Let’s start with the numbers. 150. 10. 2. We’ll come back to that.

Paul Ledet glances away for a split second and then looks back. He’s remembering the little girl who came to their home a few years ago. She was a scooter who never crawled. Somehow, somewhere – Paul doesn’t remember the details – they managed to get a pair of boots for the little girl. She loved those boots. She wanted to wear them every day.

In no time, the girl started pulling herself up, boots and all, using whatever she could hold on to. A table. A chair. Anything close. “Before you know it, she took a step,” Paul said, with a chuckle. “And then she took another step. She went straight from scooting to walking.”

In a way, that story is a metaphor for the 150 foster children Paul and Daisy Ledet have served in their home over the past 10 years.

It started when their grandson needed a home. He suffered shaken-baby syndrome and a Texas Child Protective Services caseworker at the hospital looked straight at the couple and asked if they were willing to take him home and care for him.

For the next seven years, Paul and Daisy cared for their grandson, who required a feeding tube. He was never able to walk or even crawl. After that, Daisy suggested to Paul there were “other kids like him too and I want to help them.”

That started a foster care journey that brought them to Buckner after serving with CPS for several years.

Read their story in the latest issue of Buckner Today now.