I'm back, much later than I expected to be. Thanks for patiently waiting for me to re-enter the blog world. Hopefully I'll not be away for such a long time again!
Life in our house has recently changed rather dramatically. On October 15 at about 10:00 in the morning we received a call from our foster/adoption agency -Covenant Kids, stating that a newborn African-American Hispanic girl was in need of a foster home. We agreed to have our names submitted as potential parents, and were thrilled when about three hours later we found out that of all the parents submitted, we were chosen!
We have now had little Ariana* for three and a half weeks, and we love her very much. She is growing quickly. When she was placed in our home at three days old, she was a tiny 6lb 8 oz baby. Now she's about 8lbs, and getting cuter every day. :-)
Despite having a poor start in the womb (Ariana's mom is a drug addict), Ariana is doing very well. She seems to be finished with withdrawal symptoms, and is slowly settling into a routine. Her greatest accomplishment is smiling, which she has been doing for the last week. We LOVE it! A developmental therapist evaluated Ariana two days ago, and in most areas she is developed beyond her age, ranking at one month or two months in many categories. We were thankful to see that she is progressing so well.
Ariana will be in our home, the Lord willing, for six months. Her parents have this time period to prove themselves capable of caring for Ariana. Please pray for her birth parents as they are both struggling to act responsibly, and have a sad history of drug abuse amongst other things. They very much need to understand the gospel and know the forgiveness and love of Christ. Pray that somehow they will hear the gospel.
If Ariana's parents are not able to support her, and there are no blood relatives willing and able to adopt Ariana (currently there are none), we will be chosen to be her adoptive parents.
We love this little one dearly, and would love to keep her, but we also know that the Lord's ways are best, and He will work out all things for His glory and our good. Please pray that we will rest in Him and not lean on our own understanding.
We're not allowed to post any pictures that reveal Ariana's face, so this is the best I can give you. This pic was taken in her first week with us, we think her skin tone is quite a bit more brown now. It is quite evident she is neither Nick's nor my child, though she has a little head of dark hair, which is the same colour as Nick's. :-) She's a cutie! If you want to see her little face too, you'll just have to come and visit us. :-)
*Ariana is not our foster baby's real name, but is used online to protect her identity
