by Racheal Fuqua
We received a call on March 11, 2013 from the department of children’s services. We were asked to take a six-day-old baby boy. We said YES and our lives were changed forever.
Within an hour of the phone call, DCS was pulling into my driveway. We filled out a ton of paperwork, and then foster care became very real to us. There was so much initial excitement, and yet there was also pain that came with it. We were so excited to get the call, and yet so sad for this tiny baby that had already experienced trauma in his first six days of life. We didn’t know what the future had in store, but we were more than ready to fall in love with the baby that God had brought to us.
Marcus was so tiny, and I remember rocking him in my arms that first night. My heart was so overwhelmed with emotions. As the days passed, I found myself rocking Marcus a lot in what became his “prayer chair.” I made a commitment to always pray for him and his future while rocking him to sleep. We were blessed to adopt Marcus on my birthday in 2014. Talk about sweet blessings; we adopted our boy on my birthday. Isn’t God so good?
Being a mom of three busy boys and playing the role of a foster parent, I found myself wanting a baby girl. In fact, I began praying for a brown baby girl to be exact. I didn’t want our Marcus to ever question or wonder why he was a different color from all his family. So I hung a little dress in my closet, and each time I saw it, I would pray for the baby girl that God would bring us.
Fast forward a few years—God started tugging at my heart that he was going to bring us a sibling group. To be very transparent with you, I did not want to say yes to a sibling group. The idea was more than I could handle. I started praying and seeking God for His guidance. I asked God that if this was his plan for my family, He would need to put it on my husband’s heart also. After a few months of praying this prayer, God spoke to Brian’s heart, and as a family, we started praying for this sibling group that God would bring us. I can remember my eight-year-old asking me at bedtime, “When is God going to bring us our baby girl?”
In February of 2017 we were called to take a sibling group. We said YES! The baby we prayed for arrived to us when she was only two days old. We were doubly blessed to have her three-year-old sister as well. Together, they have brought so much joy to our family. And remember the little dress that I hung in my closet to remind me to pray? Well, our sweet baby girl wore it on her first Easter. Isn’t God so good?
We are almost at the two-year mark of having the girls. I am not allowed to share details of our case, but what I can share is this: the week before we got called to take the girls, God placed it on my heart that along our journey we would have battles to fight, but that God would fight them for us, if we put our trust in HIM. I remember wondering to myself, what battles are we going to have to fight? We have had our ups and downs and many details to overcome, but I am so thankful for a God that is faithful and a God that can and will fight our battles for us. He has done just that.
We love our girls, and we pray daily that God allows us to adopt them. We are a family that sticks out in public. We are different. But we want people to see Jesus through our story. Since we got our baby girl at two days old and Marcus at six days old, I sometimes forget that I didn’t birth them. My love for them is so real. Birthing children or adopting children—it’s all a part of God’s plan, and it’s the story He has written for our lives.
We said yes to God’s calling for our family.
We said yes to foster care.
We said yes to adoption.
We said yes to the idea that we might get our hearts broken in the process.
We said yes to trusting God with it all.
Adoption is a beautiful gift. It is a constant reminder of how good our God is! If you are reading this and considering adopting or fostering to adopt, please say YES and trust the Lord with the details. It’s a journey that will forever change your life. Boy am I glad we said YES!
Rachael is a very close friend of mine from Murfreesboro, TN. She is a super-mom of three boys and two girls. She is THE best mom to those kids, and a prayer warrior. She is one of the main reasons adoption became such a real desire for me. I remember in tears telling her the news we were adopting before I had spoken it to anyone else. God has used her in so many ways.
