On November 6, 2013 "Little Miss", as we like to call her, came to our home. We had been foster parents for a little over a year, we currently had 2 children placed in our home, but we technically had 1 opening. It was a little after 9pm when our phone rang. The person from The United Methodist Children's Home (UMCH) asked us if we'd be willing to accept a placement of a 7-month old baby. They didn't know much about the baby, just that the mother was surrendering it to DFACS, at that point we didn't even know if it was a boy or a girl. The UMCH knows us well, and probably knew that we would have a hard time saying "no". Even though we already had a total of four kids in the house, we said "yes" to another.

By midnight a transporter from DFACS met us at our home. He stopped in the street in front of our house, we met him in the road. It was lightly dirzzling. He handed us a carseat with a sleeping baby in it, a trash bag filled with the babies' possesions, and a separate bag with formula and bottles.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" we asked, as his car idled in the roadway.

"I'm not sure. Someone will contact you tomorrow with paperwork." He said, as he climbed back in his car, and then quickly drove off.

It was surely the quickest and strangest placement we had ever recieved! We took the baby in, carried it upstairs, put it in the crib, and let it sleep the night. Downstairs we opened the trashbag and found little dresses, pink shirts, and purple pacifiers. Definitely a girl!

In the morning we officially met "Little Miss" and we officially fell in love! She is the sweetest, cutest, happiest baby! It did not take long for us all to feel like she was truly a part of our family! Weeks and months flew by, and slowly DFACS worked it's process.

The night we told our daughters that they were officially going to be able to be her big sisters, they cried. She already felt like their little sister, but to hear the words made them so happy that they cried and hugged and kissed her.

Now we need your help to finish the process. Typically, children in Foster Care incure no fees to be adopted. Usually most kids fit into 1 of 3 categories: Special Needs, Sibling Group, or have been in Foster Care for over 2-years. "Little Miss" does not meet any of those criteria. Because of that she does not qualify for Adoption Assistance. To finish the process we'll need to pay an attorney approimately $2,000. This is really a bargain when it comes to adoptions, but it is still a hefty price tag for us.

Please help us offset the cost of adopting our "Little Miss"! Even a small donation helps fund making her officially a Hillesheim!