Six Months Passed

Six months ago today, Andy and I left work on time and excited. (For anyone that knows us well, you know we do not have a reputation for leaving work on time!) We met at our house and got in our car to make the drive down to University Place. It took us two hours to get there in rush hour traffic, but we talked the whole time. When we arrived we knocked on the door and saw Charlie, then Nigel, playing on a slide. He ran up to us and said "Hello." He probably had no idea that he was actually coming home with us for good this time. The two weeks prior he had spent two days with us, and then gone back to his other foster home.

Lynnae, then Mie Mie, had run out of the room when we knocked. She was in hiding for a good 10 minutes and didn't want to come out. Unlike Charlie, she had an idea that this week was different... and she had some very understandable fear. She finally came out and we started to get the kids' coats and shoes on. We gathered their backpacks and even brought a few boxes of their belongings. I was nervous beyond comparison... I'm sure Andy was too.

We put the kids in the car, shut the doors, and backed out of the driveway. I asked, "Do you know what today is?" Lynnae answered, "Huh?" I said, "Today is the day we get to bring you to our home for good. It's your official move-in day." She smiled, and promptly went to sleep. I don't think Andy and I talked much on the way home. I do remember spending most of the drive watching them and wondering what they were feeling.

By the time we got home it was 9:30. The kids had both slept most of the way home. We got them into the house and up to their rooms. We got pajamas on and they went to bed. We could have brought them home on Saturday instead of Friday night, but we felt an overwhelming urge to get them as quickly as we could. To bring them into our home. To make it their home. To take care of them. To be a family. It ended up that all we did that night is sleep together in the same house, but I was so relieved to do it. I don't have words to describe how I felt at that moment. I was somewhere between overjoyed, relieved, terrified, nervous, and shy. I had so much confidence that I could be a good mom and I knew that Andy would be an awesome dad... but now, with strangers as our daughter and son, I had a lot of doubt.

The next morning I woke up to Charlie's horrible cough. Within another day I had a 104 degree fever. And the fun began. The last six months have been nothing short of a roller coaster. But I have to say, I am so glad to be on it. The kids might not be adopted yet, but they will be when the time is right. In six months we have had the highest highs as a family, as well as some very low lows... but that's what we are.... a family. And we're all better for it.