Part 4: Almost Home

The week Colton and Miranda arrived was eventful and emotional.

We had all been anticipating their arrival with excitement and joy. When their case workers brought them in, Colton and Miranda looked excited, but timid, unsure of how they were supposed to act. The other boys quickly got to work showing Colton and Miranda around, particularly their rooms. Many of our friends participated in making Miranda's room a perfect little princess place in this house full of boys.

While the kids were getting the tour, we were informed that it had been quite the emotional day filled with tears and fears. I don't know why I wouldn't have thought it would be, but once told, I thought, "of course". While the change was good, hopefully permanent, it was still very traumatic - their whole lives up to this point had been only drama and trauma.

The next day was the "Welcome to the Friends" party at the Gallagher's. All of the friends had also been anticipating Colton and Miranda's joining of the group with eagerness. The party was great, but did prove to be a little emotionally overwhelming for the kids. Thanksgiving the next day with the introduction to the grandparents and aunts added to a little bit of too much of a good thing for Colton and Miranda. Everybody was very gentle and patient with them, but it was a lot to process. Like I said, it was just a very emotional week.

Somewhere in there, Colton began waking up at 5am and running through the house at break-neck speed. The first few days, John got up and very gently told Colton that we don't run in the house, especially at 5am and he needed to go back to bed. I think it was the fourth day in a row of this that John got up to tell him to stop and found our 12lb. tabby cat hanging from Colton's little hands by his front paws. John, alarmed said "Drop that cat and get back in bed right now!" Colton, eyes wide open, did exactly as he was told, and that was the end of the early morning sprinting.

The next 5-6 months were exhausting, both emotionally and physically. Taking the kids twice a month for visits with their parents was difficult and confusing for Miranda and Colton. Teaching boundaries and discipline and self-control and appropriate ways to express oneself, especially when angry- all of this took energy that I didn't feel like I had. But we were not alone. We had each other and we had our community at Westminster Presbyterian Church, our family, and our far away friends uplifting us in prayer. It was so neat to watch trust slowly building for Miranda and Colton as relationships developed; to watch them basking in the love of grandparents, even getting spoiled - Miranda was a particularly fun target for her aunts. And for them to weekly look forward to seeing certain people at church was precious. They were finally a part of a community and a family that was safe. They needed that. We all did.

The termination trial was in May, in which rights were terminated with only a few scary moments. The goodbye visit with their parents at the end of June - that was rough.

Now the adoption process could begin.