I’m not from around here, originally speaking. I grew up in Tennessee, chose an uncommon career path that directed me to The University of Alabama, and my college roommate, whom I was very fortunate to be paired with through “potluck” selection, led me to The Wesley Foundation. There I met so many wonderful people who became dear friends. Two of them were from Opelika. I had the privilege of visiting their home on a few occasions on weekend visits, including a trip for their wedding. As we neared graduation and the inevitable divergence of paths, the realm of foster care intercepted my friends’ lives in a profound way, and I was captivated. My heart had always been pulled in the direction of vulnerable children, although I didn’t know why or to what end. I knew I must keep this connection as their vision began to unfold and stirred my own heart passionately.
It would be another year after I left Alabama before that vision became a 501(c)3 called BigHouse. My first job after college brought me to Georgia, and I was deeply in love with my community and my work there. It was close enough to make frequent trips to Opelika to be involved with the beginnings of BigHouse events and programs, like Breakfast with Santa and the Clothes Closet. I made sure my friends knew that I was ready to jump in full-time when the opportunity arose. On one Sunday evening drive back to Georgia, I remember feeling homesick for my Opelika home, which seemed odd, since my family of origin was all in Tennessee. I thought, “I wonder if my husband is there.”
After 18 months in Georgia, program funding had been won, literally won, through a Pepsi voting contest, and I made my way home to Opelika. Like the apostle Paul, I “poured myself out like a drink offering” for BigHouse in those early days. I loved it and lived it and could not imagine more fulfillment than I was experiencing in my role as the Program Director. I still didn’t know that God was shaping me to become a foster and adoptive parent, and that one of the first kids I interacted with regularly would become my son five years later. I also met my husband at BigHouse. God brought him right to me, like I’d asked. He started volunteering at the end of January in 2012, and asked me out on our first date at the end of April, and we were married in the middle of December.
Nine months after our wedding we submitted our application to become foster parents. A full year after that we had our foster parent license and started visits with the boy I had known through BigHouse for so many years, and he came home that Christmas. I continued my work at BigHouse as I figured out how to parent a middle-schooler. At least once, I forgot to pick him up from school because I was engrossed in the Swimsuit and Towel Drive work, and our college interns were the ones to remind me! DHR called again 4 months later, and a social worker brought my second son to meet me at BigHouse. Fitting.
As you can see, BigHouse was integral in the formation of our family. We wouldn’t have each other any other way. It’s been a decade since I moved to Opelika, and BigHouse has been a prominent part of the last third of my life. I recently attended the BigHouse support banquet at which they revealed the property they intend to purchase as a permanent location that will be able to accommodate all of their current and future programs and events. It’s beautiful, and I see so much potential for the impact it will have on so many more lives. I look forward to taking our kids there as they grow up and retelling them the story of our family again and again. BigHouse is part of our family history and legacy as we give to ensure that it continues the work of supporting foster and adoptive families in our community.
If you want BigHouse to be part of your story, you can find out more by visiting ourbighouse.org. You will be certainly blessed by your involvement with this unique local outreach.
