I have to tell you that the adoption of my youngest daughter was a total miracle… God put her here and there is no doubt to that fact… I run a daycare, and was walking one of my daycare children down the street when my now 18 year old said, “I wish we could adopt a baby that nobody else wanted.” Well, as a homeschool mom, I explained to her, that that was a lesson in red tape, and a discussion for another day… Lorraine replied, “I will pray about it anyway.”

That evening, I called my best friend, to have someone other than herself, or her husband answer the phone… It was so odd for that to happen, that I lost all train of thought, the woman on the other end had to ask me if I wanted to speak to Marian. I said, “yes,” and she got Marian.. I asked Marian who that was, and she explained to me that she was a friend from high school, who was pregnant and needed a place to stay till she had it. They were fixing supper, so I told her to call me as soon as they got finished.

That was all that I knew of the situation, but as I hung up the phone, adoption welled up in my throat like a frog. I could not swallow it down, so to speak. I went down the hall telling God, that I must be losing my mind, because Marian never said that the girl wanted to give her baby up… Two hours later, Marian called me back as I had asked. We got back on the subject of the young lady that had answered the phone. I asked if she were married, and she said no, that the boyfriend wanted her to abort the child and she couldn’t go through with it. So, she was in need of a place to stay, because he threw her out… I asked what kind of work she did, and Marian said that she was a truck driver. That blew my mind, I asked her how on earth was she going to take care of a baby on a truck? She said that she was giving the child up for adoption…

Well, at that I almost fainted, and then proceeded to tell Marian what had came about earlier today, up to the time she told me this. She started laughing and said, that she wished Lonnie and I would or could take it… I immediately looked at Lonnie and told him of what had happened, and asked could we take the baby. He said, “yes, tell her to drop it off on her way home from the hospital.” I took that as being a cocky remark and told him that he didn’t have to be so smart about it. He looked at me with an honest look on his face and said, that if she REALLY wanted to give the baby up that we had the room for it. But that he could not see anyone just giving up a baby…

Well, I called Marian back to tell her the wonderful news and Sutton, the birth mother answered. I told her that I thought we had someone that would take the baby, she sounded a little sad, and said, “oh! Well, Marian and Jimmy have been telling me of a couple, they wish would take it, ever since I came into town.” I then said, ” who, I may know them.” She replied, Penny and Lonnie Shelton, at that all I could do is start laughing… I explained to her that was us, and that we would love to take this child in… Over the next two weeks we were together all the time. I was taking her around trying to retrieve all her lost things, such as drivers license and social security card, and medical card for the doctors.

We really got to know each other pretty well, and she was getting to know the family that would eventually take a piece of her life in.. The day that she went into labor, Marian had court day, for custody of her children, so she could not take her. That left me… I had been told that she wanted to be dropped off, and she would handle all of this alone. I wanted to abide by her wishes. So, on the way, I told her that I knew what she wanted, and that I would do so. When we arrived, she asked me to come in with her, to make sure they would admit her. I did so, and planned on leaving as soon as we made sure…

At that, she asked if I would stay, because she was in so much pain and scared.. Then six hours later, the doctor decided the baby would have to be taken c-section, due to the fact that the umbilical card was wrapped around the baby’s neck… He called me outside to ask if I would go in with her, to help calm her down… I explained the situation, and told him that if she wanted me to, I would… He explained to her, what was needed to save the baby’s life, and she turned to me and asked me if I would go in with her. I said yes. God was laying this whole thing out, little by little, and I was seeing it all along… Praise God!!!

I went in, and let me tell you, gained so much more respect for my husband who had been at this end for two of our own children’s birth. I knew that he loved me so much more than I could ever love anyone that I only knew for two weeks…. But I did care deeply… I talked to her through the whole thing, trying to calm her down, and in the back of my mind wondering if she could actually go through with this… When they brought the baby to the cleaning table, she asked what she looked like… This child had more hair on her body, than I had ever seen in my entire life… It was wet, and sticking up all over her body, face included… I looked at Sutton, and smiled and said, ” a little monkey. ” I never meant it to be mean, just that she was so hairy… Sutton looked at me and said that must be from the Italian side of her family…

They brought the baby, and proceeded past me to Sutton, to hand her to her. Sutton, looked at the nurse, and said, “hand her to her mother.” With this, I began to cry, it was true, she was going home with us… I looked at the baby and kissed her, and brought her to Sutton, and asked her if she was sure she wanted to do this… She said that she is where she belongs…

Now four years later, we are finding out why she gave her up. It was not just because she was on drugs at the time, or that she was unmarried, and a truck driver… The babies father was an African American man, and she told me that her family would have never accepted the child because of this.. I had told her at birth when the pediatrician told her that she should tell the adoptive parents of her nationality, that it didn’t matter, that it would not have mattered if she would have been full blooded African-American, she was to be ours, and ours she will be… But without knowing us better than this, she hid the truth from us, until she turned one year… It has never mattered to us, this child is a beautiful gift from God, very intelligent, loving, wise, and compassionate.

I know that God is in Control of her life, and is just working things out for all of us… He even gave us an attorney that did the adoption Pro-bono. I had to go home and tell my husband, who asked what that meant, and I looked it up, and found out at that moment, that that meant free of charge…. Tell me that God doesn’t cause man to give unto your bosom. He did in this case! God has been so wonderful to us…

Penny shelton@i-55.com (Received on Wednesday February 28, 2001)