Little about, me for anyone new!

Hi! I am Brittany lover of Jesus Christ. I am wife to Jared and momma to Jozi Noel (9), and our newly adopted heart grown angel baby, Gabriel (4). I am currently in my 16th year of teaching PE,  Weightlifting, and Special Ed PE at Pickens High School in upstate South Carolina. To help pay for lawyer fees to fight for Gabriel I started an online women’s fitness program, Fostering Faith & Fitness. What started out as a handful of local women has now expanded to Hawaii and Alaska. Through this God given platform and now blog, I am privileged to tell our story.

After having Jozi Noel I felt called to adopt. I longed to adopt a baby. Door after door seem to close and it begin to feel out of reach. Then one night God placed foster care on my heart like a tidal wave. A wave I did not see coming nor did I feel equipped for. Lucky for me that’s who God uses, the unequipped!

Gabriel came into our home six months later. I picked him up at our local hospital after being warned we “may not want him, he’s in critical shape.” He had been almost beaten to death at eight months old. In court the forensics doctor in our area testified that Gabriel was, “the worst case of abuse she had ever witnessed in her 18 years on the job.. that lived.”

I prayed for him before he came and I truly loved him before I met him. We were ready to sell out for him and we did.

My husband and I had our own lawyer for two and half years to try minimize the chance of any more trauma happening if he were removed after healing so well. Gabriel’s crib at night was where I would pray for God’s will to be done in his life. Selfishly, I even begged God at times to allow me to be the one that got to see his kindergarten graduation, to help him ride a bike, to teach him to tie his shoes, all of it. But, if not just to keep him safe for the rest of his life.

Appeals after appeals were made in his case pushing his days in the system out further and further. But, God has a way of using the wait to draw us near.

At one point I vividly remember not being able to feel my legs walking into Gabriel’s trial. I begged God to help me walk in. That’s the story I want to tell. How he carried me. I want to tell of God’s goodness in the waiting. How I prayed for a baby and God gave me not only a baby, but a closer relationship with Him! I want to tell it so badly because it is then I feel what happened to Gabriel doesn’t go in vain or is wasted. I want to let other foster moms know yes reunification is the goal, but sometimes it’s okay to loose yourself fighting for what you think is right. So that anyone thinking of getting involved might just do it- sell out for another person. I’m now daily learning how to help Gabriel navigate his trauma. Excited for the chance to grow and learn from and with you ladies.

Can’t wait to share more of Jesus.