The first day I met my youngest son.

I was driving home from my mom and dad's house. It was already getting dark and my cell phone rang. It was Melissa Hutchens from DSS giving me one of the best gifts my family would ever receive, it just took a long time to get to the good ending. "Hello". "Beth, we have two boys that need placement. One is 4 months old and one is 3 years old. Can you take them"? I said absolutely without hesitation-some would think I was nuts because we already had a 4 year old girl and 3 year old boy. Here is the baby that we met that evening in November 2012.

He was tiny, he smelled like smoke, his face was covered in eczema and his crystal blue eyes were cloudy, but it was love at first sight. He has double crowns so his hair grew in a baby Mohawk. A good bath for him and his brother and they fit right in. The "twins" as I called them because they were both 3 (Mauri and C) baby powdered the living room, wrote with string cheese on the front door, turned over the Christmas tree, and put all the DVDs inside the TV, just to name a few things. John-Blake continued to grow and thrive and gain weight. He learned to eat baby food and get on a good eating schedule. Saharra was enjoying having a real life baby doll to play with and help with. Then the phone call came that shattered us. "The case has been moved to a different county and they dismissed it. The children are returning home". Devastation ensued. There were many tears. I had said all along with all belief that God would not take away the children I was supposed to adopt and I had the adoption feeling with these two. So why was this happening?! We kept open communication with the mother and father. The mother and children lived with us for two weeks. We shared in his first birthday. We really had shared parenting down pat so that we could continue to be part of their lives. They came and went 5 different times. But each time the mother put more emphasis on us keeping John Blake forever. The struggle was hard on our family. It was hard on our marriage. God wouldn't let me let this family go. In Jerry's heartache, he was done. I wanted to protect my heart too, but God kept telling me to trust Him. This was the difficult part on our marriage. Sometimes God only tells one spouse. It's all part of trusting, obeying, being one with your spouse. Jerry had to trust me as much as I was trusting God. Whew. It was hard. But we made it. 

Jerry received a phone call in September 2013 from the mother that said "I can't do this anymore. Your son is coming home". We went and picked him up that very evening, signed and filed the adoption paperwork and Mr. Johnathon Blake Hudler has never looked back. We still keep up with C. He is well taken care of by his MiMi who we love dearly. Happy 3rd Birthday, my precious son. We've come a long way from the first day we met, but I knew then that it was love at first sight. God has a way of preparing the heart if we listen and trust and hold on and believe. It's not always easy, in fact, it almost never is, but here's proof, that good things come from following God's direction.