She doesn't enter the lottery, so she hasn't much chance of winning. But if she ever did win, Marcia Lund would build a great big home for babies. She would create a place where they could get foster care, and it wouldn't be like an orphanage.
She's a mother and a teacher at Central High School ... and a foster mother to so many babies she has lost count.
It all started with her husband, Bill Lund, registered nurse. Along with being a nurse on the staff of Good Samaritan Home in East Grand Forks, he is also on the Child Protection Board for Grand Forks County. He knows the need of foster homes for infants. Fifteen years ago, he asked Marcia, a long time health teacher at Central, if they could, or should, help out.
Today on Mother's Day, as Marcia looks back, she is thinking, "Most husbands bring home dogs or cats. He brings home babies."
Marcia Lund is a jolly, vivacious woman of 54 who has beautiful blue eyes and a perpetual smile. She claims she is really only celebrating the fifth anniversary of being 49. She sits on the floor of her living room and cuddles babies as she visits about foster care.
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She points out that she is not in this alone. Their own children were half grown when she and Bill decided to do foster care. And instead of feeling put upon, they all helped out. Her son Ross has said he learned more about life from helping. Ross and his wife still pitch in when they are needed. So do the Lund daughters, Lucy and Greta. Marcia has a couple of sisters and a brother in East Grand Forks who will help out. And there's Lexie Foutsch, a 16-year-old next door, who comes over for the love of kids and lends a hand.
Right now, the Lunds have three infants in their care. The time the infants spend in their home has varied from two months to two years.
"It's hard to part with them," Marcia says, as she cuddles a tiny girl. "But I truly believe they belong with their parents. We need to love them and take care of them. And I believe their parents love them even though they might not be able to take care of them."
When decisions are made for placement of infants, Marcia says, "It is not up to me. It is up to a judge. And plans are made in neutral settings -- such as the Kids First room at CVIC."
Meanwhile, Marcia's life is entwined with children -- her own, her foster children and her students at Central. She loves her connection with youth and youngsters. Even when she is hauling three infants out in the morning to go to daycare, she says, "They bring me joy."
She's quick to point out that Bill is as much a part of the foster care as she is.
She grew up as Marcia Abel in East Grand Forks. When she graduated from Senior High she went into "home ec" or more formally, family and consumer sciences at UND. She met Bill in a food class and says he did much better at cooking. He had attended country school through eighth grade and finished high school in Larimore, N.D.
Marcia loves teaching at Central. She was there 12 years and then was at South Middle School for five years. Now she is back at Central. She considers it being "back home again."
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She loves teaching. She loves foster parenting. But she also knows it isn't for everybody.
"You have to be really flexible," she said. "And you have to be non-judgmental. No matter what has happened to an infant, Bill and I work as a team. We say let's just take care of them.
"This is what we do as a family. We don't expect our children to babysit all the time. We have expected them to help out. Our family has been better for it."
Today on Mother's Day, there isn't likely to be any breakfast in bed. Probably the washing machine will be running. There will be diapers to change and babies to bathe. And, if they can get there, the Lunds and their family will attend United Lutheran Church.
Reach Hagerty at mhagerty@gra.midco.net or by telephone at (701) 772-1055.
