God's Perfect Timing
Three years ago Joy Spencer and her family went on a journey that would unexpectedly bring Aniylah to their family. Below she shares how God brought them together.
I never thought adoption would be written into our story when we began our journey with foster care. I knew my heart longed to foster, and I told the Lord that if we ever had a home with the extra room, I would fill the rooms.
Not long after buying our home in August of 2020, I began to have such an urgency in my spirit to take the upcoming [foster care training] classes in February of 2021. My husband worked out of town often at the time, and we always felt we could never commit to 10 weeks of classes.
However, the first of the year was typically slower for his travel work, so we jumped head-first into the classes. During the panel night, where they bring in foster parents to share their stories, one couple had a newborn baby girl with them. I literally remember adoring her and saying, “This is what we are getting into!” I watched as she was passed around, and everyone doted over her, but I never held her that evening.
As we worked our way through the classes, I still had that same urgent feeling I could not shake. I drove my husband crazy by having him complete all the paperwork, physicals, and safety check items for our home in just a few weeks’ time. I wanted to be able to put everything in ABCH’s hands at our last class. And being the amazing guy he is, he pulled it off, and our part was done!
It was only a matter of waiting for our license to be approved. The day it was approved, our worker called us about our baby girl, Aniylah. She was shy of 4 months old and came with a belly full of issues. She was tiny yet chubby and never stopped crying. Our world forever changed that day! I had three older children and had quickly forgotten how busy an infant could keep you.
Little did I know that the tiny newborn baby I adored during my fostering classes would later be Aniylah, my first foster child. She would teach me how to advocate for answers, pray through the wee hours of the morning, study milk allergies and digestive issues, learn to be content in the mess, extend extra compassion and grace to others, and choose to sit and rock a little while longer because life can move extremely fast and become hectic.
Over the next 638 days, we warred for her, loved her, supported her, and watched her grow. Then on the 639th day in our home, Aniylah became forever ours!
Had we not committed to the classes in February (which happened to be days after she was born), had we not pressed ourselves to get our paperwork turned in quickly, and had we not given in to the great urgency, I truly believe we would have missed the opportunity of meeting our baby girl!
The Spencers adopted Aniylah in the summer of 2023. To learn more about becoming a foster parent, visit here.
