Beautiful Chaos
Our Story about Foster Care, Adoption, Faith, and Love
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The parental rights of both mom and dad had been terminated. That meant the girls would be going up for adoption, just like we had hoped. Our hearts were beating out of our chest with joy. Our dreams were coming true. But neither my husband nor I were prepared for what came next. The department had found a family member (an aunt) out of state that was willing to take the girls and raise them as her own. My mind could not comprehend what the lawyer was saying. Why had this aunt not stepped up before now and where had she been for the past six months? They were our girls. Selfish thoughts perhaps, but still my thoughts at the time. This was not the big news we wanted to hear. The lawyer said the family would have to pass a home inspection and go through a background check just like we did before any final decision was made. We would be given a chance to plead our case and we would have to prove to everyone the girls were better off with us. Then the lawyer said the judge had ordered a visit for the newly found aunt and her family to meet the girls which would happen within the next couple of weeks, and she would let me know when that was to take place. I looked at my husband and thought to myself, This can’t be happening again?
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About the Book
Crystal Smith and her husband, Todd, have learned to embrace their beautiful chaos every day. In a house filled with foster children, it is never boring, always changing, and extraordinarily busy—and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
In the poignant story about faith and dutifully following God’s plan, Crystal shares the experiences and emotions that accompanied her family’s roller-coaster ride through the ups and downs of the foster care system and as they eventually became a forever family through adoption. While providing an in-depth look into their journey, Crystal details the foster care training system, the lengthy paperwork process, the complex emotions that followed their first in-home placement, the difficulties of saying goodbye to children, and the joys that surrounded the day they officially became a forever family. Through it all, Crystal illustrates that every child, every tear, every smile, and every fear has made them the family they are today.
Beautiful Chaos is an inspiring story about foster care, adoption, faith, and love, and how one family came to be.
About the Author
Crystal Smith has been a foster mother to over twenty-five children in the last seven years. She is a devoted mother to seven children, five of whom have been adopted out of foster care. Crystal currently lives in Bristol, Tennessee, with her husband, Todd, and their five youngest children. She blogs weekly at https://beautifulchaosx7.blog/.