Hello, Jolie here from Bananas Foster and welcome to another post of our ‘Getting To Know’ Series! The Wireman Family will be celebrated at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, SC… also known as Death Valley! This is the LARGEST Banana Ball crowd in history at 81,000 fans. Talk about “going big” for these families!
Without further ado let’s…START THE CLOCK! (IYKYK)
PART ONE – Getting to Know The Wireman Family
How long you’ve been a licensed foster family? – We were house parents for ‘Church of God’ for 5 years, then out of our home we became a licensed foster family 2 years ago.
How many kids have you had in your home? – As house parents, we had over 70 kids and we’ve had roughly 25 children in and out of our home as foster parents.
Why did you become a licensed foster family? – We truly believe that God called us to become foster parents to just love children that have gone through traumatic experiences and just to show his love. We feel like our family had a lot to offer these children. I’m a school teacher, so I see a lot, and my husband is a youth pastor. We just wanted to do what we felt the Lord called us to do.
Have you been able to keep any relationships with your kiddos? – Yes, actually we had a younger kiddo for about eight months. She was reunified with her mom, but we’ve kept in contact with them. We have gone to church together now and we get to watch her every other weekend. Her mom grew up with the foster system and she was very thankful for us to care for her. She came over for Easter dinner with us, her and her mom and the kids and so that that’s been a very rewarding story for us to stay in touch with them!
What is something that you wish people knew about foster care? – I wish people knew that fostering isn’t for everyone, but everyone can get involved. There’s so many foster families that really wanna do it and feel called to do it but sometimes they just get so overwhelmed. I think the easy way, is to say, “Okay, I can’t do this anymore,” but I think everybody has a place within foster families lives. If they open their heart up and say, “hey, I can watch your kids for a couple hours, I can take them with mine you know to the zoo.” Everybody can be a support for foster families.
What is your favorite memory about foster care? – One of my favorite memories is when we adopted our three children and became their permanent mom and dad forever. I’ll never forget going to the court and getting an official adoption finalized. Just the excitement and the love from all my biological children was heartwarming. The love and support we experienced that day was unmatched. We have great organizations that supports us, Southeastern Children’s Home, and our church support. They’re absolutely wonderful so just just the love that we experienced during that time.
Any last thoughts? – I know foster fostering is hard, but it’s so worth it. I feel like a lot of people will say, “I can never do that.” Personally, with God in our lives, you know we wouldn’t be able to do it. We’ve always taken from the perspective that every child that the Lord gives us is our opportunity to love them and show them his love. So when you look at that perspective and you know that God is in control, it’s not always hard to give up children.
I would encourage people that even if you know you don’t think that you can do it, you can do it. There is strength within that you don’t even know of. Every child deserves, whether it’s a week, a day, months, or years, the opportunity to be in a home that they feel love and secured. I feel like our family even my older children have been a real extension of showing that love and support too. We just we’re thankful that God has brought us to place in our life where we can foster and love on these kids.
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PART TWO – Getting to Celebrate The Wireman Family
To be continued… tune in for The Wireman Family celebration at Memorial Stadium, Death Valley – Clemson, SC live on The Savannah Bananas YouTube – April 26, 2025. Click Here…
If you or someone you know is a foster family and are interested in sharing your story with us, please visit Tell Your Story.
Created by Jolie Chabala, Bananas Foster