A Long Night

Now that the time was here to make a decision, fear and excitement gripped my heart. I quickly found Les and shared the details with him. I remember his eyes lighting up and him saying, "This really might be it!" We then prayed together asking God to grant us wisdom.

Les and I presented the prospect to our four children, and they were all excited. They all seemed to think that these were to be our children. We called both sets of our parents and asked them to pray and we called a good friend, Mary Jean Browne, and asked her to pray. We then reviewed all the information we had. Our major concern was that parental rights had not yet been severed. It also seemed that in the area of behavior there had been some problems with stealing by the boys. However, these hurdles didn't seem to be insurmountable and so we felt comfortable with taking the placement. We then called each set of parents and Mary Jean to see if they had any thoughts for us after praying. They expressed nervousness about the unknown but none felt strongly that we shouldn't.

With a knot in my stomach but great excitement, together Les and I made the phone call to confirm that we would take Troy, Michael, and Amber as an adoptive placement. We were told we would get a phone call the following day telling us when and where to pick up the children.

I'm not sure how much I slept that night. My mind wouldn't shut off as I thought about the many details involved in making this new adjustment. Mostly though I think I just wondered what our new children would be like. What did the look like? Was their skin dark or light? What color of hair did they have? We literally knew nothing but their ages, medical history, and a little about their previous foster home placements. I also wondered if they would be able to accept our love for them after the pain they had suffered in their lives? I marveled at how I could have feelings for children I had never met. As I lay in bed with thoughts tumbling through my mind, it seemed as though the night was infinitely long.