After receiving requests to update This Nest’s “Yesterday’s Window” category, I realized that I’ve been soooo focused on what’s happening in our lives now…I’ve been neglecting the sharing of what brought us to this point. Our story is so unique, our journey has been so long, and we have conquered many obstacles that a lot of people will never have to battle.
If I tell you that three of the young men we raised are now back in our home, many of you wouldn’t realize who they even are by name. You wouldn’t know that the twenty-nine year old (Rex) with schizophrenia and developmental delays, who came back to us after his release from jail a few months ago, is a grown up version of a very sweet twelve year old that came to us in 1994 (the year before our first-born even arrived)…
And if I tell you of a nineteen year old (Antone) who now shares a room with our fifteen year old son, a young man who we are trying to guide into adulthood, how would you know that same boy started his first day of kindergarten with us, in 1996, as my camera clicked away while the school bus pulled up…
And the eighteen year old (Fayzonn) that just arrived this morning via Greyhound, a young man who decided a year ago that he wanted to return to Mississippi to be with his mama, you wouldn’t know that his first Halloween costume I made with my own two hands…the same hands that had to hold him down (as I cried) to get the immunizations he had no record of ever receiving as a baby.
How would any of you know of the literal blood, sweat, and tears we poured into seven children that we didn’t even bring into the world when I haven’t opened up about that nearly as much as I should have? Some of them were ours before we even had our own, and some joined us later…because they needed us…because God asked us to step up to the plate and give it our very best swing.
Well, I’m going to focus this month on trying to catch you up. I’ll update about the goings-on in our home now, and I’ll still have to share the funny, little “D’Lo-isms” that I can’t resist passing along…but I will also be adding to Yesterday’s Window so that you can know how we built This Nest…
I hope you are able to keep up 🙂
