This morning, as with every morning, my 2 year old daughter called out to me from her bed “Mama, I’m ready to wake up.” And as with every morning, I went into her room greeting with “Good Morning” and “I love you” and began helping her through her routine morning tasks. A bit later we went together to greet her little brother as he woke up. These tiny, routine moments don’t seem like much, but taken together, day after day after day, they create what my children need most – family, love, and a home.
The reality is that in the moments this morning that I was caring for my children, there were many children in our city – somewhere around 2,000 – that were not being cared for by their biological families. There was no familiar mother to enter their bedroom with the daily greetings and hugs that provide the safety children need and desire. There were no routine morning tasks to be accomplished together between mother and child, because for these small ones, that relationship had been broken for one reason or another. Some of these children are lucky and get welcomed into the homes of relatives or even strangers. Some of them did wake up in a home with a loving adult caring for them. But every day, around 50 children in our city wake up in a shelter to staff who rotate shifts like nurses. No mother, no father, no secure greetings or routines, no assurance of safety, and no real hope for tomorrow.
Lilyfield Christian Adoption and Foster Care exists because we believe that every child deserves a family and we believe that church holds the answer to the plight of these children. We have been providing safe, loving homes for children in Oklahoma for over 13 years. Some of these children come into Lilyfield foster homes because they are in state custody due to abuse, neglect or abandonment. Others come into Lilyfield adoptive homes through private placements because birth parents have faced the devastating reality that they simply cannot provide what their child needs. Whatever their journey to us, we are dedicated to ensuring that there are families ready to say “yes” to their need for a home.
I hope you will consider joining us as we work to bring hope to children who have lost the most fundamental of needs – their family. This work is hard; it is costly; it is complex; it is messy. And it is worth it.
“God sets the lonely in families.” Psalm 68:6
****************
Holly Towers has been with Lilyfield since 2008. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Holly has a passion for helping children find loving, Christian families through adoption and foster care, and empowering families to provide the care needed to raise the children who come into their homes. Holly manages the day to day operations of Lilyfield, as well as working with strategic partnerships within the community to mobilize faith families to engage in the issues of adoption and foster care. She also conducts most adoptive and foster parent orientation and education sessions for Lilyfield.
To get connected with Lilyfield Christian Adoption and Foster Care, you can email them at [email protected].
