After we attended the meeting that night, I had butterflies for weeks.  If you know anything about DSS, everything takes time – LOTS of time.  We overheard Henry’s case worker mention that he had two sisters that were up for adoption as well and friends, let me tell you – I went a little crazy.  Suddenly my family was all planned out, surely it was God’s will for us to get them all!  One adoption ceremony = instant family, right?!  We decided to attend the next foster to adopt meeting in hopes of finding out more about them and possibly putting an application in for them too.

(These photos are from Henry’s first visit in our home)This meeting there were only 5 other people in attendance so my confidence on adopting all 3 was through the roof.  During the meeting we sat next to a lady who was very interested in the girls and I was immediately heartbroken.  Of course other people want these children, they are perfect.  That evening on the way home, all that confidence I felt was gone and I worried that maybe Henry wasn’t supposed to be ours or maybe we would never become parents at all.  Extreme I know, but when you see something so perfect right in front of you and want it with all of your heart, your emotions are everywhere just hoping that you get that picture perfect storybook ending.  When you hear that foster care is a roller coaster ride – believe it, it is.

April 28, 2017 we drove to the Baltimore DSS office.  We left extra early to bring donuts from YiaYia’s bakery and rode almost the whole way in silence.  We were about to interview for our potential children and my typical over chatty self was completely somber by the reality that we had to nail this interview.  There we sat with 4 ladies –  the children’s case worker, the match worker, our home worker, and the foster to adopt department head.   The first question was “Did you bring those donuts to bribe us?”  I laughed under my breath and said,”Yes?” Thankfully it broke the ice and the interview began.

Looking back now, they definitely only had us in mind for Henry but we tried to pull out all the stops to convince them we should have all three.  We were handed three packets that included every single hospital record, doctors visits, psychological evaluations, and diagnosis for all three siblings.  To say it was shocking and scary would be an understatement.  What had we just gotten ourselves into?  All three of these sweet babies had struggled so hard and it was so evident by just looking at the paperwork that they needed so much.  We talked about our home, our puppies, experience with children, why we wanted to be parents, what our parents thought about foster care, and the support system we had in place to get us through parenthood.  We left that meeting overwhelmed, we knew life was about to change and it certainly was.