Meeting the girls and Welcoming them home

I want to document all of this while it's still fresh.  The girls have been home just shy of a month and it feels like they've always been here.  It's certainly taken time to adjust, but we all feel so comfortable as a family of 6 now.  

We were obviously very excited to meet our new daughters.  We found out about them on Wednesday and were scheduled to meet them on Monday.  The time in between was LONG and it was hard to know they were our girls but we couldn't meet them yet.

So it was finally time and we drove the hour to where their previous foster parents lived and we waited for them to come.  When they showed up, they both acted shy at first.  After a little while, Mya warmed up to me and let me hold her and play with her.  Once Mya warmed up to me, Agnes did too.  I read her a few books and she was soon playing with all of us.  Anna and Agnes clicked right away and Agnes couldn't stop talking about her new friend "Annie".  It was pretty sweet.  We played with them for a while and the case worker slipped out so that we could have some time alone with the girls.

Agnes and I

Daddy and his four babies!

We also got to meet the girls' younger sister.  She's 5 months old.  Her case is likely to move towards parental rights being terminated due to the circumstances, so we hope that it moves quickly.  In Illlinois, children have to be in foster care for 9 months before than can move towards TPR.  She's 5 months (and 5 months in care) so we have some time before that would even begin.  We would obviously be their first choice if her rights are terminated also.  It was great to meet her and her foster mom and we look forward to getting the girls together again soon.

When it was time to leave, it was super hard to leave them.  We helped get them in the case worker's car so that she could take them back to their foster parents' for the night.  Both girls cried when we put them in the car and my heart about broke into pieces.  I couldn't wait for them to come home.


The next day, they were due to arrive around 3:30.  It was SOOOO hard to wait!!!  The anticipation just about did me in!  It was so strange the way they were just dropped off.  It was a very surreal experience.  Their case worker literally brought them in, carried their stuff in (a whole van and truck full, yikes!) and asked if we had any questions.  She left without any kind of instructions or anything.  We went through some of their stuff to find the important things and then were a little bit like "now what?"  It actually was similar to how Anna came home.  We picked her up, we brought her home and kind of looked at each other and smiled...

That evening we took a walk and played in the playroom.  They all went to bed nicely and we sat down to go through some of their stuff.

Our full table :-).  Notice Minnie Mouse got a prime seat too!

Fast friends

Pushing 1, wearing 1, walking with 2.

The stuff they came with.  A lot of it has made its way back out of the house.  They really didn't have many nice things and most of their toys were trashed or missing lots of pieces.  We have SOOO many toys, so we kind of tested things to see if they were super attached and got rid of a lot.  Same with clothes.  Most of their clothes were WAY old and not in good condition.  We have a ton for Mya from Anna's old clothes and Anna and Agnes wear the same size, so Anna's overflowing closet was perfect. 

It has been incredibly overwhelming going from 2 to 4, but the transition is going very well.  Logistically, there's a lot we've had to figure out.  They're all so young that everything takes a lot of preplanning (my forte thank goodness!) and lots of organization (also a strength of mine).  It has been made easier by so many friends and family bringing dinners (I haven't made dinner yet since they came home!), giving us a nice carseat, fun matching outfits for the girls, and just being overall wonderful and supportive.  We have such a beautiful network of family and friends, the girls certainly feel loved here. 


And the way God orchestrated all of this is just overwhelming.  Right down to family pictures.  We happened to have family pictures scheduled for that Saturday after the girls came home.  They'd been scheduled for a long time.  We had no idea how important and necessary those family pictures would be.  Getting Agnes' picture on the wall has been such a beautiful way for her to feel at home.  She thanks me regularly for putting her pictures on the wall.  Who wouldn't want that beautiful girl on their wall?

Agnes (3)

Anna (2 1/2)

Anthony (18 mo)

Mya (16 mo)