Forty two years ago, my parents took us half way around the world to a small village in Ethiopia. Here they provided much needed medical services to the people in this area. In the hospital was one little room that had a few cribs. This is where the orphans were kept. Most of the orphans had some sort of special need. There was one little boy with club feet and a very skinny malnourished little baby and a few others. Once in awhile my mother would take me along to the hospital and I was able to visit the babies. Oh how I loved those sweet babies! This is when God first planted the passion in my heart for adoption and caring for orphans.
This is the beginning for me and our adoption journey! Growing up I remember so many times asking my parents to adopt but this was not to be for them. I then went out on my own and became a teacher for inner city kids in Tucson. I also was married to my perfect match, Brian and we had 3 children. Taylor, Zakery and Natalie...all beautiful miracles! My kids at school were my kids too! I loved each one despite very difficult days for most of these kids led very difficult lives. Some would be gone without notice and put into foster care. I continue to pray for these kiddos and God's amazing miracles for their lives. After Natalie was born we moved to Phoenix and I stayed at home full time. But still I had the desire to adopt.
We met some wonderful people at church who had lots and lots of kids.....adoption and foster care! We started our training right away and soon were foster parents for babies with special needs! Our first little guy came to us with 20 fractures in his ribs and very sick. He was beautiful and we all fell in love! His sister came into our lives as well.oh how we hoped that we could adopt this pair but God had other plans and after about 1 1/2 years they were returned to their birth parents...so hard but we knew this was a possibility. We all had broken hearts but there were more children in need. We had another little guy that had a lot of medical needs and his mom had other kids and could not care for him like he needed. We worked with her and loved this baby too and eventually she was able to get settled and take him back. Again we missed him so much but knew he had to go home. Then along came our little Pierre. He was 3 weeks old exposed to all sorts of illegal drugs before he was born. He was so stiff and he screamed almost non stop. He was unable to sleep, only short periods of time. He had severe withdrawals. It was painful to watch. He is now 13 and still suffers the consequences of his prenatal environment but he has a huge heart for kids with disabilities. About one month after Pierre came to our home, we got a call about a 6 month old little girl in the hospital. Her mom was very young and unable to care for her when she became severely ill. She had Kawaski's disease and had problems with her heart. This is our little Jeneane who is also now 13 and healed by God's awesome power! More later..time to get the kids moving this morning.
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