Waiting for Hope and Faith

December 4, 2013

Dear Hope and Faith,

We learned about the two of you this past Monday night at our GPS (Group Preparation and Selection) classes.  We know that you are both too young to really understand this letter, but we wanted to write it just in case you become a part of our family and want to know more about your adoption story one day.  Even if you don’t, you can always come to us.  We know that anything can happen, and though we would be honored and amazed to be your parents, we pray daily that you will be placed with the family that is best for you.  We hope it is us, but either way, you have already touched our hearts.  Our hearts are broken for you as you were not able to stay with your first family, and we hope that you will always feel loved, wanted, nurtured, and cherished.  We promise to do our best to help you feel these every single day for the rest of your lives.  We also promise that we will pray for your first family when we say our daily prayers, as we know that although you will come to love us very much, your first family will always be important to you.

We have four children right now—two boys and two girls—so you will have at least four older brothers and sisters.  We do plan to adopt some older children in the near future, so you will likely be a part of a very large, loving family.  Right now, only one of your older brothers or sisters live with us full-time for different reasons.  Your oldest sister is a senior in college at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and plans to become an equine veterinarian (she will take care of horses).  You will get to see her several times a year and on holidays, and she will adore you.  Your oldest brother is a junior in high school and has chosen to live with his biological father after living with us for almost fifteen years.  He is very smart and knows a lot about rocks and fossils, and you will get to see him several times a year and on holidays.  Your other sister is fourteen and is in the ninth grade and lives primarily with your oldest sister and her biological mother; however, she comes to visit at least a couple of times a month and will probably come for several weeks during the summer.  She is very sweet, loves animals, and will love you very much.  Your other big brother lives here again, after staying with his biological father for a while.  He will be an amazing big brother.  He might seem too protective of both of you at times, as he will want to protect you from everyone and everything, but he will also teach you some cool things, too.  He is really good at sports and is an amazing helper. 

Your daddy is J.  He retired from the Army last year and served our country for 25 years!  He can fix anything.  He is the most amazing Daddy and man ever.  Just ask Your older sisters.  He has been a father of girls for almost 23 years and will always have a tender place in his heart for both of you.  J. is also the best husband and friend that I could have ever hoped for.  He has loved me unconditionally and will love you unconditionally, as well.  Your daddy will want you to have every opportunity and will cherish his little girls, and he will also make sure that you are prepared to take care of yourselves before you go out into the world.  He will teach you how to drive, but only after he teaches you to take care of your vehicles.  Just don’t talk to him about that for another twelve or thirteen years because he will want you both to just be happy little girls as long as possible.  You have to understand that you will always be his little girls.

My name is N. and I look so forward to being your mommy.  I have dreamed of you both my entire life.  My grandmother, your “Great-Grand,” and my father, your “Pop” were not raised by their first family, either.  I grew up knowing this and always wanting to bring other children who couldn’t be raised by their first family into my heart and home.  You have been in my heart since I was a little girl, though I did not know exactly who you were.  I spent my entire life preparing for you both.  I love to cook and sing to my babies.  There are songs that I have sang to your brothers and sisters that I will sing to you, books I will read to you, and places that I will take you.  I want you to have every opportunity in life, and if you want to be a swimmer, or a ballerina, or a gymnast, or a girl scout, or a piano player, or a cheer leader, or a basketball player, or a scholar, or whatever you want to do, I want you to have the opportunities to do these things.  If you want to be President of the United States when you grow up, or a doctor, or a lawyer, or a Social Worker, or an artist, or whatever you want to be, I will love and support you and help you come up with a plan to do just that.  I have had a lot of life experiences, and I want you to have a lot of wonderful, amazing life experiences.  Regardless of wanting you to have these experiences and opportunities, I want you to always know that I love you both completely and unconditionally.  “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living, my babies you’ll be.” 

Right now, we don’t know anything about you other than your age, that you are both girls, and that you need a forever family.  That is all we need to know.  It is important to us that you know that regardless of your cultural, ethnic, or racial background, you will be accepted as a member of this family, and we still want you to know that if you are not of the same background as us, we will respect your desire to want to know more about and share your roots with the rest of the family.  Regardless of what happens, we have adopted you in our hearts and will continue to pray for you forever.  Know that if you ever need anything, we are here.  Even if we are wrong about the feeling that you are meant to become members of our forever family, we will always be happy to educate, empower, and support you.  We hope that the two of you are always close.  We know that even though you will become part of our family or another family, you will always have a special connection to each other. 

We love you, and we’ll never forget.

Love always and forever,

Mom & Dad