Evacuees

It's 2:35 a.m. on Sunday morning and our phone rings. My heart always skips a beat or two when we get a phone call in the middle of the night! Who's hurt, who's sick, who has died....these are the thoughts that run through my sleepy mind in a split second.

This time, none of the above had happened. It was the Red Cross lady telling Kent the evacuees were on their way to our church. Kent got up, got dressed and headed to the church. He did not sleep again until last night. What a trooper! We are housing over 80 people in our Family Life Center. So many sweet babies, too. One story I want to tell you about: My friend Karen has a sister who lives in New Orleans. She was leaving N.O. and stopped by a shelter where some of her friends worked before she left town. Somehow she ended up bringing a young mom from the shelter and her 5 month old baby with her here to El Dorado. On the way the mom expresses her desire to give her baby up for adoption. She says she can't give her a good life. She has no family, no job, nothing. She has been raising her in shelters the last 5 months! Long story short, this mom signs her rights (temporarily) over to Karen. Karen and her husband are house parents at the children's home in Morrilton. I went to the church to see Serenity today. She was absolutely precious. In fact, I wanted the young mom to sign her rights over to me! She is only 1 month younger than Brylee, but seems so little. She is long and skinny, with a smile that lights up the room. Pray for Serenity and her mom, Maria. Thankfully, Karen works for the children's home where there are men and women who deal with this situation often. I think Karen and Jeremy will adopt Serenity if possible. This whole ordeal got me thinking....one day I would really like to be a foster parent. We don't have the room right now for that to happen, but one day we would. Just a thought.........