My Life Is Crazy Too is a new series of reader submissions. This is your opportunity to share stories about life, love, and mommyhood to provide understanding, hope, and compassion in the unique situations each of us face every day. If you would like to submit a story to this series, email me. Today’s crazy guest is Meredith Howard.
Sometimes LIFE is Bizarre. That is the best way I can sum up our story…..Just Bizarre. Just God!
In 2010, after the Haitian Earthquake, my husband and I decided it was time to pursue our long time desire to adopt. We had 
talked about it for years, but decided it was time to actually DO something…not just keep talking about it. We spoke with our 3 children (at the time ages 2,4,6) about wanting to adopt. As best as they could understand, they were supportive. We began pursuing an adoption from Ethiopia. Our “plan” was to adopt a little toddler age girl. No more diapers, we thought, and no babies. Been there, done that 3 times.
During the process- at my husband’s insistence- we got certified as foster parents as well. He just really believed that if there were children in the US who needed homes, we should start there. Long story short, we got a call about our sweet foster daughter- Nancy- and had to make a decision in about 5 minutes (before meeting her) if we would want to be her parents. Birth parent rights were just about terminated. This was going to be a “done deal.” We said yes, and piled our 3 kiddos into the minivan to drive an hour north to meet her. She was precious. Our 3 bio children fell in love with her immediately. I ran out and rented Chris Rock’s movie “Good Hair” so I could learn to do African American hair.
After 3 months with us, and her calling my husband “Daddy! Daddy!” she ended up being taken away from us (that is a whole other blog post in and of itself!). We were heartbroken. BUT, in our heart ache we knew this was the confirmation we needed to pursue international adoption. Continue Reading
