Whew. I've written a post, but I'll wait to share it. Figured I need to catch you up. Chubby Cheeks left in June, but we will love that sweet baby girl and her precious family forever. We've been able to visit her, FaceTime, share pictures, and message her family. Her Aunt KK was one of the first people I asked to pray for me over this next placement. And she has been so, so good to Grace.
Around September we got a call basically asking us to adopt an African-American 6 year old girl. We didn't go into this to adopt. And 6 was maybe older than we were ready for. And we have been mindful that we live in a predominately white community. Everyone knew we were doing this as a ministry to the whole birth family. Our kids would talk about what ifs and they were definitely open to it. Mike and I just wanted to be a really good place along children's way back to their families, and that's what we reminded the kids of when things were hard or sad. In that gap period from June to September we had really been praying for specific people to be moved to call us at the moment God was ready to use us. And then we get a call to adopt a child we have never met. When we had thought about adoption we always always imagined it as a child that had been in our home for years. We were shocked that calls like this one happen. We prayed and talked to each of our kids individually. It was a crazy mix of emotions and some of our reasoning for it or against it was stupid, but we ended up saying yes. You don't pray and pray for something to happen and then tell God, "oh never mind you don't have my specifics right." We followed up with, "slam this door shut if we have this wrong." We continued to pray for this little one to find her forever family. And the door closed, and we were not her forever. But that opened the door for us that we could foster older than we were and adoption was now on the table.
We got a call for the most beautiful, well behaved, sweetest little Hispanic 3 year old at the beginning of October. She just stayed a few days until returning to her family. A couple days later we did respite for a foster family for a 7 month old. She was a happy, perfect baby. A couple of weeks passed, and we got a call this past Tuesday for sisters ages 3 and 9. A year ago two would have scared me to death. A month ago a 9 year old would have been an automatic no. But God has gotten us to the point that we could say yes. And we did.
And here's where you come in. We always get asked how long will you have them? It's a good question, and we always ask it too. Even though we know a billion things could happen, we want some sort of way of knowing, preparing, just having a clue what our family will look like next week, next month, next year. We usually use the next court date as an indicator for at least that long. This hasn't always worked either though. But this time we don't even have that. When we say we don't know, we truly don't know.
You want to know the back story. Why did they come into care? I normally say I don't know that much. This time when I say I don't know anything, I'm being completely honest. They've been in care for two years. I've heard more about the last foster home than about mom. And when she is ready to talk about it, I really want to keep the story between me and my daughter.
My daughters. The 3 year old is a wild, silly, sweet, typical 3 year old. She has the sweetest little voice and will absolutely melt your heart when she sings "You are my Sunshine." I think she is running in high gear right now. We are hoping when we settle into a routine that she slows down. If she stays like this, then it will be like having Levi all over again. I can handle that. He turned out nicely around age 5. :)
The 9 year old is intelligent, beautiful, so aware and in tune to what's going on. She reminds me a lot of Grace actually. She says what she's thinking. She is hilarious. She understands adult things beyond her years, but she loves to play and cuddle and be taken care of. At the same time, she is a little momma.
Even not knowing how long they will be here, even though Blake spends weekends with his family, when we are all living life together here in this house we are a family. I've began to understand a different definition of family anyway. It's really important to the 9 year old to define her situation. Within an hour she was in love with Grace and asked if Grace would mind if she told people she was her older sister. They are both calling us momma and dad. She met Levi as he came off the football field Thursday night. The next morning she asked Luke if he was her brother that played football. We've trick or treated, shopped, played. We've had so many good times already. We have laughed like crazy. We're exhausted. I have been saddened by what I've heard so far. I'm terrified our family's love won't be enough to sustain them for all they will face. Really huge mix of emotions from everyone. But we do know we are a safe place for them to lay their heads at night. We will teach them about Jesus. We can love them for sure. Pray for our family. We are going to be that crazy family. You know the one where kids just keep getting out of the car. Kids of all different colors and ages. Most of all pray for God's will over their lives. We will just wait on him. Until then we are going to be a family and love them like crazy.
