I'm going to be a mommy!

JUST KIDDING.... bet I scared you. Here's the real story. Every Tuesday one of the young moms from the neighborhood,"Maria", who I would consider a close friend, comes in to clean Rock Island for us. She does it voluntarily out of the goodness of her heart and I think it's great. Tuesdays are usually the highlight of my week, not because Rock Island gets cleaned, but because her 1 and 2 year old daughters spend the day with me. I'm not going to lie, they can get in the way a little bit with my job, but I wouldn't change it for the world. I love those 2 like they were my own.

This past Tuesday "Maria", who is 24 years old with 4 kids, came in to talk to me with a heavy heart. She then began to sob and tell me the story of what had her so upset. It seems immigration officers have made their presence known in the neighborhood in the past 2 weeks. Last weekend they actually picked up 62 illegals and deported them. Most were caught because of their affiliation with a local latino gang, but it's still scary for all the illegals in the neighborhood. "Maria" is concerned that she will be next. She is being evicted from her apartment on Oct. 1 because of her illegal status and really feels the time is coming when she will be sent back to Mexico. So she wants to make some preparations with me before that day comes.

"Maria" is in the same boat as many illegal immigrants. They don't have papers to be here, but their children were born here and therefore are U.S. citizens. Her 7 and 8 year old boys were born in Mexico and don't have papers, but her 1 and 2 year old girls do. The "preparations" she needed to talk to me about were the adoption of her 2 children. She wants me to take the 1 and 2 year old as my own. Now before I say anything about that... I must say. There will come a day in the future, very distant future, that I know I will adopt a latino baby. I also have always known the possibility of me taking one home from the mission at some point in my life is probable.

BUT, I am 23 years old and single, with no possibility of not being single in the near future or probably distant future. I had 3 questions when she sprung this request on me. The first was, "Don't you have other family here?" Her answer, she does, but she told me that most are all alcoholics and cocaine addicts. The second, "why not take them with you?" Answer, when she goes back to Mexico she most likely won't have running water or electricity and disease is running rampant in her home town. She doesn't want to take her daughters back if they can legally be here forever. And my last question, "why me?". Her answer, "because I want them to be like you". GULP... after that answer and a few tears I immediately wanted to say, Ok, where do I sign, hand em over. But, the thought of hauling them around in one of those baby backpacks at work and the look on my parents face when I told them they would be getting 2 more grandchildren this week (my sister had a little boy last Friday), kept my mouth shut and my mind running.

I didn't make any promises to "Maria", but I did tell her that I'll pray. Mainly I'm going to pray that she doesn't get deported. But I also will pray that God will give me the wisdom to know what to do with these two little girls, as well as the many children in the area who might soon be orphaned due to immigration laws.



"Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us." James 1:27 NLT