An Easter Miracle!
Elijah and Emma entered the world under difficult circumstances. Their parents, Jaden and Sarah Patterson, loved them very much, but they were struggling. Though they were involved with a church, they didn’t have much of a support system. Sarah spent some time in foster care when she was little, and Jaden’s parents were in a nursing home. To make matters worse, Jaden nor Sarah had consistent employment, and they had just been evicted from their home. With no stable housing or steady income, they couldn’t provide the security their newborns needed, and just days after the twins were born, they were placed in foster care.
Jaden and Sarah refused to give up, but they knew they had work to do if they wanted to bring their babies home. They started by securing a temporary place to stay with a member of their church, then began looking for jobs. After a few months, Sarah found a job as a receptionist, and Jaden was hired at a construction company.
Sarah says about this time, “We were so tired. It was like all we did was work, eat, sleep, and then work some more…it felt like everything was against us—our car broke down and had to be fixed and we would get bills we didn’t know about.” Little by little, they worked toward stability, saving as much money as they could. They attended free financial planning classes, saw a marriage and family counselor, and picked up as many extra shifts as they could manage.
Meanwhile, Elijah and Emma were placed with Melissa, a foster mom who provided the love and care the twins needed in those early months. Melissa understood the role of foster care—to provide safety and support for children while their parents worked to bring them home. She loved Elijah and Emma as her own but also rooted for Jaden and Sarah, sending them pictures and updates, reassuring them that their babies were safe and growing.
Twice a month, the Pattersons visited Elijah and Emma. They held them close, fed them bottles, and dreamed about what their family would look like one day. Saying ‘goodbye’ to the twins was always emotional. It wasn’t easy, but they didn’t let it discourage them. “I never wanted to leave…that was my son…that was my daughter. I just knew I had to get them back,” Jaden shares.
Months passed, and with hard work, things started to fall into place. Jaden and Sarah saved enough money for a small apartment. They completed parenting classes and met every requirement set before them. Finally, the day they had been waiting for arrived—the court ruled that Elijah and Emma could come home…and it was just in time for Easter.
Two weeks before Easter, Melissa packed up the twins’ belongings—tiny clothes and their favorite blankets given to them by their parents. When Jaden and Sarah arrived, they held their babies close—this time knowing they were going home as a family.
“We were a little scared…but so so happy. We were really just excited to be together and do normal, family things—go to the grocery store, eat dinner together, you know, like the little things. They would both be crying at the same time and as hard as that is, I was still thinking like ‘I’m so happy they’re home.’ It’s so worth it.” Sarah explains.
Now, Emma and Elijah are about to turn two, and they are thriving at home! They are walking, playing, and having babbling conversations with each other, mimicking how they have seen adults talk. The Patterson family is so thankful that they have never had an Easter apart.
This Resurrection Sunday, we celebrate the power of restoration. Because of the generosity of people like you, children like Emma and Elijah are loved and cherished until they are reunited with their family. Your gifts provide safe homes for children, resources for struggling parents, and the hope of a fresh start.
To learn more about becoming a foster parent, visit here!