how we met

We met our birth mom this week!  It was really incredible to sit next to her, hear her speak of her love for this child and connect over baking and crafting.  She is beautiful and brave, and facing a very difficult decision.  We are no where really closer to knowing if this is a for sure thing yet.  So we are still taking it one day at a time, trusting that the outcome will be what it is supposed to be.

In the meantime we have this young woman in our lives that we get to pray for and love, and we are taking that pretty seriously.  We feel so connected to her that we know this is the supernatural work of God.  Because really, she never should have seen our book.

We have been working all this time with Loving Alternative in Tyler.  For almost two years we have waited to hear some news from the wonderful women that work there.  During that time we found that they were assisting another group of YWAM missionaries down in Houston who run a program called Little Footprints.  This program works with homeless children and teens, and runs a weekly street church where individuals are fed literally and spiritually.  John and I had volunteered with street church about three years ago and really loved what we were seeing.  They have been working in the past few years to equip rescue families to take in street children and babies.  This then turned into adoptions.  Fast forward to February 2012.  A friend of ours from our church is a case worker with the Houston branch (called Loving Alternative Houston, or just Loving Houston).  She asked if we could attend their training in that month and if we had an extra Life Book that could be shown.  I grabbed her a copy of our LB immediately, but we then decided that my health wasn't really what it should be to begin the process at that time.  They told us that they would put us on hold until I was feeling better.

So two weeks ago when we received the call from Loving Houston, we were shocked.  We really thought that we were off of their radar at this point.  As it turns out, our birth mom had looked at several books and didn't see anyone that felt right to her.  The director of the program grabbed another stack of books that we just happened to be in.  When she chose us, the director was fuzzy on who we even were!  We should not have been in that stack!  She remembered that we are friends with another rescue family and got our contact info from them.  So crazy!  The timing has been perfect, because they were offering training this week.  They require that all of their families are licensed foster to adopt, so we are receiving training for both.  It has been a long week, but the classes have been really interesting and helpful.

I have been so moved to be in the midst of all of these couples that are taking a stand for the traumatized child, willingly putting themselves in hard situations to benefit another.  That sounds like the gospel to me.

If you are near the Houston area and curious about this program, please check them out!  It will bless your socks off!  They are in dire need of more families that will open their hearts and homes to the children of Houston's streets.

For information on Little Footprints, CLICK HERE