Psalm 68:5-6

This is a blog post that has been burning inside. I do not know how else to get it out besides making a post.

“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭68:5-6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Several months ago, around June, I saw a post on facebook from Focus on the Family sharing information about Wait No More. I clicked on it and it led me to another website DSS: Heart Gallery-South Carolina where there are foster children available for adoption. There were pictures of children, a bio, and a short video. I scrolled through the gallery pictures. One stood out to me the most. A 15-year-old boy in South Carolina. Immediately, I felt a connection to him.

For some reason, I felt drawn to the process of adopting a teenager, local through foster care. My thoughts, they are older, they may be out of hope thinking they’re least likely to be selected. They need a home to visit for college breaks too and a place to gather for holidays too. Being a foster parent has never appealed to me because it is temporary. I want to be all in; permanency. There is a way to pursue adoption through foster care.

I started thinking, You know who would appreciate having a home more than an exchange student? A foster child. Yeah, exchange students are grateful. But not like a foster child would be to have a forever home. The need for families to house foster children seems more significant and a priority. I remember a statistic if 1 family in every 5 churches would adopt a foster child, we wouldn't need foster care in America. If I am going to open my home to a teenage stranger, why not it be a permanent stay. As a recruiter for Cultural Homestay International, I know how hard it is to find families who are willing to open to their homes and hearts for an exchange student who comes from a rich family. I can only image how rare it is for a family to take in a child who may have a sketchy past.   

Grant it, I started thinking all this right as we just moved into a 2-bedroom house. I asked Joseph what he thought about adopting. I think I mentioned to him that I’d been thinking about it a lot. He said, “Yeah, maybe when we have a bigger house. Where would they sleep?” I still couldn’t help thinking about having a 5^th chair at our kitchen table.

We had just simplified our lives. Bought a smaller house, got our family of 4 back, decluttered physical and emotional stuff. I liked the way it felt. Simpler for sure. I wanted to bask in that for as long as we could because I knew it wouldn’t last forever.

I sent an inquiry to Heart Gallery about the boy, anyways, to see what the next steps would be. Basically, an intake interview over the phone, an application, an 8-week training, and a home study. That was the process. I hadn’t told Joseph that I contacted them so I didn’t want to proceed with anything until I asked him first.

This is how I imagined the conversation to go:

Me: “Hey, Joe, we have 2-months of classes to attend!”

Him: “Ummm, for what?”

Me: “So we can adopt a teenager.”

So I buried the thought for a while and continued unpacking, completed home improvement projects and started school.

Then over a span of the last three days the following events have happened: 

I heard a program on 91.9FM His Radio on the way to school about an organization Show Hope, for adoption grants with founder Steven Curtis Chapman. 

 Shelby Feltner on facebook posted about adopting two girls and a court date being decided and finally being able to post the girls’ faces.

On Instagram, Sharon Mansell showed pictures of her son at the hospital with a newborn they adopted.

Donna Lovelace posted a photo from Show Hope’s website on her facebook page.

     

     The boy I have been thinking and praying for the last couple months, his name was said on the intercom at school yesterday. (And it isn’t a common name.)

     Then on the way home from school yesterday Lincoln asked when we were going to have another “Phong” live with us.

Lord, are you trying to tell us something? You have my attention.