Author: Violeta

The child protection services is hosting a free 7-weeks class that serves new parents, in teaching them all sorts of wise things. I started it last Thursday along with 7 other families who recently adopted or have just been matched with one or two children.

I picked Jackie up from kindergarten and went on a little adventure through traffic, crossing the center, singing song a great new album and talking. After swimming and playing in the sun, we had delicious SCOOPS ice cream, made right in front of us on a cold plate.

On Monday we stayed home from school and went to get her picture taken for a passport. She was well behaved and curious about everything. When we came out of the police station she asked: “ok, can we go to Grammie and Grampa now?”

A few years back, I was on the verge of being promoted to a leadership position at Apple. I vividly remember the meeting I went to on a Friday morning. It was an off-site all-day meeting in a room full of wonderful people, leaders at Apple.

Over the course of a few weeks we built a relationship of affection and trust with our matched daughter. She was our daughter from day one, though only 6 months later I am holding the new birth certificate.

We have been slowly nursing a cold. Last night for the first time in almost a week, she slept through he night without tossing and turning, and without snoring. Her discomfort is inevitably paired with attitude. Her energy level is unchanged, and her desire to play is constant.

I was in second or third grade and I had missed the lesson about roman numerals. I went to my grandparents in the mountains, with my mom by train… and I thought it was grand. But I was not expecting the consequences of feeling left behind in school. I had missed just one day after…

I remember a sound advice we received around the time we got married. I must have also read it in a book. It said to take the time to enjoy one another. Pull away from weekly commitments, especially church ones. Does that sound counterintuitive?

It felt like we arrived the day we got the call that the matching period is over and we are starting the 90 days pre-adoption chapter. Jackie was moving in with us full time. This happened on Thanksgiving day.

I refuse to live in bondage of any kind, especially the bondage of fear or what if. Tomorrow we will visit the foster parents for the first time in over 3 months. They have been part of her memories and a point of reference (exasperating at times) for almost anything in her new life.

We dug up all my treasures, boxes of jewelry, buckets of earrings, old rings, necklaces, bracelets… we spent an hour trying them on, mixing the earrings and then finding their match…