Fostering Hope

Today, as guest blogger for National Adoption Month, we have Cynthia Hickey. Here's her story.

"The book of Deuteronomy tells us to train up a child in the way they should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. My husband and I hold this truth as God’s promise to us.

In 1992, my husband and I felt led to open our home to foster children. Our four biological children opened their arms and hearts wholeheartedly to the idea. One week after we completed our certification, we received a call from the foster agency asking whether we had a problem with fostering black children. We emphatically stated no and they went on to inform us they were bringing us a six-week old baby girl. Imagine our surprise when they showed up with a three-week old baby boy! It was love at first sight.

Over the nine years we fostered children, we adopted three of the twenty-three children who passed through our doors. One Caucasian girl we received at the age of six years old and two African/American boys both received as infants.

The years since have been filled with joy and sorrow. The first time our adopted daughter decided she couldn’t live by our rules, she was sixteen. She moved out only to be brought home three weeks later. Before she turned eighteen, she was gone again, having turned her back on the entire family. She is in God’s hands now and my husband and I have faith He will draw her back into the fold someday.

We have raised our sons to be proud of their heritage, letting them know the world would be a boring place if God had created everyone to look the same. They are very comfortable in their multi-cultural families. We could not have done this without God’s grace.

Both boys struggle some with learning and attention deficit due to circumstances surrounding their birth mothers, but both have overcome insurmountable obstacles. The oldest is in high school now and star of the football team. The youngest is the joy of our hearts.

God is good. As we struggle with the challenges of raising adoptive children who have questions about why their birth parents gave them up, my husband and I are comfortable with the knowledge that God will see our family through. Our teenager is a trial at this point in his life, but as an infant someone spoke a word over him saying that God was going to use him as a bridge between the white man and the black.

God keeps his promises whether this side or the other of heaven."

Cynthia Hickey
www.cynthiahickey.com
www.cynthiahickey.blogspot.com




Thanks, Cynthia for helping me celebrate National Adoption month with your story.