Joy Comes in the Morning.

NOTE: If you haven't read the first three parts of this story, please DO or you might be confused! ;) They are Pt. 1-A Seed is Planted, Pt. 2-A Seed Begins to Grow, and Pt. 3-The Harvest.

And then I saw them. Their perfect faces framed by a professional's lens. Tiny smiles strategically placed to cover up the sadness, the scared-ness, the insecurity, the vulnerability, the lonely nights and no one to leave the light on and no one to stay up late with them on Fridays with movies and popcorn made on the stove and just enough soda to make it a party and please check under the bed for the millionth time for monsters and kiss it and make it better and fight for me when I don't know how to fight for myself and frighten me with how intense your love for me is and catch me if I fall, hold my small hand in yours when I'm crossing the street, hide and seek for hours and jars of fireflies just because it pleases you to see the wonder in my eyes and learning how to dot i's and cross t's and how to say thank you and pretty please with a cherry on top and how to properly hold a mop and snuggles and lovins and whoppits and noodlers and groupers and I love you the mostests and passing tests and failing to do your best and loving beyond limits and limiting the t.v. and junk food, but then candy for no reason, season upon season of growing and learning and loving and you're mine, all mine, no one can hurt you, harm you, farm you out, lose you, ever again because in that split moment, in less time than it took me to blink, I became a mother.


And though these four children don't even know I exist, I have barely slept since then. Wondering and worrying and grieving and praying and praying and praying and imagining and preparing and painting and filling out seventy pages of applications and health inspections and training and training and training and inching my way, one task at a time to the moment when I can hold them in my arms and look into their eyes and begin to earn my mommy badges, one by one.

I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up

and have not let my foes rejoice over me.

O Lord my God, I CRIED to you for help

and you have healed me!

O Lord, you have brought up my soul from the depths;

you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.

Sing praises to the Lord, O you, his saints,

and give thanks to his HOLY NAME!

His anger is but for a moment and his favor is for a lifetime.

Weeping may tarry for the night but JOY COMES in the morning!

As for me, I said in my prosperity,

   “I shall never be moved.”

By your favor, O Lord, you made my mountain stand strong.

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing.

You have loosened my grief
and clothed me with JOY

that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.

O LORD MY GOD, I WILL GIVE THANKS TO YOU FOREVER!

NOTE: Unfortunately, these are not our children yet and even though my soul rebels to even say it out loud, there is a possibility that they might not ever be. Andis and I will be certified to foster/adopt by Thanksgiving however and will hopefully meet our first four forever babies sometime in December, but nothing is set in stone. Naturally there are a LOT of variables and things that would need to go RIGHT, between now and then, but regardless of how this story ends, we hope you will join us in praying for (L-R) Shelley- 9, Shawna-7, Shyanne-11 and Samuel-8 to become part of the Goble family and the Smithville community because really, in my heart, nothing else will do. We will keep you posted as we get closer! Thank you for reading about our adoption journey so far. We hope that you will keep your mind and heart open to the 20,000+ children in Texas alone that need forever families; especially sibling groups and children older than 6 as they have a very slim chance of being adopted. You can learn more about the process to become certified to foster/adopt by following the link below. Please feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions about the process. We don't know everything but we would love to share anything with you that we can and put you in touch with someone who does know if we don't!

http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Adoption_and_Foster_Care/children_in_our_care.asp

He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name, welcomes me."
                                                                                                             Matthew 18: 2-4