Our family is complete

Ever since I was a little boy I wanted a son and daughter.  My wish and prayer was to have a son and name him Luke, and a daughter and name her Sylvia.  It’s absolutely remarkable, and truly amazing, to sit back and see years of your prayers answered.

When our son turned three we thought it was time to expand our family and give him a sibling.  We signed on with an adoption agency and waited with anticipation.  After a year went by we re-assessed and ultimately decided to stay with our agency but also take foster-to-adopt classes through our county simply to give us more options.

Foster-to-adopt classes were intense at times – especially having to find a sitter for our son and navigate the mountain of paperwork all while juggling our home, busy schedule, career etc., Ultimately, however, we were certified and ready to roll within a few months.  Within a few weeks we received a call for a baby girl.  Without hesitation we rushed to the hospital to see our little blessing.  She was born September 3^rd and weighed all of five pounds. With pure delight we held, fed and changed this precious blessing. Shortly after, we took her home (and went crazy shopping but that’s another post).

We were informed that bio mom stated she was willing to sign a surrender and court was in a week and a half.  After a surrender was signed we could then start the adoption process. Our court date was held the following Friday at 10am. We arrived at court around 9:15 and began combing through our paperwork. Around 9:45 all attorneys, guardians, social workers, etc., started filing-in. Ten o’clock came and went, ten fifteen, ten thirty and finally around 10:45 the court secretary called bio mom to see if she intended on coming. By this time our heart beats were speeding with anticipation.

The courtroom phone was on speaker and the woman who answered was not the voice we expected. It was a very sweet, loving, intelligent and apologetic young lady. She explained the mix up and then shared that she in fact would be happy to come but didn’t have a ride. We all offered to pick her up, give her cab money etc., but ultimately a social worker went and brought her to the courthouse – and she was tremendously appreciative.

I was overwhelmed with excitement to see such a beautiful, vivacious, intelligent, loving, compassionate, and well-spoken young lady walk into the courtroom. She first briefly spoke with her attorney and then asked if she could have a word with the foster parents before signing any court documents. Eric and I agreed and all three of us walked into an adjoining room to talk.

In a loving and polite tone, she went on and on about how much she appreciated our stepping up and how thrilled she was to hear Sylvia Evette was in our care. We had many questions for her from her own background to the bio dad.  She even shared she was Filipino and Irish which was a pleasant surprise given our own backgrounds. We asked her if she had any questions for us and the only question she asked is “what did you name the baby?” When we ended our talk she affectionately informed us that after court she would not contact or bother our family in any way, but that she would always be available to us if we, or Sylvia, had any questions at any time or for any reason.

We went into court where we all happily signed all necessary documents. As life would have it she needed a ride home so we asked the judge if it would be a conflict of interest if we took her. The ride was wonderful as we were able to have a more in-depth heart-to-heart and get to know this wonderful woman who blessed us with a daughter and Luke with a sister. We arrived at her door-step and with one last hug, exchange of thank you’s and tears, she exited our car.