'This Is The Story God's Written For Her': North Texas Family Adopted Baby Girl Abandoned At Fire Station
Watch Ginger Allen's report on CBS 11 at 10. It will be posted here after it airs.
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Ben and Gina's four children were almost all grown when the couple decided to become foster parents.
They hoped to bring comfort to little ones who needed it most, but neither expected to welcome a newborn. Then came the news one night in January 2020.
"We were just getting ready to go to bed," said Ben. "And all of the sudden my wife gets the phone call."
Officials with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services were calling.
A baby girl had been brought to a fire station in Johnson County, left there by her mother under the Baby Moses law.
Gina and one of her daughters ran to the store to buy diapers and formula while Ben pulled a car seat out of the attic.
The little girl was just nine days old when she arrived, dressed in clean clothes and wrapped in warm blankets.
Gina knew that the mother had loved her daughter enough to give her up.
"I can't image. Dressing her up and dropping her off," said Gina, her voice breaking. "I know that had to have been really hard."
They were told to give the little girl a name.
The couple immediately thought of a Bible verse that had hung on their wall for years.
"But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord." Gina knew it was meant to be. "It just got me thinking about her," she said. "That her mom had hopes and dreams for her too, and it just seemed fitting."
They named her, Hope.
Every Baby Moses baby is checked out at a hospital before being placed with a foster family.
Typically, that family is prepared to adopt, which makes the process much faster.
Ben and Gina started the process soon after her arrival. Hope's adoption was finalized later that year.
Ben and Gina say they didn't know about the Baby Moses law before Hope arrived.
Now, they'll never forget it. "I tell people about it - I think it's a great story," said Ben. "It kind of warms my heart."
Gina agrees. "This is the story God's written for her."