Kathy's Story

You might be surprised at how much you have to offer as a foster parent! Today's National Adoption Month post is a story of how a family was unexpectedly asked to open their heart and home to two children who needed an adoptive home and the journey that then unfolded.

Kathy's Story

"We were the parents of three biological children. Life was clicking along and we thought our family was complete, even though we both had feelings of not being ready to be “finished." We had family members and friends who had adopted through foster care. We used to talk of adoption in these very unrealistic terms: “If we ever won the lottery, we’d have more kids!” Little did we know the “more kids” were coming, even without the lottery win!

Our friends, who have had many foster children in their home throughout the years, called us around Christmas time in 2001. They had two little girls in their care who were going to need a “forever family” and would we want to consider adding them to our family?
 
We asked if we could meet the girls and so our families got together the week between Christmas and New Year's. All it took was looks from their big blue eyes and smiles from their beautiful little faces during that one brief interaction to know that God had intended these two girls to be our daughters, just as he had intended our other three children to be ours. We asked, “What do we have to do for them to be ours?” and the process was started right away for us to take our classes and become licensed foster parents. It was a HUGE leap of faith for us, as that fall we had five children from a kindergartener to a high school senior. Adoption Day was just over a year later, on Valentine’s Day!

So here we are over ten years later. Our little girls are almost grown! The road has had its share of twists and turns, rocks and pot holes, joy and happiness. But no matter what, they are forever ours and we are forever ever changed because of them. No, we didn’t know they were coming, but words can’t describe how glad we are they came!"

- Kathy