Now for the reason for this new post and prayer request........Over the past several months we have been asked by many people if we are planning to adopt any more children. Our answer to this question has been that adoption is not something that we are pursuing but its not something that we would be opposed to should God provide an open door. Back in August, we were notified that Jaydon's birth mother was expecting again, due in November. We were asked if adopting this baby would be an option for us. It was definitely not a surprise to find out that she was/is pregnant again, but the thought of having another baby in our family was a surprise. After praying about it, and doing a bit of research, we felt like God was closing the door to this option. It was disappointing as it would have been kind of neat to keep the siblings together. However, with all of the living expenses that Mommy D had accrued already, and knowing that more would come before the baby would be born, we just did feel peace about the situation.
If you remember, this past summer, we had the amazing opportunity to meet Jaydon's sister, and adoptive mom (will refer to them as the L family). We have messaged each other every so often since then, and so I felt led to let her know about Mommy D and her pregnancy. After a couple of weeks "L" messaged me back asking more questions, saying that this baby had been heavy on her heart and wondered if there was anyone that had been matched with her yet. So I gave her the number to contact the worker who was helping take care of Mommy D.
Fast forward to last Friday.... I received a text from the care worker who had just gone to visit Mommy D in jail. She was so frustrated with the fact that another social worker had stepped in and had "taken Mommy D away from her". Her goal was to keep the siblings together. Knowing that finances were an issue for both of us families, the worker was/is ready to waive the living expenses that have been accrued by Mommy D, and have us simply go through an adoption attorney to keep the adoption costs very minimal. We were then asked if the L family and us would co-write a letter to Mommy D, asking her to consider placing her baby with either one of our families so that the siblings could stay together. She just wants the siblings to stay together if at all possible. After talking with Skeeter and L, we decided to go ahead and write the letter and send it to Mommy D in jail. What can you pray about?
1) Pray for Mommy D and that her heart will be receptive to our letter. We put updated pictures of both of our families as well as the picture of Jaydon with his sister so that she could "see" them together.
2) Pray for Mommy D and that she will make the best decision for her unborn daughter.
3) Pray that she will be willing to work with an adoption attorney, instead of going through an agency, or neither the L family or us will be able to adopt this child. In the letter, we provided her with a name and number of an attorney that will keep the legal costs to a minimum.
4) Pray that she will do what is best and not focus on how much money she can get out of the decision that she makes. If she goes the private adoption route, she won't get as much money. And we know that money is very important to her to help support her poor lifestyle choices.
5) Pray for her health as well as the health of the unborn child.
6) Pray for the L family and us as we wait for her decision and that no matter what, we will have peace about the decision she makes. It is such a blessing working with the L family and that there is no sense of competition between us. The last thing I want to do is ruin the relationship that we are just starting to have. We both want God's will for our families, even if that means taking another huge leap of faith.
7) Mommy D is set to be released from jail the first part of December. Her due date has now been changed to January. Please be in prayer that when she gets out of jail, that God will continue to protect as she goes back to the streets.
The letter has been written and will go out in today's mail. Putting it in the mailbox made it seem a bit more real that we were actually going to try this. We only want what is God's best and we are just covering the whole situation with prayer and that ultimately, this baby will be where God wants her to be!
If for some reason, the post has been confusing, feel free to ask questions. However, please keep in mind that right now we are still trying to process things and that there are a LOT of unknowns in this situation right now! We will keep you posted as we learn more!
