Couple adopts a baby abandoned in a Tulsa church

Friday, December 30th 2005, 9:54 am

By: News On 6

A happy ending for a newborn baby abandoned at a Tulsa church one year ago. Less than a day after she was born, her birth mother left the infant in a chapel, not knowing what her future would hold.

As News on 6 reporter Heather Lewin explains, that future turned out to be bright and full of love, in a brand new home.

â€œOur hearts just went out to her." They call her "Grace", it's what they say brought her into their lives. To protect their daughter's privacy, her parents asked not to be identified.

Now a year old, Grace's future was uncertain that day last December, when her birth mother put her into a stranger's arms inside a Tulsa chapel and never returned. The story touched the couple's hearts. "I called DHS and asked if the baby had a home yet and they said, yes, the baby had been placed in a home."

They thought at first she wouldn't be theirs, but fate held something else in store. "The call came almost out of the blue, I rushed home from work and we had her within four hours."

And Grace landed right where she belonged. â€œWe just loved her instantly, such a sweet disposition and so loving and so alert. She's very, very happy, very cuddly."

For months the couple showered Grace with love and care, and then Thursday, the adoption was finalized. "She's gonna have every opportunity that we can give her. She's so vibrant and full of potential, so curious about the world.â€ A world that might have treated her much differently. "There's no telling what her future would've been. It's not just a blessing to her but, a blessing to us; we've got so much love to pour into her."

And to Grace's birth mother. "We thank her so much we pray for her everyday and she's gonna grow up knowing that this birth mother loved her so much that she brought her to a church and she knew and was trusting God that she'd go to the right home and we're just so thankful.â€

The new parents are big supporters of Oklahoma's Safe Haven law that allows a birth mother to leave a newborn at a hospital or in the hands of someone with emergency medical training and not face prosecution.

Technically, a church doesn't count, but Grace's parents say they know the birth mother was trying to bring her somewhere safe and they are grateful for that.