about it. But God has an extraordinary way of creating beauty from ashes. He could have chosen any means to place Jesus in the world, and He chose to put Jesus into Joseph’s family.

3. Adoption honors the character of God. When Joseph uprooted his family and moved them from Nazareth to Egypt to protect Jesus from the murderous intentions of Herod, he placed his own life, kinship, and inheritance at risk. His willingness to invest self-sacrificially in Jesus demonstrates the rich and Biblical echoes of God’s character as our Heavenly Father.

So as you read the Christmas story this month—or as you introduce the members of the manger scene to your children—don’t skip Joseph. He’s not merely a necessary supporting role in the Christmas cast of characters.

He’s a good example of an adoptive dad who joyfully embraced his role in the life of Christ for the glory of God.

In very real ways, the Christmas story is an adoption story.

12/21/2025

You don’t wanna miss this!!! Share with your friends!!!!

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1P4L9WtUxp/?mibextid=wwXIfr

09/13/2025

It was 8 years ago this week that came to be. 💜

Here’s our story:

In May of 2014 we were licensed to be foster parents. I had no idea what God had in store for me!

The real ministry began in my heart in 2015 when we took in a baby girl and was in dire need of clothes to put her in at 10 o'clock on a Saturday night. She came with one T-shirt from a garage sale. While I was grateful for that, I needed way more than that to help me get through the night and the following couple of days. Thankfully friends pulled some things together for me, but I realized a real need for all foster parents in my situation.

In 2017 our pastor's wife encouraged us to find an area of outreach into our community. We started out showing love to the 2 agencies in our town giving small gifts to each social workers and case aids, foster parents and bio parents.

In August 2017 the needed ministry of providing clothes in bags to foster parents began in our basement.

The following year it outgrew the basement and shelves for the garage were built.

In Dec. 2018 was our first event that was first put on for our foster families and then opened up to the community as well.

In Feb. 2019 we began holding official meetings for the “Basics to Becoming a Foster Parent.” Those meetings have brought in over 20 families into becoming foster parents.

In June 2023 we started working with Senator Sally Turner to make changes in the system to better the lives of foster children and foster parents.

God’s just getting started. Can’t wait to see what’s coming next!

For all those who have helped along this journey, THANK YOU for helping be a part of a wonderful cause. 💜

Written by Jeanna Gill - founder of Fostering Grace

07/10/2025

If you love Christmas Blast, you’ll love Summer Blast!

July 14-16
6:30-8:00 pm.

05/28/2025

😎☀️ Our community education partner, Lincoln Elementary School District #27, is once again providing FREE lunches to children this summer as a participant in the SUN Meals Program. All children 18 and under are invited to participate. No registration is required.

From June 2nd to June 30th, the program will distribute free to-go lunches to children 18 or younger on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Meals will be available for pick up (drive through) from 11:30 AM to 12 noon at Lincoln Junior High, Washington-Monroe Elementary School, and Northwest Elementary School.

A hot meal will be provided on each of these days, along with a second lunch for the following day.

05/17/2025

We here at CYFS strive to do our best to find supportive and loving placements for our youth. We will leave no stone unturned to make sure our kids have a warm bed to sleep in.
We are looking for a home for an 8-year-old boy who really loves to be outside playing any type of sport, hiking, swimming, and just exploring! This youth would like to be in a home that could give him a lot of love, attention, a little extra “TLC” and possibly another child to play with!
If you are a licensed foster caregiver and would like to support this youth, please contact Thomasina Madden at [email protected]

05/03/2025

Did you ever wonder?

If you’re a current foster parent, please message us!

How came to be...

Written by Jeanna Gill - founder of Fostering Grace

In May of 2014 my husband and I were licensed to be foster parents. I had no idea what God had in store!

In 2017 our pastor's wife encouraged us to find an area of outreach into our community. I've helped with several but I asked her about starting a ministry to helping foster families. She encouraged me and so did others. We started out showing love to the 2 agencies in our town giving small gifts of hand sanitizers to each social workers and case aids. We then made up Mother's Day and Father's Day gifts to give to every parent. (I was told no one had ever cared like that before. Which was very encouraging!)

But the real ministry began in my heart in 2015 when we took in a baby girl and was in dire need of clothes to put her in at 10 o'clock on a Saturday night. She came with one T-shirt from a garage sale. While I was grateful for that, I needed way more than that to help me get through the night and the following couple of days. Thankfully friends pulled some things together for me, but I realized a real need for all foster parents in my situation.

In August 2017 we moved to our new house. I was not even unpacked or even close to it but realized that God gave me a nice basement and I needed to start this ministry of providing clothes in bags that are given to foster parents when they have a placement.

I began posting on our garage sale Facebook sites that I was in need of clothes for foster children coming into care. (Our community is amazing when pulling together for something like this.) I started having leftovers from garage sales delivered to my house as well as anyone who is just going to donate their clothing to a secondhand store brought them to me instead. It has now grown out of my basement and the Fostering Grace closet is now housed in our garage.

Along the way we’ve started 2 pages:
One for foster parents where we can share and fill needs and then one page for anyone in our local area that wants to help! We've filled the needs of beds, shoes, clothes and many, many other things! Praise the Lord to be a tool used by God!

🍁 Fall of 2018 we started holding FREE information meetings called “Basics to Becoming a Foster Parent.” We know of 25 families that have joined foster care through that meeting. (I’m sure there’s more we aren’t aware of)

December 2018 was our first . That’s still continuing today.

And so God has began the ministry called "Fostering Grace" the name is very fitting I believe. 😀

God is just getting this started and it is very exciting to reach outside of my comfort zone and help someone who is truly in need. If God would lay it on your heart to jump in with me and help we can do so much more!

For all those who have helped along this journey, Thank you for helping be a part of a wonderful cause. 💜

04/24/2025

What a huge blessing that Eaton has been to this ministry! Thank you again for the amazing donation today. 💜

04/17/2025

Who’s ready?

The truth? You probably won’t ever feel ready.

Not when the phone rings.
Not when they say, “She’ll be there in 45 minutes.”
Not when you’re staring into eyes that have seen too much.
Not when you’re crying on the bathroom floor after a hard visit.
Not when you love them like your own, knowing they might leave.

Readiness isn’t what qualifies you.
Willingness is.

We say, “Here I am, Lord. Send me.”
But we expect the mission to come with preparation, confidence, and clarity.
Foster care rarely comes with any of that.

It comes with unknowns.
With sleepless nights.
With loving a child through trauma you can’t undo.
With showing up day after day, even when your heart feels fragile.

And still—God calls.

He doesn’t wait for your calendar to clear.
He doesn’t need your bank account to grow.
He’s not asking for perfection.
He’s asking for yes.

Because the call doesn’t wait for you to feel ready.
It waits for you to answer.

So no, you may not feel strong enough.
You may not feel brave enough.
You may not feel ready.

But when the call comes—and it will—
will your answer still be,
“Here I am, Lord. Send me”?