From Adopted Person to Adoptive Mom: Mary Hiatt's Story

Wendy's Story: Lives Changed, Futures Restored

This was written by a birthmother who received counseling and services from our organization in 2002.  When asked what this ministry has meant to her, this was her response and testimony to the life-changing efforts of FLS & LGH.

If the Liberty Godparent Home & Family Life Services had not helped me in 2002, I would not be where I am today and I would not have been able to kick my drug habit! When I came to the home, they told me I was too old for the residential program but agreed to talk to me about my situation and see how they could help. I cried and told the director, at the time, what I was going through - I had a two year old son that I could not take care of and I was pregnant with another child in addition to having a drug addiction. They never turned their backs on me, regardless of my circumstances or my age. I haven’t done anything illegal since the day I stepped foot into the Godparent Home. When I placed my son for adoption through Family Life Services, the ministry helped me to get a job at Liberty University where I worked in Admissions for four years. I then transitioned into overseeing the Customer Service department at a large company where I have worked ever since.

I see my birth son about three to four times a year and have built a very good open adoption relationship with the adoptive mother and father. I have full custody of my oldest son and am now parenting a younger son as well. I am getting ready to get married June 11, 2011 to my best friend and we have been in a relationship for nine years. I am also an active member of my church. If it wasn’t for Family Life Services and the Godparent Home, I have no idea where I (or my two children) would be. They truly saved my life and gave me hope for a bright future. I am so thankful for this ministry’s investment in my life and will tell this story to anyone that will ask!

Wendy is pictured below with her fiance.  Thank you for sharing your story of a life impacted and changed!



Love & Appreciation for an FLS Foster Family

FLS has 8 foster families who work directly with our agency to provide transitional care for infants until all parental rights have been terminated.  These families give selflessly of their time, families, and homes to give 100% to the infants who join their families for a short time.  I stumbled upon this post that was written by an adoptive family who adopted their daughter, Grace, earlier this year and was given permission to share it with you.  It is a beautiful tribute to the foster family who had a part in their family's adoption story.

As many of you know Grace was in foster care for the first four months of her life. I know many people think of the "foster care" term in a negative light, however, Grace had the most incredible foster parents we lovingly call Mommy Cheryl and Daddy Gary.

First let me give you a little background on Mommy Cheryl and Daddy Gary. They are a wonderful Christian couple who love the Lord and it is very evident. Gary and Cheryl have three adopted children themselves Becca, Jason and Debbie. Becca and Jason are in college and Debbie is a high school senior. Gary and Cheryl have been fostering, I believe, for 8 - 10 years. They only foster babies from the adoption agency (Family Life Services) we received Grace from. Needless to say they have LOTS of experience and it shows!

Everyone knows how much of a gift Grace is to Eric and I, but she started out as unexpected gift to the Sumner family. In December Gary lost his job where he had been employed for many years. The Sumner kiddos were home for Christmas break and after Christmas they got a call that they would be fostering a baby girl until her forever family could get her. Grace entered the world....December 28 and from what the Sumners have explained to us she was an angel from the beginning. A couple of weeks later, Becca and Jason headed back to college and Grace had the privilege of getting undivided attention from Daddy Gary and Mommy Cheryl. They took her everywhere church (never missed a Sunday, even her first week of life), out to eat, errands, and high school events. Debbie was able to spend alot of time with her and it was evident even at four months they had a special bond. Grace adored Daddy Gary and would always give him big smiles. In just the little time we spent with Gary and Cheryl after our placement ceremony (a day and a night) Mommy Cheryl had the touch to calm Grace and soothe her.

I had many people tell me once we got her home, we received an angel baby. Eric and I never had to endure sleepless nights and we pretty much have a happy camper all the time! I attribute alot of Grace's transition and easy goingness to Mommy Cheryl and Daddy Gary. They will not take credit for it. They say Grace was blessed with a wonderful temperment. It is clear to me they played a big part in it all!

A couple of weeks ago we went home (my folks home) and had the privilege of spending some time with Daddy Gary and Mommy Cheryl. We had dinner at our favorite place, Cracker Barrel. Apparently Grace had been there quite a few times in the first four months of her life. As we were drving to VA I realized we had had Grace for four months the same amount of time the Sumners had Grace. I realized how much love Eric and I have for the precious little one God entrusted to us. It made me realize once again how difficult it must have been for them to put her in our car (April 24) that last time and watch us drive off.

I remember speaking to Cheryl the day she was handing Grace over to us. Cheryl said, "we love and get attached to our babies if we didn't we wouldn't be doing our job." Gary and Cheryl, thank you for being obedient in your call to be foster parents and loving our Hannah Grace as she was one of your own. We will never forget and will continue to visit this incredible family who loved and guarded our little girl until it was God's timing for us to come and make her our own.

We love you!

Eric, Heidi and Grace

P.S. - God provided Daddy Gary a new job soon after Grace came to live us.

Placing After Parenting - Meaghan's Story

When you think of a "birthmother"....what do you think of?  A common stereotype is to think of birthmothers as teenagers - and some are.  However, there are a growing number of women in their 20's, 30's and even 40's who choose adoption for their child.  Perhaps they are already parenting one or more children and they fully understand the financial and emotional investment that successful parenting demands and must come to the realization that they cannot parent another child at this point in their life.  Visit our partner blog The Journey of a Birthmother to read Meaghan's Story - mommy to two and birthmother to one.  We love her and I'm pretty sure you will love her too! 

Could "Foster to Adopt" be Right for You?

Our guest blogger today is Elizabeth who, along with her husband (Paul), provided foster care for their children prior to becoming an adoptive family.  They are now the busy parents of Cailyn (age 12), Brian (age 11), and Brandon (age 9).   

As I sit hear watching my children as they pamper me on Mother’s Day, I must reflect on how lucky I am to be a Mother of three beautiful children that God hand selected just for me.

I started praying for children at age 15. I asked my parents to adopt one of the babies from the Liberty Godparent home (then called “Save a Baby” home) for me to raise…of course they did not even consider it. I knew then that all I wanted to be was a housewife and mother. Through the years, I realized God had other plans for me, however I claimed Matthew 6:33 as my life verse: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you”. I knew one of two things were going to happen, God would provide me the children I longed for or he would take the desire away.

When Paul and I were married in 2003, I knew I had fertility issues and that we would have to go through some difficult processes to be able to have children, what I wasn’t prepared for was that he was not as excited about the process as I was and his attitude was more of “if it happens it happens”. I read something about fostering foster children in our local newspaper and the idea hit me. If we can foster children in respite (temporary situations) he will see how fun it is to have kids around and then he will want to put forth the effort in fertility treatments.

When I took the call about our first foster experience, he was at work. They asked if we could keep three kids for three weeks until their biological mother could take them back. I prayed about it, looked at my schedule and said, “sure, we can handle three kids for three weeks”. When Paul got home from work I told him and he said “Are you crazy? Three kids?” I knew most of the time the kids would be spending with me because Paul was working second shift and I was working from home.

The kids ran into my house and immediately reeked havoc! They were all sick and very hungry. I then found out they had only been in foster care for 3 weeks and we were their 4th placement. They were full of energy, had never been disciplined properly and soon learned what a “time out” was. Cailyn was the mothering older sister (at 7 years old) of two hyper, Brian (age 6) and Brandon (almost 4 and not yet potty trained). I told Paul we could not give up on these kids, because it seemed like everyone else was. They were quite challenging, and Paul quit work to stay home with them so we could better meet their needs.

Three weeks turned into three months and I began to realize the kids were not going back to their biological home, after a couple of visits from the biological Mom, she told me social services were making her jump through too many hoops and she was going to sign away her rights.

A few weeks after they came to live with us, we were on our way to the “Walk for Life” and I was trying to explain to them why we were walking and raising money for the Godparent home. Cailyn said, “Elizabeth, we never would have known anything about Jesus or God if we had not come to live with you”. They were like little sponges soaking up everything they learned in church and I was so busy trying to meet their physical needs I did not even realize their spiritual needs, thankfully, God knew what they needed and our church provided it for them. By the time our adoption was final, they were not the same kids, they were calm, well disciplined and they have a heart for Jesus.

We still have our challenges as no family is perfect, but we could not have produced three more beautiful children, inside and out. I finally have my kids, in God’s timing, not mine and He picked them out just for me!

A Journey of a Birthmother: Chrizar's Story

Warning: this testimony will make you cry, but it's tears of joy, you'll need a couple of tissues when you read this...


Journey of a Birthmother...Written by Chrizar

I have definitely struggled between parenting and placing, but I knew I couldn’t make this decision on my own, I had to rely on God for help. Deciding between what’s best for my baby and me whas really hard. It’s something I don’t want to go through again. I could provide for my baby and support him, but I wanted to go to school. I was basically being pulled at every direction. If you mapped out my whole entire decision making process through this, you would get lost. This was something that I needed to sit down, and pray about, it wasn’t a flip a coin decision, this was like a life or death thing.

My family is very old fashioned. Rules and traditions must be kept the same throughout generations, it’s just how everything is. I have at least heard all my aunts and uncles say “If she’s old enough to have sex, she’s old enough to keep a baby” or “I could keep the baby, and then she can see the baby anytime she wants and then get him back when she’s ready.” So in the back of my head I’m saying NO! Ignore them, it’s going to make you cry and make things worse with your decision.
My adoption planning process started at about 5-6 months, just because I was due in February, and the holidays are going to get in the way. Going through the papers was pretty boring I must say, but my caseworker, Erica, made them funny sometimes. I remember going through the albums-I wanted a family that lived in Virginia, stay at home mom, at least one child, Christian, and close as as a family and with extended family. I didn’t just choose families according to what they look like, this and that. I waited for that click in my mind and heart that I knew this was the family, and when my baby would kick me in the ribs, that was a sign I asked God to give me when this was the family. It took me a couple of days to find the perfect family for him. Then, BAM there it was, my baby kicked me, and there was the click. This is the family, there names we’re Craig and Marti. They adopted their first daughter through Family Life Services, and they just clicked. When I interviewed them, I was nervous but yet excited to meet them. We had lunch together with my caseworker, Cindy, adoption case worker, Erica, Deanne, Craig and Marti. Throughout lunch my baby just kept kicking me like NO TOMORROW, I couldn’t really concentrate on much, it just hurt. But I knew I felt comfortable with them having my child.
I was going to tell them that I choose them as a family through a cute picture and card, but 8 days after meeting them at lunch I went into labor, 2 weeks before my due date. I gave birth to the CUTEST baby boy in my world. When I got into the Mother Baby Unit at Virginia Baptist, and took myself a nap, Erica came in, and I told the family on the phone that I choose them as a family. Craig and Marti were so excited, and thankful their prayers were answered. The next day I receive flowers, a picture of them, and a card. We decided to name him Jesse Taylor.
I did cry when I was discharged from the hospital, I wanted time to just freeze, I wanted to continue holding and hugging Jesse Taylor, I didn’t want to let go, but I knew time wouldn’t freeze. It was time to go home, I cried in the car, and I held back tears during lunch with my mom. It was hard, besides the fact I had the baby blues, but man I didn’t want to cry, but I remember Cindy and Erica saying it’s good to cry, it means that you love him. All I could do was cry. I cried for two nights when I got home. All I could do was go back to what happened at the hospital, the smell of him, the sweet and peaceful look he has when he sleeps, the smile he gave me when I first said I love you to him. It broke me down.
Enough crying, it was time to find the birthfather and get him to sign papers. I knew my baby was going to be put in safe care with the foster mom. I just wanted to get the papers signed so he could be with his new family ASAP. The papers were signed 2 weeks later and then the following week I would get to see Jesse Taylor on Placement day.
March 5th was one of the happiest days I’ll always remember, it was finally placement day! In the car I would count down the miles from the GPS until we get to Lynchburg. I was just SO excited to see my baby and to see how happy Craig and Marti and their family will be. Holding him again just felt amazing, I wanted time to stop again, just so I could hold him and talk to him, and give him kisses. But then the time came, when I would come out with the baby, present him to everyone, and place him in the mom’s arms. The smile on their faces when I saw the family, that moment when I was presenting the baby, seeing the smiles on everyone’s face, seeing the smiles on the family and looking down at my baby, everything was becoming a reality. It was a happy day, the day Jesse Taylor finally united with his new family.
From placement day to now, I still have tears of joy. I thank God for everything he has given to me especially my first child, Craig and Marti, my family, Family Life Services, and The Liberty Godparent home. Without these I wouldn’t be the person I would be right now. He isn’t placed with a family but he’s placed in God’s hands, I gave him to God and this puts my mind at peace.
Adoption is such a beautiful thing, You see the miracle of life and watch that little bundle of life be with a loving and solid family. I can’t wait to see him again, every moment is a precious memory locked in my heart forever.