For sixteen years of Jackson Cook’s life, there were three members in his family. Now, there are eight.
The lives of dad Roger, mom Shanell and son Jackson completely changed when the Cooks became a BCH foster family.
“Fostering is about doing God’s work,” Roger says. “This may be the only chance a child gets to see a Christian family. No matter how long we have that child, it’s an opportunity.”
A timid, seven-year- old girl named Makala was their first foster child.
“We first met her the week of Valentine’s Day and fell in love with her immediately,” Shanell says.
Shanell received a phone call about a possible second child –– a 7-month-old girl who needed immediate placement. Shanell texted her husband expressing concern that they may not be able to care for such a young child. Shanell’s phone buzzed with Roger’s response: “God’s calling. Are you going to answer the call or let it go to voicemail?”
Shanell climbed into her car to bring the baby home. They’ve since taken in three additional children, two brothers and another girl.
A little more than a year after they began fostering Makala, her adoption became official. She became a permanent member of the Cook family on April 26.
Makala and the other children attend church and children’s activities which included Vacation Bible School this past summer. It was at VBS, on August 1, that the Cooks’ newly-adopted daughter and the two boys they foster accepted Jesus as Savior.
“Baptist Children’s Homes is a Godly, Christian organization, and I encourage people to foster through them,” shares Shanell.
“They offer more resources, more help and more hope than anyone else you could team up with to foster.”
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Article written by Blake Ragsdale, Managing Editor and Jim Edminson, Editor