Graduation - Part 1

We celebrated another milestone for the Salazar family last night. Nicole graduated from high school. Nicole came into our lives as a foster baby almost 18 years ago. She was a premie, with severe birth problems, but today she graduated as a beautiful, smart and personable young lady with a wonderful future ahead of her. One of my earliest memories of time spent with Nicole will always be firmly planted in the front of my mind. I took on the responsibility of putting Nicole to bed at night, usually by holding her and giving her a bottle. Many nights during her first winter in our home, I would take her downstairs into our living room, turn up the gas logs and enjoy some quiet time as she went to sleep. (sometimes we'd both go to sleep) Many nights I would pray over her. Since she was a foster child, we had no idea how long we would have her, or where she might go. What we did know was that her mother was a 14 year old runaway that was running from the law. We did not know who her father was, and to this day he is unknown. The only person that seemed to care about her was her maternal grandmother who was trying to get custody of her. One night as I was praying for her, I agonized over the fact that Nicole did not have a father. Suddenly it seemed like the Holy Spirit stopped my prayer and whispered in my mind, "you are her father, you have taken responsibility for this baby and you are her father." At this moment I also realized a tremendous sense of God's love for me, Abba Father, "Daddy", embracing us both and helping me realize that God loved us both with an overwhelming love.

18 years later, I truly am Nicole's father. After 18 months of contentious legal manuvering, a Colorado family court decided that none of Nicole's blood relatives had passed a home study. Since she had been with us for so long, we could not put her back in the foster system and we started adoption proceedings. Last night as I watched her walk across the stage to receive her diploma, I breathed a prayer of thanksgiving to our Father, who had allowed me to be her father. Tomorrow I'll relate another story that showed me how much God loves us all.