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Leah Barnett | Parenting God's Open door

Meet Leah Barnett a courageous Proverbs 31 woman who allowed God to lead her and her husband into a new way of parenting; fostering.


Leah, thank you so much for talking with us! Before we dive in, our readers are eager to learn more about you. Could you share a bit about yourself?


My name is Leah Barnett and I am originally from Canada, and am now a grateful wife living in

Bermuda and a foster mother to our beautiful son, baby S.




Can you tell us what led you to become a foster parent?


My husband and I have been married for 6.5 years now and have always desired to become

parents. After 2 years of being married and feeling more settled, we decided it was time for us to

start trying to conceive a child. I have two older sister who have had wonderful success with

their fertility so I had always believed it would be no different for me. I always thought of getting

pregnant as this easy thing and something to be cautious of if you weren't ready for it. We had

tried every month for a year with no success. After that first year, we figured something might be

wrong and were tested for fertility issues. We both received very discouraging results and began

our journey of trying to conceive with the aid of medical treatments, as it would be difficult for

us to have success without help. The next 2 years of this journey were the most difficult of our marriage as the pressure and constant disappointments weighed heavily on our hearts. Treatments eventually led to a pregnancy that we were so excited and thankful for, however it ended too soon and was the greatest devastation to us of all. We took some time to grieve before continuing back on the treatments which would continue to fail and led to more discouragement and the feeling of hopelessness.


While we were healing from this journey, we were actively serving in our church’s children’s

ministry, where we met a family with children who were being raised in a broken home. One day

after serving, my husband and I were in the car talking about our love for these children. We both

felt at this point that we just wanted to be parents and were willing to reimagine what that could

look like. I knew my past boss was a foster mom and I wanted to know more about what that

was, so I reached out to her.


Once I got in contact with her, she sent me the information to contact the foster care team. [My husband] Oryn and I prayed about it and figured it was a good idea to at least get some more information. We met with the supervisor who was very informative, encouraging, and inspirational. This led to us starting the paperwork to be licensed as foster parents. This all happened at the end of June 2023, and our intentions were to be respite foster care providers, offering short-term care for children since I was working and doing my bachelor's degree online. One month later, we got an email saying there would be a newborn long-term placement that she felt would be a good fit for our family! Even though we agreed we could only offer short-term care, our immediate reaction to this was a big YES! We continued the fast-tracked process to get our license which we received a week before baby S was born. He was placed in our care right from the hospital only 4 days old. We immediately fell in love and are so grateful God brought him into our family. It has been a big factor in our healing and it is such a gift to be parents to this amazing little boy. God has protected him mightily and continues to show His faithfulness to him and to us.



Was this an easy choice for you and your husband to make?


My husband and I had talked about the options of adopting and fostering in the past but turned it

down feeling that was a last resort option. That day in the car, reflecting in our hearts for the

young people at church brought us both on the same page at the same time of being open to

pursuing foster care. I am not sure if I would have decided to be a foster parent had it not been

for our infertility journey, so it is clear that God uses the hard things we face and turns them into

beautiful paths. As soon as our hearts had changed into being open to a new way of parenting,

we were pedaled to the metal, fully in! It was an exciting and fast process and we look back, seeing how God’s hand was in it all the way.


How do you handle life’s challenges when things aren’t working out but you have to trust God

anyway?


The challenge of infertility and miscarriage was the most difficult thing I have ever experienced

in life. This challenge led me to experience and learn from grief. A pastor who had counseled

us during this time helped me process my pain and made me realise that anger is a part of grief

and that even bringing our anger to God is [still] the right place to bring it. God can handle our hard and ugly emotions and is the only one who can help us through it all. I have learned that not only can God help us in our healing but is also always working for our good and that is why I can trust in Him and His ways. He is fully trustworthy even in our chaos.



Which Scriptures have supported you in your journey to becoming a foster parent?


A scripture that helped me through infertility is Psalm 113:9, “He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord!”.


Could you share what being a Proverbs 31 woman signifies for you?


To me, a Proverbs 31 woman means finding my strength in the Lord and living to trust Him in all I do. It means relying on God to grow me as a wife and mother who seeks Him daily and trusts that God has a good and perfect plan for me and my family.







What advice would you offer to a woman who is experiencing a similar journey to yours and is contemplating foster parenting?


Some advice I would give to someone going through infertility is to meditate on scripture and

pray without ceasing for your heart’s desire. God hears you and sees your tears, He will be

faithful to provide! For foster care, I would suggest to anyone, married, unmarried, with or

without children, do it! There are different ways to foster, long-term which we are blessed with,

short-term/ emergency care, and respite, which we have also done for a 6-month-old baby girl for 2 weeks. It is God’s will that we take care of the orphans and children in need. If it is in your

heart, there is a need and there is support in the most surprising of places. If you do the will of

the Lord, you will not be in need.


Leah, thank you for your transparency! We pray that many are blessed by your story.



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