Back in May, I hosted a contest that asked readers to nominate a deserving Mom for a free photo session. The only request was that those submitting mothers tell me why she was so deserving. As you can imagine, I received a lot of entries. The truth is that it was very difficult for me to choose from all the Moms entered; I felt all of them were deserving. My original promise was to select one of those Moms and award her with not only a complimentary session, but also all the digital negatives from that session. However, there ended up being 3 entries in particular that really stood out to me, and I (after some heavy thought/prayer on the matter) selected all three of those Mothers.
The first Mom I chose was “Nancy” (all names below are changed to protect privacy),and here is why I chose her:
Original Entry:
I am nominating our Nanny’s sister, Nancy. She is a 27 year-old “new” Mom of 7-year-old Melissa and a foster mother to Tom who is 11. Nancy met Melissa when she was doing respite care for Melissa’s brother Tom, in their foster home. Tom is mentally handicapped through a very rare disease. If he eats proteins it attacks his body and damages his brain. Melissa also has the same disease. However, they were able to catch it before it completely mentally and physically handicapped her. Tom was not as lucky. Their birthparent’s put them in foster care as they were not able to care for them. Melissa’s foster parents would lock (yes you read that right) her in her room every night at 5 or 5:30. Melissa did not speak a lot and she was really shut down. There was no interaction in the home. No one read to her. No toys. She lived for 5 years without ever having a birthday party. Nancy started to intereact with Melissa and take her to church and read to her, and Melissa started to open up about her “angry” house.
Nancy knew that she had to get Melissa out of this horrible place. Nancy is single and only in her mid-twenties, so you know that it was really hard to adopt Melissa, even though the foster father was currently being investigated after another foster girl had accused him of sexual abuse and rape. Between the social worker, another family, their church community and Nancy, they were finally able to bring Melissa home. It was a long process.
Since this time, Nancy has also has welcomed Melissa’s brother Tom into their home as a foster child. Because of the disease, they have to measure out all of the food for the kids. Every piece of food is watched, monitored and measured as even a piece of cake can cause harm to them physically and mentally. Since Melissa came to live with Nancy, she has blossomed. She used to not speak when she was brought over to play with my children and had no friends her age. Now, she has gone to Disneyland and is learning to read. She has a room with dolls and bows in her hair. She smiles, skips and gives hugs. She is a now a happy, sometimes sassy little girl!
Melissa is in the special needs class at her school but with hard work from her new Mom- she has been removed and will soon be in a new classroom next year. Nancy insisted that they retest her, as she knew she was learning and her hard work would soon pay off. By moving Melissa out of the special needs class, Nancy will lose some of the government assistance she receives and was told to think carefully before moving her. But as any mother knows, you want your child to succeed and money is often not an issue.
I nominated Nancy because she did what is right. She has changed her life to make two children’s lives better. A mother’s love is sometimes found in the most unexpected places. I am proud and blessed to know her and her family. However motherhood comes to you, it’s a miracle.
Y
Tom could not join us for the session due to his health, but I had a wonderful time with Nancy and Melissa. Nancy is an inspiration to me. What an extraordinary thing she has done; the sacrifice for these two children almost beyond words. I was very proud to meet her. And I was also warmed by how normal and adjusted Melissa seemed, meaning she acted just like most little girls her age do. I loved seeing her all dressed up in pretty clothes and getting to experience something as simple as that. It breaks my heart and deeply angers me to think of children who are abused, neglected or hurt in any fashion, such as Melissa was. But knowing that people like Nancy exist in this world, who walk to the talk to turn a situation like that around one child at a time, redeems a little of that lost faith and anger. Thank you Nancy for all you do and have done!
by jenjoaz
3 comments