OUR MOUNTAIN WORK
The Quarterly Newsletter of Black Mountain Home for Children
2025 – Issue II
National Foster Care Month
George and Jackie Burns One Foster Family’s Journey
Spring 2022. Quiet nudges. My husband and I began having
small conversations about becoming foster parents—well, I talked, and he listened… quietly. He didn’t seem too eager to have more tiny people filling our already full home. We had two children, six and four, and life was packed. He was a full-time firefighter working on his associate’s degree. We cleaned offices together three evenings a week, he was preaching frequently, and I was new to homeschooling. Still, something kept tugging at my heart. We kept talking, kept praying, and reached out to Black Mountain Home to get more information.
Fall 2022. First Steps. The training opened our eyes to the great need for foster parents. We learned about the neglect, abuse, and other traumas children endure before entering care. We learned tools and approaches for navigating challenging behaviors. We learned about the cycle of need, how brokenness repeats itself, and how healing can, too. We learned about Shared Parenting—the idea of not just caring for a child but also building a relationship with their biological parents. And we discovered some things about ourselves.
Spring 2023. The Call. I was
outside, watching our kids play in the yard, when I received the call from the foster care team at Black Mountain Home. A two-year-old and her five-month-old baby brother needed a safe home and a family to care for them. George was on a 24-hour shift at the fire department, so I called him to make sure he was ready. He said yes.
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But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31