Day of Rejoicing

As an Adopt America specialist, I get to help match kids with families. Every single day I get emails from social workers asking me to help them find homes for the children on their caseload. More times than not they are teenagers and I can't find one family interested. This plagues me. I post them to the other specialists and we try, but most of the families wanting to adopt area looking for children under 10.

But today is a day of rejoicing. For almost 3 years I have been trying to find a family to adopt a sibling group of kids. For some reason, this was a group that everyone overlooked. In fact, at one point, we were considering adopting the oldest of the kids if someone else would adopt the other three.

I had the group matched two or three other times and things fell through. I was very discouraged.

Finally, some friends of ours who already have 17, said they were interested. They went through the process and were selected. They felt, after reading the material, that they could only parent 2 of the 4 -- the oldest, almost 16, and the youngest, 11.

But the oldest all the sudden had decided that he didn't want to be adopted. After waiting for a family for years, he, as many teens do, decided he'd rather stay where was safe.

The family decided to go head with the youngest. They travelled down to meet her and got to spend 10 minutes with the oldest. They explained to him that the invitation was always open if he changed his mind.

A couple days ago he called his social worker and said, "Is it too late to change my mind?" To make a long story short, they both arrived yesterday.

He now has a family committed to him after living for years with no one to call his parents.

So, even though the other thousands of children way heavy on my heart...

even though I am saddened at how long it is taking for my boys to come back home ....

even though my allergies are killing me, my neck is stiff, and my head hurts ...

even though my allergy medicine is making me drowsy...

and even though I am not feeling very motivated today,

it's a good day.

Because any day when a child who is almost sixteen finds permanency after waiting for years is a good day!