It had been months of anticipation, agony, disbelief.... waiting. And then it happened on a Monday afternoon one year ago today. We went from being a married couple to being a family, well, almost. We met our children for the first time.
No, not like most people meet their children, in a hospital room filled with loved ones after hours of breathing and pushing... no we went over to their foster mother's home with our social worker, after lunch at a burger joint on the corner. Nothing goes better with a nervous stomach than a cheese burger and fries.
There's really not much to the story other than we met them, played with them for about an hour in their home and then it was time to leave them and return the following day. But that is not why I'm writing the blog today, to recount that story, it is touch on who and what they are today a year later.
THEY ARE OUR CHILDREN. Their mannerisms are more like ours than anyone else, they talk the way we do, and their memories seem to begin with us. Take for instance this morning, I was talking to them about that day... they don't remember it... but they remember the rest of that week... it is as if they always knew us, there was just a time delay in when they got to live with us.
But they aren't the only ones who have changed, my husband and I are different as well... how could we not? Here we were a green couple by most standards, three and half years of marriage at the time and bam 3 little boys. Interesting way to get educated so to speak. Take for instance my night stand, before the boys it was littered with Catholic theology books and PCOS health books, PCOS diet books, blah blah blah. Now, raising Catholic children, homeschooling, being a good wife and mother and the list goes on.
Instead of my husband calling my cell phone to ask how work is going, or will I be staying late, it is to ask how the kids are and if there is anything he can do (i.e. bring home dinner, talk to the misbehaving one over the phone, or just to say what a good job I'm doing). Our emails before the kids went something to the effect of being tired of work, had a busy day, things are going great, or unhappy customers... Now, my spare moments for email are usually when the kids are napping and in between loads of laundry. The messages have the same underlying message except my 'customers' are now my children, and busy days aren't selling books or answering phones, it is house work, homeschooling, and play time.
They've all grown now, inches and inches. Their vocabulary really is incredible considering where it started. Motor skills, manners, and over all personalities have grown and matured. To look at pictures of that first week one year ago it is hard to recognize our children in those little faces. And they aren't the only ones how have grown, what once felt like a missing piece to our marriage and life is now over flowing with the sounds of three amazing boys!
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