The Story of Theo: Part 1

I have not been at liberty to share the totality of our journey concerning Theo due to legal sanctions, the fear of information being twisted to plot against us, and the possibility of retaliation and repercussions. In addition, even though they were positive, happy moments of our journey, once my words had gone public, they could affect the outcome of the most important part of the story: the future life of a precious, innocent little boy. His family was constantly looking for something to trip us up with. Later on in the story, you will hear a little bit more about the relentless dog fight and attacks on our character that we endured. I tried to share a few positive and victorious tidbits of our story along the way for the prayers, and because of the great joy it seemed to bring to others, and the joy I felt from sharing this amazing gift in my life with people I cared about, who I knew cared about us. But there were also many dark moments.

I love taking pictures, capturing moments and experiences, and writing, so that makes me gravitate toward social media. However, the other person to consider in this journey, as stated above, has a very different viewpoint and approach to life. I do my best to respect that because I respect her deeply. To be honest, this is actually her journey, and I have just been along for the ride, which has been the ride of my life (and believe me, I have been on some doozies). I am sharing from my perspective, the one who has ridden shotgun for the past four and a half years, and that is why I speak in the singular of “I” throughout this telling. I am telling my story, not hers. Denyse can speak for herself, which she probably won’t, but that is her right.

For those of you who know Denyse, you know that she is a very private person who chooses not to share much at all regarding her personal life. It is like pulling teeth to get her to allow you to say or post something publicly to compliment her or thank her for the remarkable things she does for others. She thinks it’s ridiculous. People sometimes wonder why she isn’t in any of our ministry pictures; simply put, she doesn’t want to be, no matter how much we beg her to. She is very strong-willed, so you are not going to talk her into something she doesn’t want to do. We all admire and respect her for who she is and do our best to honor her wishes. So, in this regard, our personalities are quite different, maybe a little “Thelma & Louise” in nature.

This really came to the forefront when Theo first came into the picture, especially when we became embroiled in a horrid CPS case. (Yes, I know that when you are a foster parent you are not allowed to post pictures of the children you are fostering, but ours wasn’t a typical CPS case.) From the beginning, Denyse was simply identified as the caregiver of Theo, which is similar to kinship. Hopefully this will make a little more sense later on in this story. The lines seemed a little less defined to me, so maybe I pushed the boundaries a bit when it came to sharing. That is what some of us do when we love somebody; we want to share them with the world. And I have truly loved Theo deeply from the beginning.

This story has been so incredible from the start for so many different reasons. It really all comes down to the manner in which this story began, which is where I need to start. One thing I think you will see very quickly is that only God could have orchestrated this journey the way it has played out.