The Night Before . . .

For Hope and Faith,

Tonight, as I lay in bed, I find myself unable to sleep.  I feel like a child the night before a trip to Disney World, full of excitement and anticipation.  In about 2.5 months, you should know what that feels like, too.  I look forward to experiencing that and so many other things with the both of you.  Tomorrow should be our final home visit.  The new social worker will come to our home and do a safety check and make sure that we will be a good family for the two of you and any other children who God sends our way.  I have felt all along that you would both be in our arms and home by or before our anniversary, which is Saturday.  You may or may not be, but we know that it shouldn't be long now.

We have heard many say, and we've seen for ourselves, that adoption can sometimes be impossible for families due to the costs involved.  Couples who adopt from foster care don't have the same financial obstacles that others face.  We are still planning to do an adoption and orphan care fundraiser, though.  We will use money from this to do help local children in foster care and to help couples from other countries adopt locally.  It would be simply amazing if we could raise $1000 for this ministry.  We also plan to wear these T-shirts as a family when we go on our Disney trip.  Hopefully, this will also bring awareness to our cause.

We will be sharing the information on these shirts very soon.  View the shirt here ( https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=800455369984667&l=2e2fb46d47 )

I look forward to meeting you both very soon,
Mama

kNOw More Orphans

For Hope and Faith,

I can't remember if I've told you this before, so bare with me as I probably tell you again. (Get used to that, as your Daddy's biggest pet peeve about me is that I repeat myself.)

I am directly descended from two orphans (that I know of).  My grandmother, your great-grand, was an orphan by the age of six due to both of her parents dying. Her father died when she was only about 2 and her mother when she was six.  She was raised by distant relatives as one of their children but was never legally adopted. My father, your Pop, was raised in foster care like you were, but he left foster care at the age of 16 by getting married.  He was orphaned through the poor choices of his parents, and he was also never legally adopted.  However, they were both adopted by our Heavenly Father, through a price paid by Jesus on the cross.

Legally adopting you as our children is very important.  It is important to us, and we feel that it will be important to you.  However, your adoption into God's family is much more important.  This is something that your Daddy and I take very seriously.  We vow to raise you in a Christian home--to teach you about God's love and His Son, not just through his Word, though this is important, but by our actions.  We won't be perfect.  Only one person to walk the Earth ever was perfect, but we will continually strive to live Christ-like and to always remember that God is your true Father and that He has entrusted us with your care while we are on this Earth.  We also promise to continually grow in our Faith and in our lives as Christians and as parents.  To that end, even though we don't get credit for continuing education until our home study is final, we have been attending classes to learn more and grow.  This weekend, we are so blessed to be at the kNOw More Orphans conference in Birmingham, and it has truly been a blessing.  We are looking forward to getting our church more involved in an Orphan Care Ministry because we know this is part of the work God wants us to do with Marriages and Families.  And, I am currently working to arrange for us to attend the Christian Alliance for Orphans conference ( http://www.cafo.org ) in Chicago May 1-2, 2014.  It may be that I go to the meetings while Daddy spends time with the two of you and your brother and then we are all together during conference down time.  Regardless, I know that God has big plans for all of our family to share His love and to care for the most vulnerable among us.  May the love we have for God in our hearts always be reflected in our actions and in the actions of the children whose care He has entrusted to us.

We hope that one day you pass on your love and God's love, too.  May we have many grandchildren, and may at least some of them be born from your hearts.

Love you infinitely,
Mama

Faith, Hope, Princess Grace . . . And our destiny

For Hope and Faith,

I have so many things to share with you today.  Where to begin?

This past weekend an 18-year-old girl who we love very much spent the night with us.  We enjoyed our time with her and had felt an instant connection with her from the very first time we met her back in November.  She spoke to our GPS (foster and adoptive parents' class) about what it felt like to be in foster care from her perspective.  In December, she helped us cook for the Foster Parents' Association Christmas party, and we got to have dinner with her afterwards.  In early February, she went with me to a church event, and I got to stay with her while she recovered from being sick.  She expressed an interest in staying with us and becoming part of our forever family, and we would be honored for her to do this.  We know that the timing may not be right for her right now to become part of our family through adoption, but she will forever be our "Princess" Grace.  We will always have a home for her to come home to, and if one day the timing is right for her and she still wants to be a part of our family through legal adoption, we would love to have her.  We are going to find out if her brother can be placed in our home and if he wants to become part of our Forever Family.  Either way, she will always be part of our heart family and will always be your sister.  I think she will be a good role model for the two of you.  I always knew we would adopt several children, including some older children.

This leads me to another topic. 

So many people have been supportive of our desire to become foster and adoptive parents and SO many are praying for the both of you daily.  Very few people are surprised about our calling or plans to become foster and adoptive parents.  Those who are usually feel like your father would probably appreciate alone time with me or that we should just travel the world alone and enjoy each other.  These people must not have a clue that not only does your father LOVE and adore children and want to be a father again, but that he fell in love with me precisely because of how much I love and give to others--my mothering spirit.  I highly doubt that most people know that on our five-day honeymoon, we spent an entire day at an orphanage taking care of babies and children.  We both knew that orphan care was important to us even then.  My only regret about that is not doing more for them after we returned home.  I hope to one day take you and all of your siblings back and take supplies and help them with facilities maintenance and whatever else they need.

Your father and I were destined to adopt, and we feel we were destined to be your parents.  It won't be long now.  Our next (and hopefully final visit) with our new worker is late next week.  Eight days from now, we could know when we will meet you.  In the past ten months, we have learned to have Patience, Wisdom, Faith, and Hope.  Now, we also have our Grace.  A side note, Grace is also your father's nickname for me . . . so, your sister Grace is kind of named after me (and one of my favorite aunts).  We look forward to meeting you and holding you in our arms. 

Love always and forever,

Mama