DES MOINES, Iowa — When you’re raising a little boy like Malachi life changes fast. He’s 16-months-old, full of spunk, and the seventh little boy Chelsea Adams has taken care of in the last seven years. Some were with her for more than a year, others for just a few days. That’s a lot of change.

“Yeah, it is” she admits, “when they leave, it’s, it’s a weird kind of grief.”

As a foster mom she knows no time is promised. 

“It’s devastating to say goodbye. These kids become a part of your family. They become a part of your heart, and they’ll never not be a part of my heart. All these seven kiddos that I’ve had will always have a piece of my heart and they will always be. My kids are my sons.”

From the beginning, this one was different. 

“He was two and a half weeks old when I got his placement phone call. It came at 11 o’clock at night, which is unusual.”

At first she said “no”. Then she said “for a few days”. And the days stretched on.

“So they’re trying to find a placement. And in that time period, of course, I am falling in love with this little boy, as you would with any little baby.”

A few days turned into a few months, and a few months turned into more than a year — 492 days, to be exact. Then, everything changed. Chelsea became Malachi’s mom the week before Thanksgiving.

“You know, God always has this huge plan for our lives and we don’t know what it is. And if God’s plan for my life is to love all these kids that he puts in my home forever, short, or however long. It’s a huge, immense blessing to get to serve as their mom for a short time”

Or in this case, forever.

“There isn’t a lot that changed in our day-to-day life, but the fact that it’s a forever life now is what changed. Yeah, and that’s the joyful part.”

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