Memories of My Dad

On April 21, 2013 my dad, James Michael Belus, lost his fight with liver cancer and entered into the presence of Jesus.  The last four weeks have been quite different for me.  I have been thinking of soo many sweet memories.
 I was adopted into the Belus home when I was 8 1/2 years old along with my twin sister.  We were embraced and accepted immediately.  The first few weeks were quite an adjustment to say the least!  We had a new set of parents,two big sisters, a little brother, and a completely different life.  I remember many nights not being able to fall asleep and my sister and I would start missing our previous family.The tears would start to fall and it seemed like instantly our new mom and dad were there.  They would scoop us up and hold us till the wee hours of the morning, assuring us that we were loved and that we were safe.  I remember laying against my daddy's chest and listening to his heart beat and comfortably dozing off to sleep.
 I felt soo secure in those strong arms!
Many years later, from March 25 -29, I was able to travel to Idaho and see my dad again.  I knew it would most likely be the last time I would see him on this side of Heaven.  We talked for hours, laughed, cried, and I felt loved and cherished once again.  I was Daddy's girl one last time!
I really was dreading that trip to the airport because I knew it was time to say goodbye.  I hugged my daddy, had a picture taken and grabbed my suitcase. I started to walk away and then ran back for one more hug.  I remember hearing that heart beat and it was soo strong and comforting!
Twenty-one days later I got the call that it was over.  Daddy was finally out of pain and in the arms of Jesus.  The rest of us are moving forward with our lives but will forever be grateful for the person we called "Daddy".

 


 

Today I have been in a reflective mood! I have learned that when looking at my growing up years there were way more positives than negatives!  I think of my birth brother who was only a few years older than my twin sister and I but was such a good brother to us! I believe he truly saved my life several times! I have heard stories of him sneaking us food, and running for help when he was left alone with us and we were very ill! We were only 10 months old at the time so he must have been about 4 or younger! He ran to the neighbor's and they called an ambulance for us! We were 10lbs at 10 months, very malnourished and had "Failure To Thrive". My twin sister and I stayed in the hospital for a month and then placed into a loving foster home. Our brother was taken to his grandma's house, and our birth mom was taken to jail.  This may not seem positive to you, but I think of the life we were living and the wonderful change that came about to save us from that life!  God has truly shown me his grace in my life!

Daughter of Grace Blog 

 Wow! My own blog! This very exciting! Ok! Enough of that! lol!

 The purpose for setting up this blog is to be an encouragement and share a little of what God has done in my   life through foster care, adoption, marriage, motherhood, and ministry!  I believe the feed back I get will help me in my efforts of writing my book, Daughter of Grace!