Thousands of years ago, God shared his plan with Abram. It went something like this… “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing” (Gen 12:2). A few years ago my wife and I realized that we, too, had been blessed. This wasn’t solely for our own enjoyment, but so that we could be a blessing to others.
For our family, this meant opening our home to others.
When our foster daughter arrived at our house, she was a mess. So distraught from being pulled from everything she knew, she had thrown up on herself in the car ride over. She was scared. Her eyes looked hollow. There was nothing remotely close to a smile on her face.
(This picture was taken a few minutes after she arrived at our home)
This grainy photo is one of the only ones we have from that day. I both love it and hate it. I love it because I remember how thrilled we were to step into this girl’s life. We knew our home was a safe place where God could provide love, security and healing for her little heart. I hate it because there seems to be such a disconnect from the joy in our eyes and the pain in hers.
That first night with her seems like such a blur. I remember that she couldn’t really talk yet, so she was frustrated by her inability to communicate with us using words. She mainly just watched us, confused. At one point, I tried to show her how much “fun” I had with the boys while wrestling. Yeah, bad idea. Her panicked screaming and crying revealed to me that the strength of a man wasn’t a good thing, from her experience.
What is very clear to me about that first night was when I put her to bed. As I do with all our kids, I went to her bed to tuck her in and sing a little song over her. That night I sang, “Jesus Love Me.” What grabbed my heart is that while I sang, she tried to join me, with her little babbling sounds. Needless to say, my heart melted.
That was then.
It’s been 14 months. Many of you have walked with us and prayed with us through this journey. I’ve posted pics along the way under the heading, “The Face of Fostering.” Months ago, I told a little more about her in this post, and detailed then ending of her case in this post.
Yesterday we went before the judge with her for the last time . After signing much paperwork and answering some formal questions asked by a couple of attorneys – and now friends – the judge got off the bench and came down to join us in the front. She asked our little girl who I was. She said, “daddy.” The judge asked who Steph was. “Mommy.”
(Here we are in the courtroom, surrounded by friends and family. Steph is holding our foster son, who we will be introducing on this blog in the next couple of weeks.)
Then she stated it clearly, “I hereby pronounce you to be the daughter of Kevin and Stephanie East, and today change your name….”
Steph and I are very grateful and proud to formally introduce you to our little girl, Hannah Joy East.
Isn’t she the most beautiful little girl….
To celebrate “Hannah East” day, she enjoyed these cake pops from our friends at Family Matters.
Again, thank you to all of you who have walked this with us. We are so excited to watch Hannah grow up into her namesake – one that will bestow grace upon grace to others.
Amen and amen.
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless, maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
Psalm 82:3-4
Thanks for sharing this Kevin. It is so awesome what the judge said,”I hereby pronounce you to be the daughter of Kevin and Stephanie East, and today change your name…”. It makes me fill up with emotion and remember that that is just how God does with all of us, he changes our identity to his. This is just awesome. I just love this! I know Hanna’s life has been changed and she herself will change others.
God Bless you.
Yes, Danny, it really is quite moving to hear the judge say something like that. The judge added, “Hannah, you are their daughter, just as if you came out of this mommy.”
We have been “grafted in” to God’s family, just as Hannah has been grafted in to ours. Love it.
love you guys so much!! we are so excited for your family…especially hannah!
Thank you, Tracy. We are excited to finally know she is with us to stay.
Kevin – Thank you for sharing and inspiring. You and Stephanie are an inspiration. Thank you for saying yes to the Lord! God Bless your family!
You’re a good man, Wes. I appreciate your kind words.
Time to change the bio on the bottom of your page here cuz it’s now 4 unbelievable kids!
Oh wow, you are so right. Now if I could just figure out how to do that….
I’ll try in the next few minutes.
Got it changed. Thanks.
Congratulations! The hollowness has lifted into holiness. Believe me, I know!
Oh I like that.
This is a post I should was waited until after work to read because the absolute joy I felt (which leaked out of my eyes) reading how the judge looked at her and pronounced to Hannah her forever family takes my breath away. Wow, just wow. Praise God and thank you for sharing this walk
It really is an amazing thing to be a part of. There is so much we can learn about the heart of God by witnessing an adoption take place in the courtroom.
I love it man. Tears of joy welled up in my eyes as I read this. This is profoundly the gospel in action and I’m so glad you and Steph lives this out. I’m glad I can continue to learn from you, even through the interwebs.
You are right; we have been made new people, so it was time for us to be a place of healing and refuge for the hurting. Through the process of being WHO WE ARE, we are blessed. And on and on and on…..
Thanks, Billy. It is still your fault that I am on Twitter, don’t forget.
I’ve been following your posts for quite a while now and have been praying for you all. It truly is encouraging to be able to trace the hand of God throughout the process. I rejoice with you and your family 🙂
That does not surprise me, Tasha, that you have been praying. I can’t even tell you how much God has sustained us through disappointment, how he has comforted us when our hearts grew scared or anxious, and how he has shown Himself in total control of all of this, even when we didn’t understand.
His grace really is sufficient!
“Sing praises to God and to his name!
Sing loud praises to him who rides the clouds.
His name is the Lord—
rejoice in his presence!
Father to the fatherless, defender of widows—
this is God, whose dwelling is holy.
God places the lonely in families;
he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.”
Psalm 68:4-6, NLT
Amen!
YES! Amen and amen.
Thank-you for your blog. My husband and I have been considering fostering and I have gotten him to read some of your posts as he is still in the considering stage. It is great for him to see it from a man’s perspective. Keep sharing. Congrats on your expanding family.
What an incredible story! I am so happy for your family and that Hannah is in a safe, loving and Christ-centered home. She is beautiful and looks so happy. I am hoping we will be there in a few months with our foster daughter! I can’t wait to read about the adoption of your new son!