Eyes That Told, Arms That Hold

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month 

It was a cold January evening when the call came. An eight-month-old little girl needed shelter and she needed it now. She needed a home – a place of safety and security, a family. When our Little Miss came to us she had just lost everything she had known in her short eight months of life. Everything. The concept of that brought me to tears, she’s so little and so lost. As we took her out of the car seat she arrived in Little Miss looked at us, but not really. It was as if she was lost somewhere in her own body, the eyes told the story. The eyes were so empty, alone, and afraid. I said a quick prayer, “Oh Lord, how are we going to give her what she needs? Please show us, please comfort her, please give us the grace and wisdom needed to give this child, YOUR child, the care and love that will help her heal and help her grow.” As she took the first bottle while being snuggled and rocked we were saddened by how fast she drank and then she slept, for almost 48 hours she slept. We woke her every three hours those first two days to feed, change and snuggle her. She needed a schedule, a very predictable schedule.

As time went on, Little Miss truly became part of our family and God did give us insight on what she needed. What did we need? Patience, prayer, love and coffee, lots of coffee, that’s what we needed. What did she need? Love, love, love, predictability and love, that’s what she needed. Little Miss was healing, each day and each week we saw it, the eyes told the story. She became engaged in her surroundings, started babbling and crying, really crying, letting us know that she had needs. Oh, the joy we felt as she was feeling comfortable and trusting that if she made a need known, it was going to be met. When word came that our Little Miss was going to be adopted we were nervous, to be honest, we had taken her in like she was ours, and she was. How can we trust that someone was going to know how to meet her needs? The day we took her to meet her new parents will forever be a sweet memory. It was so obvious that they were perfect for her. We saw the love as they looked at her. The eyes told the story. The eyes that said, “You are ours”. We have been privileged to continue to be a part of Little Miss and her story. The adoption is now final and in just a few weeks we will go to her home with her mommy and daddy and celebrate her two-year birthday. The eyes tell the story and her eyes are glowing with joy and wonder of what life holds for her.

~Randi