One Year Ago

We had recently celebrated our second "gotcha" day with our three Liberian children.

We had also recently been approved as foster parents. Two sweet toddlers joined our family. It rocked our world in many ways: the first 5 sleepless nights just about did us in! LOL! However, that didn't even compare to the immense grief we felt after the boys left us - a short 6 weeks later. And, while we were sad, there was this incredible underlying sense of Joy:

Joy in knowing we had served as the Lord had led.

Joy in knowing that He was with them.

Joy in knowing that those two precious boys had heard about and experienced the love of Jesus.

Yes, there was True Joy. . .

and yet, there was also immense sorrow. Grieving, and questioning, and praying, and searching, and then -

We knew. We knew what Christ had done for us:

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-

it is by grace you have been saved.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace,

expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves,

it is the gift of God-

not by works, so that no one can boast.

But. . . it doesn't end there. . . it goes on. . .

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

And we knew that God had prepared us to be adoptive parents once again. We knew God was going to do something - something big - something more than anything we could ask or imagine. . .

So much more.

And so, one year ago, our four precious children were all tucked into bed, Jeff was reading, and I was checking my email. Still missing our foster babies, I decided to glance over at the state's photo listing of foster children available for adoption.

Not an uncommon occurrence in our household, I often saw a child or children I thought we maybe could adopt. I had even sent inquiry emails that often resulted in a polite "thanks, but no thanks" response.

"Hey babe," I said, "there is a sibling group of 4 available for adoption. Do you think I should send an email?"

"huh,?" (I had disturbed his reading) "um, sure," he said. We knew we would likely not receive a response.

Wait. Did I say "we knew?"

We had no idea where this one little email would lead!

----------------------------------------

-----Original Message-----

Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2009 6:04 PM

Hello Mrs. X Social Worker:
I read about XXX on the XX Photolisting
Public site and would like to know more.
The Child ID number is 4XXXX
My name is: Jen XXX
My address is: XXX
My phone is: XXX
and email is: XXX
SOME INFORMATION ABOUT MY FAMILY.
Children already at home:
4
Boy's ages:
7, 9, 9
Girl's ages:
6

Comments:
We are an approved fost-adopt family and are wanting to adopt a sibling
group at some point in the near future. We adopted our 3 youngest
children (sibling set) from Liberia just over 2 years ago. They are
doing great We have learned a lot about attachment issues and parenting
hurt/neglected children. It has been amazing to watch our children
blossom in our home and we would love to help other children who find
themselves in a similar place (we do not currently have foster children
in our home with us)

Current home study with a licensed agency? Yes.

If yes, the agency is: XXX

Are we certified foster parents?: Yes.

I prefer to be contacted by:
Phone: Yes
Email: Yes
Regular Mail: Yes

Thanks,
Jen

We had no idea, but we DID get a reply:

-------------------

Thank you for your interest in this sibling set of 4. If you could
please have your social worker forward a copy of your adoptive home
study for consideration.

And, so, it began.

you can read more about our story in the archives under foster care, adoption, and daily life