We are looking at adopting some boys. Just a few boys. ok - more than a few. 4 to be exact! Yep. F. O. U. R.
You may think we're crazy. That's your choice - go back and read
the blog before this one.
You may like this idea. (You're crazy!)
You may or may not agree with us in our decision to adopt more boys. We aren't asking for your permission or approval - just your prayers. I know that may sound harsh - but God has called us to pursue these boys, and we will pursue until God tells us to stop.
If you don't want to know more - then please don't read the rest of this. That's more than ok - and I'll never know if you read it or not!
If you are still reading - Thank you.
We want to give you all an update on our boys - and list some specific prayer requests for them. Thank you for joining us in prayer for these boys! Because of the details, I'm only going to use initials for the boys.
When God brought "S" to us - he was just barely 16 weeks old. We had been asked two other times that day about fostering a child. The first one was a teenager from Utah. The second one was a young teen from in town, but was currently in jail. I remember looking at Andrew and saying "I just wish God would send us an email, or call us, and tell us what to do." RIGHT THEN....my phone rang. "Hello, Mrs Beaty? I am a DCFS investigator, do you have an open spot for a foster baby? It's a baby boy - from what I can tell, he's perfectly normal. I will be over in one hour." (I'm sure glad I've seen the investigator around town - or I would have believed he was an angle from God!) That was the beginning of being CONFIDENT that God wanted us to have "S" in our home. Little "L" came along just one year after "S" entered our home, a 1/2 sibling of "S" and fit right into the family.
"L" & "S" (ages 8 months and 2 years) have court in a week. At this court hearing, the attorneys will be told exactly what is going to happen, and then a 'termination hearing' will be set - probably about 3 months away (that's Christmas time!). Upon termination, the birth parents will be out of the picture, and the boys will be legally free for adoption. I believe, that after that court date, it takes about 6-12 months to finalize the adoption.
For years, Andrew and I have prayed for a sibling group that we could adopt. We kind of want to fill in the gap between Elizabeth (10 years old) and "S" (2 years old). There are some obstacles, for one, we already have a lot of kids. DCFS doesn't allow large families to adopt sibling groups - at least not very often. We have pursued a variety of options, international adoptions, private adoptions, foster adoptions, but God has not allowed yet. In order for us to adopt a sibling group - DCFS would have to give a 'waiver' to increase the size of our family. If that were to happen, it would be a miracle - especially in Illinois!
So, we've been praying ~
~God, let DCFS grant a waiver for us.
~God, provide a sibling group for us to foster & adopt.
~God, let's be really crazy and let this sibling group already have a Christian mindset (REALLY? in the foster system - again - a MIRACLE if it happens).
Well....my God specializes in miracles......
"A" & "B" (ages 4 and 6) are living with a foster mom about 1 hour from here. She doesn't want to adopt them, but wants to stay in their lives as a 'grandma' person. "A" & "B" have two younger siblings, "K" & "R", and they live with a friend of ours. The kids have court in about 3 weeks. This is a termination hearing, where parental rights will be terminated. In this situation, the birth mom, and/or the birth dad, may choose to surrender their rights before court.
~ Remember the waiver issue? DCFS is ready and willing to get a waiver for us regarding "A" & "B".
~ Remember the sibling group? That's "A" & "B".
~ Remember the Christian mindset? That's where the other foster mom comes into this story!
Juanita met Jesus years ago. She's been growing in her faith. Her kids grew up and left home. She asked God what she should do now that her kids were gone. He said "Foster My kids." So ... she obeyed (Wow! GREAT IDEA ~ Obey God) She became a foster parent and the boys came into care about 2 years ago.
'Mommy Juanita' loved these boys, she took them to church, taught them about Jesus, introduced them to manners and to sitting still, to speaking clearly and, she introduced them to love. To Jesus' love.
All of these 'prerequisites' we gave God, He has met! Sometimes I feel like Moses - God, I can't do this... I can't. And God takes the ** n't ** out of can't and makes it 'can'. We will pursue adopting these boys until God closes this option.
The idea is that these boys will move into our home at Christmastime - between semesters. B attends Kindergarten, so that is a logical time to move him to a new school. These boys will need to live with us for 6 months before they can be adopted, and so a possible adoption timeframe is sometime after July of 2011.
Prayer Requests:
~ Pray that God would soften the hearts of each birth parent involved that they would do what's best for their kids.
~ Pray for the attorneys and judge, that they would move this process along quickly!
~ Pray for "A" & "B" as they learn they won't go home to their birth mom and dad, and as they learn that The Beaty Bunch is going to be their new family, that they would be ready to have a forever home.
~ Pray that a super strong bond is created between all of the Beaty kids and their parents!
~ Pray for super huge wisdom for us as parents as we consider day to day tasks like where to hang extra coats and place extra toys to schooling 4 more children to whether we should change their names to ... all the other things that will come up!
~ Pray that we would see God's hand in every step of this adventure, that there would never be a doubt in our minds as to where God is leading us!
So – here’s my new ‘parenting technique’. “Ima gonna clean their rooms.” I believe that I will spend less time cleaning their rooms daily, than I would if I were reminding them to do it, checking the room, and then sending them back in to do it right (twice!)
