Getting to know our little baby girl, Avalon has been one of the most thrilling, emotional, joyous and adventurous experiences we have gone through as a family. We always knew our family was incomplete. God had placed the desire to adopt in our hearts long, long ago, before we even started having children. Then God brought our sweet third baby girl to us on March 8th of this year! Overall, we are amazed at how easy the adoption process was! We were expecting a lot of drama! Over two years ago, when we started the process, I remember feeling completely overwhelmed by all the paperwork and interviews! How do you know what to check yes or no to, when it comes to accepting a child into your family?! Do we really even have the right to check yes or no? We never did that with our three natural born children. Only God can determine what is best for the Cherry Family. Right? Anyway...we left the options wide open...boy or girl....white...black....brown....yellow...health problems....behavior problems....drug exposed....curly hair.....straight hair...brown, green, blue eyes....whatever..... We said we would take whomever needed a safe, loving home to be a part of our family! Our only criteria was that he/she had to be 0-3 years of age.
Eighteen months after all the foster care licensing paperwork, interviews, medical exams, home inspections and classroom time...we finally received an phone call.
We waited for what seemed like an eternity to get "the phone call" from social services! I will never forget it as long as I live! The rain poured down on our truck as we drove down the Ramona Expressway. The sun was warm and bright and a beautiful 1/2 rainbow shined above us! And then..."Is this Erik Cherry? Hello, this is _____ from Riverside Adoptions Unit of Social Services. We have an African-American baby girl who was just born. Her parents are giving her up and terminating all rights as parents. Are you interested?... The birth mother would like to pick the family. Can we show her your file?...." The next day we were at the hospital picking up our newest addition to the family! There she lay, fast asleep, peaceful, warm, soft, tiny 5lbs 7 ounces. 10 toes, 10 fingers, light brown skin, dark mocha hair. The nurses named her "Baby Faith", while they awaited a family to pick her up. They were sure that she would find the right family made just for her! And they were right! God brought her to us! We cuddled her, embraced her fragile body and walked out of the hospital with OUR baby (who had a secret name that the county gave her for paperwork purposes). But we still called her Avalon. Because that was her real name! If she was going to be a sibling to the other 3 "A names" of the family...she needed an "A- city name" too! It would take pages and pages to write about the emotions involved in bringing Avalon home. So today I will leave you with this thought..."The Lord said to me, "I knew you before you were formed within your mother's womb; before you were born I sanctified you and appointed you as my spokesman to the world!" Jeremiah 1:4
No comments:
Post a Comment