Last Updated on March 11, 2024
We like to joke that eighteen years ago our fostering and adopting journey began with one carry out and one delivery daughter.
Prayer and Patience
Our adoption story started with a lot of prayer and a fair amount of patience. I felt called and my husband felt interested. We went to information sessions and decided we had found the one. I’ll never forget asking my husband about filling out the application. His words were along the lines of, “Yeah, go ahead and getterdone.” And, I immediately thought, “Oooo, this is not the right time.” I did not want to push something this big. I decided to pray and stop trying to make it happen. I’d let God lead and unite us on the calling to adopt, or not.
Faith and Courage
A short time later, my husband brought home a social services Foster to Adopt program flyer. God was doing something! I had to take one of our children to an activity so my husband went to the initial interest meeting. I love how God works! After prayer, we decided to begin foster care training. I’d describe the training as the social workers taking off our rose-colored glasses, stomping on them, and handing them back.. Every time we left training, I’d be in a slight panic. He would remain steady in his resolve that this was our calling.
Friends and Humor
When we received the call for our daughter, we prayed and decided that we would give a resounding yes! I called a bunch of friends and within two hours I had everything I could possibly need. 2 hours!!! While my husband took our oldest daughter on a planned daddy-daughter campout, I headed to the hospital to pick up our girl. I even had to ride out in a wheelchair as if I’d given birth! How goofy is that!
Two dear friends joined me for the first night of my foster mommy journey. I remember it with a chuckle; it was bonkers. Suffice it to say, in the morning, one friend said, “That wasn’t so much a sleep over, as a night over.” No one slept including the dog! But we made it through together.
Blessings and Hope
Our sweet girl marked the beginning of something beautiful in our family. A few months later, we received the call about a sister! Again, we prayed, sought counsel, and again, yes!! Soon, our sweet girl was brought to our home and our family had grown again. Double the blessing.
If you are thinking about fostering or adopting, cover it all in prayer and wait for God to lead, unite, and direct. And when the call comes, grab some friends and move forward into His blessing and provision.
Our carry out and delivery daughters…so grateful! Fostering and adopting is not easy. It is not without wobbles and questions and fears, but it is such a wonderful picture of God’s great love for us. Adoption is His idea. He knows all about raising adopted children!
Sue Birdseye is an author and communicator who shares the adventures she has on her unexpected journey of single parenting. She went from the typical “picket fence” kind of life to being a single mom to five beautiful children. She has learned what it means to be totally dependent upon the Lord and how beautiful that dependence is. Her change of life circumstances has led to a passionate desire to encourage and bless other moms no matter their life circumstances. She has been active in her community as a foster/adoptive mom and public school teacher. She has also been part of her church’s worship, discipleship, women’s, and children’s ministries. She is an avid book reader, a game night hoster, and an early morning writer. Her book “When Happily Ever After Shatters” is the story of how God stepped into her life and the lives of her children just when everything seemed to be falling apart. She hopes that her writing will encourage, bless, and maybe even make someone smile.