When my former husband of almost ten years suddenly passed away, I became a widow with two young children at the age of 31. At this time, the Bible verse James 1:27 really spoke to what I was experiencing; to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. During the hardest time I have ever faced, I learned about God's provision for the widow and the orphan.

I remarried and with my husband Dale (who also had two children from his previous marriage) we had a beautiful daughter together. We then felt our family was now complete. Our older 4 children were all grown and our 13-year-old was starting eighth grade.

We live in Louisiana and my husband's company wanted us to transfer to Georgia after Hurricane Katrina. Our place was damaged from the Hurricane and there was no electricity for over 3 months. No one could get to our house, much less buy it. We prayed about it and felt God was asking us to put our trust in him and to turn down the transfer. For the first time in our adult lives we left the protection of the corporate umbrella, and eventually began our own business.

During our second year in business we began to pray about how we were going to use the money that He was sending. As we prayed about what we felt He was laying on our hearts, we knew God's heart is about people. We felt a strong calling to invest in children.

We soon became foster parents with the intention of adopting a child a few years younger than our youngest daughter, who had just turned 13. Then the call came, "would we consider two?"  My husband (who had spent three years in foster care growing up himself) had been separated from his siblings while in foster care and we knew the answer had to be yes. November 24th, 2008 was our first visit with Matt & Laken.

After spending most of the next few weeks with us, December 8th was the final "move in day". Matt and Laken were home forever! Although we were seasoned parents, the transition was not without challenges. We learned to seek help when we needed it, and worked through each situation, one day at a time.

People sometimes ask me when I knew they were mine. I can't say the exact day I knew, but God knew from the beginning. We completed our adoption on May 26th, 2010 which is now our "forevermore day". We can't imagine our life without any of our children!

Terri

Child/Sibling Group Family Searches

 

We ask for your contact information as we will direct the families to you if they are interested. We do our best to use the information you give us to give to provide the families you think will be most successful for your child/children. Please be as open as you can about area. If a child has to move, a two- hour move may be as dramatic as one across the country. When open to a bigger area, you are likely to get a better skilled, more specific group for your children.

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