Join us as fellow co-author of Simply Dedicated Kim Bushey shares her insight into the adoption and fostering world.

Kim's story: Kim was born into a very broken environment. Her dad died in an accident 2 months before her birth at the age of only 19. Her parents weren’t married and her mom was only 14 years old, a child herself, who just lost her first love. Kim was then taken away and put in foster care for a couple of years until her mom married an older man (at 16) who later adopted Kim. She never really experienced the true love of a father though, instead lived through a very dysfunctional family set-up. They even owned a bar for several years. Kim lived through a lot of hurt from many sources. Most people in her environment end up in drugs and alcohol, some even suicidal. Her mom loved her and still does, but had, at that time, a lot of her own hurt and pain to try and work through, after all, she was still a kid herself. Her mom was her real lifeline, along with her sister and grandmother Mary.

At 19 she got married and adopted her first child at 21 (unable to have any of her own physically). Having never lived in a stable home she ended up divorced a couple of times, and all the pain that goes along with poor choices and more hurt.

I met this lady when she was 31. Lots of baggage but a heart that wanted to see real change. I had the great pleasure of leading her to her true father, Jesus Christ. He took this broken vessel and made something new and beautiful! He showed Kim what true forgiveness looks like and helped her to forgive all the people that had hurt her over the years. I was so amazed by the transformation in her life I couldn’t help but fall deeply in love with this now “woman of God”. So I married her! We have been together for almost 20 years now and the healing power of almighty God continues to shine brightly all over her! She is now the happy mother of 9 children total to this day 8 of whom are at home with us, ages 3 to 17. Her oldest is 31 and lives in Texas. We are currently raising our children in WI. Learn more about Kim @ https://afellowhandmaiden.com