Beyonce's Story!

When our family started foster care we really didn't think we would end up adopting. We had our three little girls, and was planning on having at least one more and figured we would just keep doing foster care for ever after that. Well plans changed! We did end up having one more, a little boy and we were so thrilled. We took a little break after having Zach, when he was 8 months old we started taking placements again. Our first placement was a little baby only a few weeks old, that was a little bit of a handful but I guess not challenging enough for us because I kept feeling like I needed to contact the Christmas Box House and ask them if they had any toddlers that needed a home. Sure enough when I called they did! They had a little two year old girl, they told me that she was very well behaved, but that she did have tattoos on her face. Tons of pictures began running through my head, I couldn't imagine what kind of tattoos could be on a little girls face. I told them we would love to take her. I then called my husband and said "how would you feel about taking in another little girl?" "Oh and by the way she has tattoos on her face." I was very touched by his reaction. He said "That sounds great, maybe we will have to keep her." I'm not sure how to explain the feelings that were felt, but we both knew that she was supposed to be part of our family from the moment we heard about her!
Beyonce' came to our home and we all fell in love! She was so beautiful, her tattoos were marks that a family member had made on her face, they were just little, and truthfully kind of cute, but they did need to be removed. It was very harsh how they were put there, and no child should have ever had to be put through anything like it! Beyonce' had been through so much at just age 2!
It took Beyonce' a good couple of weeks before she started to really talk, but we found out from a different child that came to our house that spoke Spanish the reason why... Beyonce' spoke Spanish! It was really pretty funny when we figured it out. She did speak English, but her Spanish was much better. It didn't take long though before Beyonce' was out talking us all!
We did go through some difficult times with Beyonce' in the beginning, she had severe attachment disorder and would become very destructive at times. She also struggled with hording food, because she was so worried about where her next meal was coming from, amazing at what survival skills they learn at such an early age. But with a lot of love and patience, and some helpful therapy she has come so far! Beyonce' is the most amazing girl you could ever meet!
It took a good year of visits with bio mom and lots of court to finally get to our adoption date, but it was so worth it! Beyonce' was so worth it! I wouldn't trade any of the roller coaster ride and late night what ifs and all the tears that were shed for what we got in return! Our family has been so blessed by the joy that Beyonce' has brought into our lives!