I want to dedicate this post to my beautiful daughter Grace who went to be with the Lord 8 years ago tomorrow!  We adopted Grace when she was around two.  Her exact age was not known as she was found lying on the side of the road outside the orphanage.


We had four children when we went to Korea to live and adopted two baby girls shortly there after.  My husband decided he wanted another son but we were told because of the number of children in our family that we could only adopt a special needs child.  We had to find him and then they would do the adoption.  So, we set out to find a mildly handicap child.  A cleft palate, club feet, something correctable and small.  That was not to be Gods plan for us.  The first time we saw Grace she was lying on a floor with a room full of other children, some with more severe disabilities than others.  She was so thin, and was arched so far back that her feet almost touched her head, and moaning in pain.  There were so many children and I was so overwhelmed that I had to leave.  Over the next week my husband kept talking about her and I kept saying NO!  I couldn't bring a child home just to watch her die.  We prayed for over a week, and finally, very reluctantly, I agreed to go back with a Dr. from the base where we were stationed .  I truly thought that she would no longer be there.  I had never seen a child so sick before and didn't see how she could have lived another week.  When we arrived she was still there and something in me, the fighting mother I guess, picked her up and it was as if God placed me with her in my arms into a bubble.  I could hear the doctor saying that she would probably not make it and that if she did she would be severely handicap.  That she would never live a normal life and would need 24 hour care.  The conversations went on but even though I could hear them it was at a distance.  It didn't matter what was being said I had found my daughter and I was taking her home.


We had Grace at our home for 24 hours before we were able to have legal custody of her.  Until then she could not be admitted into the hospital on the Army base where John was stationed and we were living.  She had a horrible fungus in her hair and the doctor had said not to touch it because it was contagious.  I just prayed and trusted that God would protect me because this baby needed hugs more than anything.  He teeth were all ground down to the gums and rotted.  There was no way to feed her.  She was terrified, so was I, and we spent most of that first night crying.  I'm not sure how but my wonderful husband managed to get the custody papers in less than a day and we headed for the hospital where they were waiting for us.


My dad was also in the Navy and if you can believe it they lived right next door to us which worked out amazingly since I had 6 other children that still needed to be cared for.  Two of them babies.  My mom took over, I moved into the hospital, and that is how life went for the next month. After they got her stable we were moved to a huge private room where my mom would bring my kids to see us daily.  


The doctors said I needed to stay with Grace at all times because she needed someone to bond to and a reason to live.  Well she lived and we bonded.  We bonded so strongly that even though she could never speak I always knew what she was wanting or what she was trying to say.  Grace was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, Dystonia, Seizure disorder, and cortical blindness, but her mind was as sharp as Eisenstein!!  She had a sense of humor that you can't imagine.  Without ever being able to ask a question she learned to understand English and loved to listen to movies and call names, in her own words of course.


All three of the girls we adopted in Korea were very close in age.  Grace was the oldest, 8 mo. younger was Hope, and 6 mo. younger was Madeleine.  Hope and Maddy would get into trouble by making messes etc.. they would then pull Grace over to where they were and say she did it.  I would ask "Grace, did you make this mess?" and she would grunt, "yes", all the while wiggling and laughing with her whole body!!!


Everyday before her dad would get home form work she would say co, co, which meant coke.  We would open one, give her a little sip, then set the can by her bed.  She would wait for her dad to get home and he would make huge deal about how she had once again stolen his coke.  She was always able to find pleasure in the most simple things.  All the things that we take for granted on a daily bases.


Grace lived with us for 16 wonderful years.  She taught our family how to love, forgive, and how to enjoy everyday to it's fullest.  As her condition progressed and she was in constant pain she would still find the strength to smile, joke, and love on us.  It's hard for me to find the words that adequately describe what she gave to us and what an empty hole she left in our lives the day she went to heaven.


I love all of my children more than my own life but I have never felt so close to another person as I did to my  Grace.  I don't know if people in heaven can hear us, or look down and see us, but if not I hope that Jesus tells her how much we all loved and still love her.  I hope he tells her how much she taught us and how not a day goes by that we don't think about her.  That she did her job here on earth well.  I know he must say to her daily, "Well done my good and faithful servant".


There is so much more to Grace's story and maybe someday I will be able to write it all but for now I just wanted to honor her life and let people know where she came from and how she finished.  With excellence!!!