Adoption Story… part 4

Part 1  Part 2  Part  3

Now that Racer and I knew what God wanted us to do, we had to figure out how to go about it.  First, we called the Fosters.  They were shocked – “How can we adopt Blue” was certainly not a phone call they expected, especially from us.  That phone call to the Fosters led to days of back and forth phone calls between us and case workers.  Guess what we had to do?  We had to take that training class we had inquired about a year and a half prior to all of this.  We had to be approved as foster parents, have Blue “placed” in our home and then move forward with adoption.

God definitely knows what he is doing.

So, as we look at our schedule for this training class, only 1 night totally conflicts with Racer’s work schedule.  His boss agreed to let him off early to be able to take the training classes.  On the nights when a conflict was avoidable by driving separately to the racetrack from the rest of the team, the boss let Racer drive a company car.  God had it all worked out.  Our regular babysitter was available and willing for each night.  It was perfect timing.

Blue still did not know what was going on.  We asked the Fosters and her case worker to not say anything, just in case something fell through.  There were a few very trusted friends (my “girls” being some of them – I’ll have to tell you all about them later) that knew what we were doing and were praying for us and with us.  We were praying.

In Blue’s life, she was working hard to figure out how to stay in our community.  She had asked a few couples in our church to adopt her (obviously that didn’t work out).  She had written a letter to government officials and gotten church/community signatures supporting her.  She continued her quest to find a place to call her permanent home.

Shortly after the retreat, I stopped doing youth ministry (read my post about it here).  It was the right decision, one I had been contemplating for some time.  Looking back, again I see that God’s timing is perfect.  No longer being Blue’s youth minister allowed me to transition out of that role so that I could transition into a new one.  Blue was sad over me leaving youth ministry, but I (knowing more than she did), assured her that I would still be around for her to talk to and ask life questions of.

Racer and I finished the class, the 6 workbooks – EACH – and the 2 inches of paperwork.  We had our home visit and our “shoe” was approved to be a home for just one more child.  As we prepared, I felt like I was nesting for a new baby.  We moved the crib so that Professor and Gorilla shared a room.  Girlie and Blue would be sharing a room.

We began to prepare Girlie and Professor.  We didn’t tell them exactly who would be coming into our home, but we began to tell them about a new child that would come into our home.  We talked about how our family could love that child.  We talked about what if it was a boy, girl, older, younger, etc.  We asked Professor if he could pick any of the teenagers from church to be a big brother or sister to him, who would he pick?  First, he picked this boy who is just a great young man.  I totally respect his family and what they are doing with him.  For a big sister option, Professor picked Blue.  I remember almost crying at that moment.  I knew it would all be just fine.

We had a big meeting with the caseworkers.  During this meeting, we learned Blue’s life history as they knew it.  We learned what was in her case file.  I knew most of it, and since I knew it, Racer did to.  There was only one thing that we didn’t know and it didn’t change anything.  We still wanted to adopt Blue and we were ready for her to come into our home.  Ready to parent a teenager?  Who really is ready for that?  But ready for Blue to join our family we were.

Now, it was time to tell Blue.

To be continued…