This is a new subject for my blog! I’ve wanted to blog about it for a long time, but haven’t been able to because of the rules of the foster care system. Actually, who knows how much I could have, or could not have, said – thing is when in doubt I error on the side of caution.
In November my niece, Nevaeh’s, adoption was finally finalized. Woohoo! The process can take so long and be held up for months for something as simple as a signature. I got to be in Washington for National Adoption Day and the little ceremony with the judge at the court.
It was all rather anticlimactic as in my heart Nevaeh has been my niece since the moment she arrived at Ryan and Sara’s home. She had me wrapped around her cute little finger from the word go!
The ceremony didn’t seem like a huge deal to Nevaeh either. She was a bit irritated that we made her leave a tasty muffin at the reception to go into the courtroom. My nephew, (adoption not yet final so I won’t say much here) stole the show at the event. A woman from social services asked the kids in the audience what big day was coming up. It was right before Thanksgiving and Christmas. My darling nephew, however, stood up and announced he knew what important day was coming up – his birthday! He’d been inviting everyone he met to his party! Sadly, I wasn’t able to stay in town long enough for all of these important events.
After I got back from Washington I had some major life events of my own. Finley was waiting for me (more on that life event later) to be followed with a bout of illness etc. The HPS Network has been busier than ever so blogging has taken a back seat. Besides that, I’ve been trying to figure out what to say about Nevaeh’s adoption. It should be profound, wise, something really moving for my niece! Nothing so wonderful has come to mind. I realized this week that’s because the biggest events in our getting to know one another and becoming an important part of one another’s lives had nothing to do with a final signature on a piece of paper or a ceremony at the courthouse. They’ve been the countless little things that happened along the way when I wasn’t allowed to say much (or was afraid to for fear of causing problems).
As I said, she had me at hello.
Nevaeh was a darling baby. She always was, and still is, such a happy kid. Don’t get me wrong. She’s a baby and now a toddler and things make her unhappy, but they are only things in the moment. On the whole, she is all smiles. She’s curious. She can be a ham for my camera. I wonder if she’ll be musical because as soon as she could stand I swear she was trying to dance.
Finally, today was one of those little moments. I was able to skype briefly with all three kids. They just got back from a trip to Disneyland. Of course I’d heard about the trip from Ryan, but I wanted the kid view of the trip.
Nevaeh was the most excited to tell me all about it. She would start to tell me the names of the characters she saw but she would sometimes forget. Ryan would tell her the name in her ear and then she’d just beam and loudly proclaim, “I saw Winny the Pooh!” “I saw Minny Mouse!”…….what else is there to say more special than that?
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