Yesterday was an emotional roller coaster.
We spent the afternoon listening to the social worker describe this little girl that we matched with, a sweet Peach that’s been picked for us.
We combed through stacks of paperwork from K4 assessments that showed how thoughtful and compassionate she is – to notes that demonstrated she’s got some challenges to overcome. It should come as no surprise since she hasn’t had a permanent home since she was 2 years old.
Want to know what always surprises me?
How resilient humans are.
We can endure so much, and yet turn out to be wonderfully loving people who go on to make a difference in the world.
Peach is beautiful. She’s half Native American and half Guatemalan.
She’s not a member of the Tribe (which would make an adoption much more difficult), even still, we’ll have a lot to learn because she deserves to know her own history.
She’s a great big sister to her foster siblings, even though she’s still a bit socially awkward at school.
There are claims that she’s been affected by alcohol, but she’s made great strides in the past year in terms of catching up with her peers thanks to her loving foster home.
We thoughtfully digested all the information – even the very difficult bits – and then searched our hearts, knowing we could only say “Yes” if we both completely agreed.
“I kept waiting for the bottom to drop out. But it never did,” Nick told me.
We don’t know how the story ends. We expect there to be twists and turns, but we definitely want to take another step in Peach’s direction.
We’ve been told we’ll get to talk to her foster mom soon, and then, we’ll meet Peach.
Ever since I got the call on Friday that said we’d been matched with a 5 year old girl, my head has been spinning. All I have is a name, gender and age… and yet it’s so easy to build big hopes and dreams off so little.
I’m trying not to.
I’m trying to stay calm and just wait until we get all the facts before jumping up & down, because maybe she’s not the one. And yet, my heart hopes she is.
The amazing thing is that Friday was my birthday – my golden birthday. I woke up and one of my first thoughts was, “Could today be the day we get the call?” which was then followed by, “No, Esther. That’d be too good to be true.”
And yet…
It happened.
While at the car wash no less. Where it was loud and unexpected.
And when the social worker said her name, I cried.
It took awhile to get through to Nick but when I relayed the news and told him her name, he cried too.
So… here we are. About to find out all the details – the scary ones (why she needs a forever family) and the happy ones (what she loves and is good at).
We also get to see her photo. We’ll find out if she looks like us, or if she’d add a new shade to our family.
Whether or not we are her forever family, she’ll always be in my heart – the first match. On my birthday. A gift worth more than words can express.
