Please Pray for Adrianna

For the past several days I've been waiting to share some important news about our family.  On Friday, September 24 Baby A.'s  TDFPS worker called to let us know that his biological mother (and bio mom of Joe and Daniel) had just given birth again.  She had no other information at the time and asked us to decide if we wanted to be the baby's foster placement.  The timing was remarkable because just the night before Billy and I discussed what we would do if the boys' mother had another baby.  It had been the end of a long, mentally and physically exhausting day for both of us and we and we both said that we felt we had enough children.  But it's a completely different ball game when you're not merely contemplating the idea of a child, but a living, breathing baby who already exists.  A few hours after the initial phone call we learned the baby was a girl, but didn't know her name yet.  Keep in mind that due to the history of the biological family and what took place with our boys, we were almost certain that should we take this baby as a foster placement, we would eventually be allowed to adopt her.  (We are still about six weeks from adopting Adrian - hopefully.)

Through many hours of prayer and discussion we struggled over the decision and early Saturday afternoon we decided we would take a leap of faith and say yes.  We were terrified (5 children ages 4 and under!) but knew without a doubt that God would provide the strength needed to get through each day, one day at a time.  We also agreed to ask TDFPS to not call us again if any more biological siblings of our children are born.  The decision is so gut-wrenching and it would be unbearably painful to have to say no, when we'd already said yes so many times.

Once the decision was made we excitedly began preparing for the baby's arrival and bought another crib and a few baby supplies plus a larger vehicle capable of holding 5 car seats.  I unpacked and re-washed Mikea's old baby clothes and set about getting the house in order - us foster/adoptive moms go through nesting, too!  We even enrolled Joe in Pre-K in order to give me a break in the afternoons. But day after day passed and we heard no more news about the baby.  Anxious to visit her in the hospital, we contacted the investigating worker and our current TDFPS worker to try to find out where she was.  Over a week passed without any information and I began to get the feeling that something was wrong.

Yesterday afternoon we finally received word about this precious little baby, now named Adrianna, and the news is not good.  She weighs only 1 pound and is not gaining weight.  She has the organs needed to survive, so if she can gain weight there is hope for her.  But because she also tested positive for drug exposure, her struggle to survive is that much more difficult.  It breaks our heart that she doesn't have any family with her, comforting her and advocating for her.  Needless to say we are very frustrated that we were not notified of her condition sooner and at this moment we still don't know which hospital she is in or if we will be allowed to visit her.  Billy finally talked to the investigating worker this morning and asked for us to get clearance to visit her.

So, I'm spreading the word about Baby Adrianna in order to ask for your prayers.  I believe that God works miracles every day and this little angel needs nothing short of a miracle to survive.  She has an unbelievably difficult struggle ahead of her and if even if she gains enough strength to survive she will most likely spend months in the hospital and face many complications.

We know God is faithful and will not bring us into a difficult situation and then abandon us.  And we know He will not abandon little Adrianna, either.