My baby, Zachary, is 18 and he graduated from High School this May (praise God and pass the Kleenex)! He is leaving on August 26 (gulp) for Air Force Basic Training!

It's been a long time since we first met Zach. He was six years old and we were brand new, wet behind the ears, shiny-as-a-copper-penny foster parents for the state of Louisiana. We were his fifth placement (he had been bounced around a lot--the state tried to keep he and his siblings together, but it didn't work out) and he asked us on Day 1 if he could call us Mom and Dad. Wow. Talk about jumping into parenting with both feet!

But God has blessed us tremendously through these rocky years. Zach made a profession of faith, asking Jesus to come into his heart and be his boss, fairly soon after he came to live with us. We worked with him and with his birthmom in counseling and with our state workers and two CASA workers, and eventually his birthmom asked us if we would adopt him. She loved him very much and could see how well he was doing with us. She made the hardest decision, but the best decision for Zach, by surrendering her parental rights. We were able to adopt Zach when he was almost nine years old--2 1/2 years after our first meeting!

We kept in contact with Zach's birth family, sending cards and pictures to them, and we were blessed to be able to let him spend this past Thanksgiving with them. He is now able to claim two sets of family members who love him--what a lucky guy.