Tag Archive for: ID

Hey there! We’re the Fosters. I’m Kristin, a stay at home mommy. My husband is a sales manager for Apple Valley Organics. We have three beautiful biological children. Carter (7), McCoy (2), & Oakley (1). While we may look like a typical family, I can assure you we are anything but. Our story is quite unconventional, but it’s truly my biggest honor parenting with Taylor, and raising these amazing little ones.

In September 2016, we happily welcomed our second son into this world. He arrived fast and furious, while stealing ALL the hearts in the delivery room. Little did we know, the coming days would test our faith completely.  We were told that McCoy would require genetic testing, as they suspected he had a syndrome.  McCoy, our perfect son, has Down Syndrome. We cried (A LOT), we googled everything there was to know, & we mourned the child we expected to have. Time seemed to speed up and slow down all at once. The weeks blurred together. What we did do was immediately jump into early intervention services. We attended Feeding therapy, Occupational therapy, Physical therapy, Speech therapy, and countless other medical appointments each week. At these appointments I felt the crushing blow more and more. At times it felt all encompassing. It consumed us. Would we ever go a day without talking about Down Syndrome?

Then one day, almost as swift as a tornado hits, we realized the life we had been blessed with is even better than we thought it would be. We stood up straighter, laughed easier, & embraced ALL humans with love and acceptance. We found meaning in the meaningless. Light in the dark. Good in the bad. He turned our views completely upside down. McCoy ignited a fire so big in our bones, a fire we couldn’t subdue. We started to see our reality in a shifted view. We no longer drew the short end of the stick like society wanted to tell us, but rather, we were selected to become a part of the lucky few. Life was good.

Fast forward to January 2019. We were a very complete, happy, and content family of five. Taylor was travelling for work and while he was gone a friend of ours reached out to me. She sent a message with a video of a young boy attached. I opened the message and was immediately captivated by the little face on the other end of the screen. A soft melody played while the video showed this little guy laying in a crib playing with his hands and a small rattle. Three minutes had elapsed, and I found myself restarting the video. I watched the video randomly throughout the day, each time shedding major tears. There was something big about this small little one. I decided to send it to Taylor and ask for his prayers on a family for the little boy. The video itself had over 90,000 views on YouTube and over 10,000 comments inquiring on how to adopt him. Surely someone was already in the process of adopting him.. right?

Taylor felt the immediate connection too. He posted the video on his social media to help spread the word and urged those interested in adopting to check the video out. The following morning, Taylor called with an idea that would spark what would be our biggest adventure yet. An adventure so grand, we had no concept of the highs and lows we would experience. Taylor asked me, “Why not us?”. Confused, I responded with, “Why not us for what?”. It was that simple. Once we were on the same page, we both agreed, WHY NOT US! Wasn’t that little ball of love worth fighting for? It quickly became crystal clear that it would a big leap of faith, but we said YES without hesitation! We would fight relentlessly for him.

Auggie is nearing 19 months in institutional state care. He has been waiting SO long for his mother and father to come for him. For two big brothers to snuggle with and little sister to urge on his development. He currently cannot sit up, has extremely low tone, and is very malnourished. We relentlessly continue to move forward in hopes of getting him home before his second birthday at the end of this year. Knowing how much McCoy does need and all the good therapy has done for him, we know Auggie is in DESPERATE need to come home. Financial help will ease the stress in the process of him coming home and allow it to happen as fast as it can go.

The special needs life is scary, unwanted, and full of “I’m sorry’s” from those who misunderstand its beauty. Ironically, both Taylor and I have been prepared for these children well before their existence. My Bachelor’s degree is in child development and family relations. While I don’t use it clinically, it has served its greatest purpose inside the walls we call our home. Taylor’s youngest sister was also adopted and has FAS and ADHD, which taught him from a young age that children are only as capable as you allow them to be. That everyone is worthy and brilliant. Ultimately, our destiny would prove that this was divine intervention after all. That life turned out completely different than expected, but embracing the path paved for us has set our family free. That beauty is truly not far off the beaten path, and that having faith in the journey will be the best blessing of them all. Thank you so much for reading about us and our sweet babies! I surely hope you know what this process means to us, and any help bringing him home would be so greatly appreciated. Truly, thank you.
Sincerely, Kristin & Taylor Foster  (Anxious Adoptive Parents)

6/13/2019 — HOMESTUDY COMPLETE