Here I Raise my Ebenezer

     Last year, I was wondering how and where to start volunteering, and lo and behold, I read that my former roommate co-founded The Way Home Adoption.  When Ashley, the co-founder and volunteer coordinator called me with a potential case of 3 little girls aged 5, 6, and 7, I felt a sense of relief and agreed right away.  This type of case is a rarity at The Way Home, as they focus mainly on teenagers at risk of ageing out of the system.  Ashley decided to make the leap since these little ladies had already been in foster care for quite a while.  I thought this would be a good starter case for me.  Younger kids, less nerves.  (My general philosophy is that kids are weirdos, so you can't be that fearful of looking dumb around them.  They don't care!)

      My first meeting with the girls occurred in October of 2016.  Little did I know that Dave would be laid off that week.  His final day in the office would be at the end of November, and we had no idea where we would end up after that.  I confessed my concerns to Ashley, and we decided that I would continue with the girls as long as possible and keep her posted on our plans. The possibility that I would have to move away with this unfinished business ate away at me, though.

     About the girls: they are spunky and wild and beautiful.  The first time Ashley and I met them, one of them looked at me, paused, and very innocently asked, "Are you white?"  I was a little taken aback, but answered, "Yes, I am."  Right after that, she curiously asked me, "What did they teach you in white school?"  You guys, this was 15 minutes from my house.  Culture shock is right outside your door.  The best part about it, though, is that kids are honest.  They ask, you answer, and we learn from each other.  

     My time on their case has mostly consisted of meeting regularly with them to chat, taking them on a few small outings, and reading their social work file (all in order to help find them a permanent home).  As an aside, this short experience has made me confront my feelings and my stance on the value of life.  When I see or hear people talk about "unwanted children" being better off aborted than to suffer in this world, I think of these little girls.  They live in this broken world and have experienced things that no child should EVER have to experience.  Despite all of that, they are vibrant, rambunctious, and full of life.  Could I look one of them in the face and say, "You never should have been born?"  No, I can't.

     Anyway, I began to pray that God would take care of these girls and that we would find a family for them.  I chatted with them about what they like to do and found out they spent a lot of time at church with their foster mom.  They seemed to like music, so I asked about the songs they sing at church.  I rattled off a few worship songs to see if I could guess one they they liked, and somehow found out they sing "Break Every Chain" a lot.  That became my prayer for them this year.  I just prayed that God would break every chain in their lives.  

     It became clear that we would be moving somewhere (though we still didn't know where, exactly) around June.  I really didn't want to be another person who came into the girls' lives only to turn around and leave.  But we carried on through the unknown. I received a completely unexpected email in March that a potential adoptive family was found.  The general steps would be: parents read the case file and decide whether to proceed or not.  That would move on to short visits (like to McDonald's), then on to overnight visits.  Ashley estimated about a 50% chance of whether parents would proceed after reading the file.  Two families had already stopped after this point, and I can honestly understand why.  I just prayed.

     Then I received the message that the family was choosing to continue the process, and if all went well, the girls would be placed in June.  Y'all, I had nothing to do with the recruitment of this family.  Yes, I wanted to be the person to find them a family, but I wasn't.  And that's ok.  God showed me that he was taking care of it all.  

     The girls are currently living with their adoptive parents in another town, so they didn't experience me leaving them. Best case scenario, their adoption will be finalized in the fall.  Will it be all roses and sunshine at that point?  No.  But I my prayer for them is that they will learn the meaning of family, and they will be be known and truly loved.

"The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy!" Psalm 126:3