Adoption day June 29th, 2017

From Rachel:

A Few Highlights & Backstory of Gotcha Day:
Nick and Haley wrapped up a watch for Roman and Alex. Included was a note saying, "it's TIME to become an official Rosenbaum! It's adoption day!" Alex's reaction was priceless..he had a killer smile... so genuine. Both said, "Yes!"
The three kiddos have been waiting for a forever family a very long time. They had been craving closure. Side note: we never intentionally set out to have a large family....but we saw two boys (and a sibling baby girl-Ruby) broadcast to thousands of adoptive families and NOT one family said yes....so we immediately jumped to our feet and said yes. Yes, we want to call them our sons and daughter. We want to show them they are precious in His sight. Were we scared of the long list of symptoms from a hellish 9 years on earth? Heck yes. Nick and I were a team...he was the leader in "doing the right thing" ...and i tried to fill in when he was questioning. Did we feel God gently leading us with each step? Heck yes. Soon we began hitting brick wall after brick wall in adding the kids to our family.
Our church foster/adoption ministry (Legacy 685) played a tremendous part in moving mountains/kicking down walls.They put their money where their mouth is! They offered therapy assistance, continuing education, and counseling. They sent meals, precious letters of encouragement, flowers, and babysitters. We were required to have a night nanny-someone awake 24/7 (not covered by the state) and we were required to have a ($20,000) sprinkler system. Our taxes didn't pay for this either! Our church family walked with us. We were not alone. I looked at all these extra requirements as a ransom on their souls and we knew if we were faithful God would be too. Not very many churches support their foster families like Houston's First Baptist-Legacy 685 supported our family. 
We had surprise drop in visits from caseworkers for the last year. When all eight kids were home at the same time, two (background checked) adults were required. I couldn't even be home alone with all my kids. Many rules were in place because we were considered a group home. (Now that the kids are officially ours all the rules go away.)
Yesterday, we walked in the court house and found friends already waiting for us on the other side of security....OH MY GOODNESS. I was shocked at how this touched my heart. They were WAITING for us. They were even early. Friends had hunted down & paid for parking, took off time from work, paid babysitters, & most drove 45 mins to navigate downtown. A guy friend came alone, when his wife could not due to prior commitments. Almost all of Legacy 685 leadership were there with us! All of this is love. 
Party of 10 sign from the Stutes. Such a darling gift. I adore it!! Keepsake cards and huge gift cards to feed our family were received. Friends gave our kiddos gifts from the heart. Including candy that helped soothe my anxious, sensory seeking children the day of! The sign made gotcha pictures extra fun. Or how about the two signed footballs, by a Cardinal player, who was adopted from foster care by a family in our neighborhood. We felt so loved and blown away yesterday!!!! The list goes on and on.
Our kiddos had a state assigned attorney. We have been waiting on him for months...and found ourselves waiting again on him on adoption day...guess who was well over an hour late!? More waiting.... but this allowed us to have the judge and court room to ourselves. A fun perk. The judge was very nice to our family and seemed very sincere in her congratulations. Felt good!
When friends broke out into song, singing "Happy Birthday" to Nick as we left the court house...I could have cried.
The state of Texas is not allowing large families to adopt from foster care any longer. Our home has lots of love and space to share, but it won't be via foster care, unfortunately. A lot of large families are loosing kids that have been in their home for years. The families want to adopt but some new laws are in the way. (This is starting to feel like China's "one child" policy.) It's a true miracle that we didn't have our kids taken out our our home like many other families, right before we were allowed to adopt. Satan always tried to stop adoptions. I see it over and over when walking with other families. 
Nick and I are not "awesome" as way too many Facebook comments make us out to be. We give all glory to God for forming our current family. We are just as sinful and ugly as the next human. We just try to live life to give it away. Life isn't about us. We should all be doing so, and enjoying (almost) every minute of it! The number of children needing and waiting for a home is ridiculous. We are blessed and should all want to share those blessings. If you live in America -YOU are blessed. I am thankful for all the true leaders who lead by example and I found them encouraging when our road got long...and twisty! It can be awkward and lonely as a foster family. 

The day our agency called asking us if we could foster Ruby, Wren was ten weeks old and we felt like we were in a good groove, so we said yes. They actually asked us if we wanted a Caucasian baby boy or if we wanted to care for an African American girl. We said girl since we had all the "girly stuff" ready. Ruby is now almost three. We nicknamed her Ruby because when she arrived at our house, our other foster baby was named "Sapphire Princess," so we laughed and called them our precious jewels. We have loved lots of babies and few have stayed...what were the chances BOTH our foster babies would stay with us?! The toddler year has been way harder than the newborn year! Give me two infants any day! 
Alex is almost 11. He is actually "Hollis Alex Rosenbaum," but will start going by "Hollis." He is named after Gene Calhoun...who is like family!
Roman Nicholas Rosenbaum....after Nick. He is 10. The boys picked their names...after Roman Atwood and Alexander the super hero. (We didn't expect them to want to change their names.) 
Our foster care agency had amazing staff that helped move some really big mountains.
2 1/2 years ago Cinda (Nick's mom) was in the backseat with the boys and asked them what they wanted for Christmas. They were holding the latest Christmas catalog to keep them entertained in the car. Cinda told me that they replied," to live with Nick and Rachel forever." Those boys were still in their original foster home and not with their little sister, yet! We met them and it took two years to get them legally moved into our home. Another year of waiting for adoption. This was a no brainer case. Biological parents were not in the picture. So sad the kids paid the price of waiting! Changes need to be made to foster care laws and accountability! With new free time I hope to learn and join forces to advocate for foster care even more! 
Wish family would have been with us to share such a special day.

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