Halfway to forever by Karen Kingsbury

social worker yes...yes, they'd take the little girl and give her a real
bed, a real home, and a family who would love her forever.
But what if something happened? What if somehow the mother's rights weren't terminated? How in the world would the child survive then?
How would she survive?
What am I supposed to do here, God? Give me wisdom... please.
Edna Parsons drew a deep breath. "I've met the girl, Mrs.
Bronzan. And, well, she's very special. Other than a very rough
first few years, she's in perfect health. She'll be very easy to place.
I called you first because I can picture her in your family"
Hannah opened her eyes and felt the familiar sting of tears. A lump in her throat made it impossible to speak. She swallowed hard, already
drawn to the lonely little girl sitting in a foster home somewhere.
A little girl whose name God was even now writing on her
heart.
Mrs. Parsons interrupted her thoughts. "I can give you a few
days to think about it. If you're not interested, I need to look
through my other files as soon as possible."
Hannah squeezed Jenny's hand and nodded, finding her voice
once more. "That'll be fine. I'll call you tomorrow Thank you for
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thinking of us." She almost hung up, but then she stopped. "What's her name?"
She could hear the smile in the social worker's voice. "Grace." Grace...
The moment the phone was on the hook, Hannah led jenny to a sofa in the next room. Her heart raced and her hands trembled as she faced
her daughter, smiling through eyes clouded with tears. "They have a little girl for us. Mrs. Parsons said she could picture her in our family"
Jenny searched Hannah's face. "But-" her voice was barely audible-"she's a foster child, right? Isn't that what you said?" Hannah shrugged.
She released her hold on jenny's hands and
leaned back. "For now She'll be free in six months. The mother's in jail, and in a few weeks Grace will be placed in a foster-adopt home."
"Grace?" A flicker of hope danced in Jenny's eyes.
"Yes." Hannah smiled and played the child's name over again in her mind. Grace. It was a good name, a good sign. It was God's grace that
made the risk worth taking. Somehow the Lord would see them through the adoption process.
Jenny folded her hands, her forehead a mass of wrinkles. "How old is she?"
Hannah reminded herself to breathe. Her mind still spun from the information. The phone call felt like something from a dream, and now that
Mrs. Parsons had explained the situation, Hannah could already imagine the girl coming home in a few days. "Four. She's been living in the
back of a van."
Jenny's chin quivered. She stared out the window at the gentle surf and breathed out, soft and slow Hannah's heart ached for her daughter and
the emotional roller coaster they'd ridden these past years-as well as the one they'd ride in the coming months if they took this child.
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Jenny faced Hannah again. There were tears on her cheeks, and she wiped the wetness with the back of her sleeve as the uncertainty in her
eyes fell away. In its place a grin formed, one that convinced Hannah beyond a doubt that they were doing the right thing by adopting. "We're
going to take her, right?"
"Well..." Hannah laughed and sobbed at the same time. "When Matt gets home, we'll talk about it."
"What's there to talk about?" Jenny's eyes sparkled and she threw her hands up. "God must want her with us. Otherwise he wouldn't have had
the social worker call."
Hannah wrapped her arms around her daughter, taking in the
warmth of her, the fresh smell of her shampoo. She silently
thanked God for sparing this precious child four years ago.
Hannah pulled back and searched Jenny's eyes. "So if we take a
vote, yours is yes?"
A smile filled Jenny's face. "Absolutely"
When Matt got home an hour later, the decision was unanimous.
Hannah called Mrs. Parsons the next morning and told her
the news. "How soon can we have her?"
The social worker laughed. "Within an hour of her mother's
sentencing."
From the moment Hannah hung up the phone she was
bathed in reassurance, grateful for the little one God was bringing
into their lives. It was a miracle, really. In two weeks she would be