His Story

Pics from Last October-- one year ago............

In the summer of 2007 Jacob and I were anxiously awaiting the birth of our son Joseph. On June 5 he was born straight into the arms of Jesus. In the weeks that followed I cried more than ever before and the desire to be a mother was stronger than ever. Looking through the paper one day I found a job description for caregivers to abused and neglected children. Within a month we had moved in to Everyday Blessings and become "parents" to five precious boys! Throughout our time there we cared for over 9 little boys. We then decided to move into a home of our home and foster children in our own environment. It took time, it took a lot of time, but in June of 2009 we received a phone call requesting that we take two AA boys ages 2 and 7 months. The 2 year old was De'kwan. He came in as a very shy boy eating obsessively, because he had not been fed properly. The Child Protection Team of doctors labeled him and the baby (Lenny) as failure to thrive. Within a month he had gained 5 lbs and was more than thriving! Even today the doctors say he is actually overweight!

In August 2009, he started to call me mommy yet, still called Jacob "PoppaJake" which came out sounding like "cuppycake". I dont remember the exact date but he likes calling Jake "my daddy" now.

As 2010 rolled around we began to see signs that TPR (termination of parental rights) would be considered if the mother did not get her act together. The Friday before Mothers day we received word that TPR had been finalized and we could adopt him!! We began the paperwork and extra homestudy. At that time we also decided on the name Michel and introduced it to him. He liked it! Two weeks ago, mid August, we got a call from our attorney that she had all the paperwork completed and could set a court date for us for Sept 1. I got the goosebumps I was so happy! The next day we got another call that his permanancy hearing had never been held! It got scheduled for the 31st of August which is cutting it oh so close!! We knew God had control over it so we went on without a care. On Wednesday, Sept 1st, we joined family at friends at the Tampa Municipal Courthouse to hear the judge unite us as a forever family.