A Difficult Decision

Family and friends...

We've had to make a very, very difficult decision in recent weeks. After a TON of prayer and processing with our house church, with a counselor, and others, we have decided to let Hayleigh go. She will be moving to another foster home this Saturday, 12/12. This being a public blog, I will not go into detail on all the reasons why this has become necessary. I will say a few things though: Hayleigh is an awesome, sweet, beautiful girl. She also has some deep issues that are very intense, deficits due to a very difficult first 5+ years of life...deficits that Stan and I are unable to continue to try to fill in the context of her living in our home. God has done SO MUCH in her life in her time with us and she has made soooo much progress....and in order for her to continue to grow and heal, He has made it super clear to us that she needs to live elsewhere. We have met and spent time with (and H. has spent time with) her new foster parents on several occasions now. They are wonderful. She will be their only kiddo, other than their granddaughter who occasionally spends weekends with them. We are confident that they will do a great job with her and that they will be able to meet more of her needs than we are able to at this point. This will be difficult for us, and especially for Hayleigh. She will miss us, Tali, her school, our spiritual family at the ROCK, our neighbors and friends.... We will be able to stay connected with her, have visits with her, bring Tali and maybe a few of her friends to see her at times. She has known about her upcoming move for a few weeks now and has actually handled all of this relatively well, which has been encouraging. She seems to be processing really well, seems to feel a good connection with her new foster parents, excitement about going to live with them, as well as a normal, healthy sadness about leaving our home.

Like I said, this has been an incredibly difficult decision for Stan and I to make... We love Hayleigh so much and it is painful to let her go. We know though that this transition is what is best for HER, as well as for our family. On a practical note, we are sending all of her clothes, toys, some movies and CD's, and LOTS of pictures with her....so she will have many, many familiar things around her. We are excited to continue to be a part of her life and pour into her in whatever capacity God allows us to from this point on.

Please pray for her in the next couple days and in the coming weeks. Pray that God will "cushion" her heart, that He'll protect her, that He'll give her supernatural ability to process well, to grieve well, to heal well, to attach well to her new foster parents. Pray most of all that He'll make Himself SUPER real to her during this time and that she'll find comfort and security and identity in Him.

Thanks everyone, yet again, for your support and prayers. I'm totally open to answering questions if you have them. Shoot me an email. danalynnb@gmail.com

Love to all...