To Mama and Daddy

 

Mama and Daddy,

 

Do you remember the day we got the call?  Just 2 months after Daddy's heart attack we were hosting a "Frustrated Foster Families" gathering at our house.  While we all had foster cases that looked hopeless and set up for doom... agencies were looking for a home for a brand new baby.  Even when you were feeling overwhelmed with everything, you immediately said yes!  Little did we know that the baby they told us we'd have for only a couple weeks would officially become a family member a year and a half later!  So much has happened in that year and a half and our family has grown stronger in the Lord because of it. 

 

Baby A immediately snuggled into our hearts forever and we knew it would be hard to give her up.  We thought "giving her up" would mean when she was supposed to go to her bio-family members, little did we know it truly meant giving her up to the Lord and His perfect will for her life.  After watching her first smiles and laughs and seeing her learn to sit, crawl and stand, all we could do was watch and pray as the baby we love was literally dying right in front of our eyes.  You had protected her from everything possible in her first 10 months but then there was nothing any of us could do when her seizures started.  Those horrible weeks in the PICU are ingrained in our minds forever, but they were days where we were reminded once again that God is in control of every breath we breathe and every beat of our hearts.  When things seemed out of control to us, everything was going according to plan for Him! 

 

Thank you for listening to the Lord's command to care for the least of these even through the hardships and spiritual warfare you've faced.  God has immensely blessed and grown us all because you have been faithful to His calling.  I doubt you ever saw your life leading this way, but look at what the Lord has done in you and through you!  At a time in life where you could have been going on cruises, golfing and enjoying a clean house in peace and quiet, you instead chose to do mounds of paperwork, be subject to volatile birth parents, go to countless doctor's appointments, sleep on uncomfortable hospital beds, trip over toys, listen to whining and the same kid songs over and over, research strollers and seizure disorders, clean up vomit and administer daily urine tests!  All this is stuff that you didn't "have" to do.  But because of your sacrifice, these kids the Lord has brought us are seeing the sacrifice our Savior did for ALL of us!  He didn't "have" to die for us, but He did because He loves us.  Thank you for being an earthly example of Christ's love and sacrifice for us. 

 

 Mike, Becca and I are thankful for both of you and for the loving upbringing we had.  We're thankful to have been born to such great role models and are thankful that these children now get to be blessed by the great parents that they deserve and need. 

 

We love you!

Love, All of your children