Choosing Faith Over Fear

Audrey’s beautiful blonde hair will grow back. While her locks have been a casualty of the rounds of chemotherapy needed to wage war on the leukemia in her body, the 2-year-old’s bright smile has only intensified each passing day.

She’s going to win this battle.

Audrey was not Jeremy and Kimberly Lindsay’s first foster child. After years of trying to have children, the couple was recommended to the foster care program at MCH Family Outreach in Abilene. They were licensed in October 2019 and received a placement of two brothers – 2-year-old Luke and 1-year-old Owen – in January 2020. They were able to adopt the brothers later that year.

“Our family was set,” Kimberly said. “We were perfectly content and didn’t think we wanted another child, unless – I would dream – it was a girl.”

Audrey, who is Luke and Owen’s biological sibling, was born Oct. 12, 2021. Contacted by 2INgage, the organization that oversees the care and services for children in the foster care system in their area, Kimberly immediately said, “Yes,” sight unseen. The newborn had blonde hair and blue eyes.

A year later the Lindsays began to notice something was off with Audrey. The baby had become temperamental, her energy fell and she stopped eating and drinking. Initial tests didn’t reveal anything serious and the family was sent home.

Then, on July 4, Kimberly said Audrey laid her head on the table, completely listless.

“We jumped into emergency mode,” Kimberly said. “We had to get to the ER immediately.”

With their family and close-knit church friends praying, the Lindsays – with the help of BrieAnna Vine at MCH Family Outreach in Abilene and other supporting groups – were care-flighted to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth. After some time, several back-and-forth trips to Cook’s and a multitude of tests, the answer was given: Audrey had AML – acute myelogenous leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

“They called us immediately when the diagnosis came in,” Vine said. “We sat on the phone and prayed together and then sprang into action.”

“And so our journey started,” Kimberly said.

Vine and the team at MCH have been proactive in their support and advocacy for the Lindsays from the beginning.

“In foster care, if a family is in crisis mode with a medical issue, we step up even more to walk alongside them,” Vine said. “That includes communicating regularly with 2INgage and making sure the family does not experience any delays receiving medical treatment.”

Vine explained that children in foster care must receive approval from a family court judge before having any kind of medical procedure. In Audrey’s situation, there was often a sense of urgency.

“There were a couple of times Audrey was being wheeled into the emergency room and the medical staff was asking, ‘Do you have the judge’s approval? Where’s the paperwork?’” Kimberly said. “And Brie and the MCH team would be there with the approval they had just received from the judge.

“They would advocate day and night on Audrey’s behalf,” she added. “We couldn’t have done it without that level of support from MCH. All I have to do is call; they are definitely there for us.”

According to Vine, the outreach team in Abilene is able to support the Lindsays because of a core commitment Methodist Children’s Home takes to be a focused and flexible ministry.

“MCH works every day to meet the needs of families across Texas and New Mexico,” Vine said. “We told the Lindsays, ‘You tell us what you need. We’ll figure it out.’ It’s not always a structured formula, but it is knowing we can step in with our resources, knowledge and commitment to be there for them.”

Vine also noted, “It’s a measure of our commitment as an organization to be anchored in authentic accountability. So we’re working diligently to give daily updates – to 2INgage, attorneys and to other persons involved – yes, there are contract requirements, but it’s part of our commitment.”

In addition to Abilene, MCH offers foster care in Dallas, Houston and Tyler. Licensed by the Department of Family and Protective Services and contracted the Single Source Continuum Contractor in each region, MCH staff walk alongside prospective foster parents from start to finish to license a foster home. Case managers support children placed into Christ-centered foster homes and provide individualized advocacy and case management.

According to Traci Wagner, vice president for programs at MCH, “One of the biggest blessings at MCH is that we are empowered to find creative solutions and give creative yeses. Regardless of where a child is coming from – DFPS conservatorship or their family or origin – as long we can meet their needs safely, we can say yes. And when we cannot provide full-time care, we can partner with like-minded agencies and ministries to help the needs.”

Part of the support MCH provided to the Lindsays through case management is ensuring the their licensing with the state foster care system remained intact.

“Even in the middle of all the crises, we had to make sure the Lindsays remained in compliance with the foster care regulations,” Vine said. “That involves ongoing training – which Jeremy and Kimberly are always great to keep up with – but also regular home visits. So, in this case, home visits with the Lindsays occurred at the hospital in Fort Worth.”

While Luke and Owen stay with family in Abilene, Kimberly stays at the hospital with Audrey, with frequent visits from friends and family members, which gives Kimberly a respite to eat, rest, shower, make phone calls, or just breathe. Jeremy joins them on Friday evenings after a week working west of Abilene.

With normalcy upended, “the MCH team has been such a blessing,” Kimberly said. “Brie was involved so much and the entire MCH team still is – providing gift cards for food and so much more.
“Brie touches base all the time,” she added. “It has meant the world to us to have such a great support. They made it so smooth. All I have to do is call and they are there for us.”

Vine said the resiliency shown by the Lindsays is such an example of God-given strength.

“Some people don’t do well in crisis situations,” she said. “Not the Lindsays. They are go-getters. Jeremy and Kimberly are strong advocates who complement each other so well.”

Kimberly said some people might choose to end a foster care placement when encountering a potentially tragic situation like hospitalization and intense cancer treatment. The Lindsays never entertained the thought.

“Some might say, ‘That’s too much; we can’t do it. We can’t go any further,’” Kimberly said. “But we didn’t pause. We adopted the statement of belief that we choose to embrace faith over fear.

“She’s our daughter,” Kimberly said emphatically. “If she was going to go through this type of crisis, we wanted her to have our name.” Audrey’s adoption was finalized on Feb. 15, 2024, celebrated in a courtroom full of family, church friends and MCH staff wearing matching shirts that proclaimed “Faith Over Fear.”

Audrey has spent most of 2024 at Cook Children’s, going through her five rounds of chemotherapy “like a champ,” her mom said. Her cheeks are bright red from the battle in her body and she is fed through a feeding tube affixed to her nose, but she has not experienced any other major adverse side effects. To the contrary, Audrey’s energy increases with each treatment as the chemo works against the cancer.

“She’s definitely got some spice,” said Kimberly with a smile, watching Audrey bounce around the playroom in the hospital and running up and down the hallway to tease and play with the hospital staff that adores her.

“Audrey is going to make a 100 percent recovery,” Kimberly said. “She’s amazing and her energy is beautiful. What would have happened if she was not with us? The Lord knew what He was doing and we’re so grateful to be her family. It’s been a whirlwind, but it’s brought us closer as a family and made us stronger. We cling to ‘faith over fear’ – it’s the only way we can go.”