Here are links to Part 1 and Part 2
S & J found out about us (and got their photo albums from us) on April 30 or May 1. Eric and I didn’t know what the girls thought – or that the girls knew at all – until May 2. Knowing that the girls MIGHT know SOMETHING about us, but not knowing their reaction was pretty much complete torture. Finally on May 2 we heard that the girls were SUPER EXCITED to learn about us and that they were especially excited to meet ChaChi, our dog. I think our social worker said something like, “ChaChi is a hit!”
On May 3, we drove to the girls’ foster home to meet them for the first time. We knew that since one of the girls was 7, she would need a booster car seat. We had purchased one earlier that week, but we had no idea how to use it. When we were almost to their foster home, we parked in a parking lot and tried to figure it out. It later turned out to not be as complicated as we thought, but we were both pretty stressed about it at the time.
When we got to their foster home, their foster mom called their names and they came down to meet us (we found out that they had not been told we were coming that day, so our arrival was unexpected and a complete surprise to them).
When S saw us, she said “Finally!” And then she said, “We are going to call you Mom and Dad.”
We gave each of them a stuffed animal.
Stuffed animals we gave to S&J the first time we met
Then S said, “In the photo album you gave us, it said that we were going to take our first family picture together on the first day we meet, so we need to do that. Did you bring a camera?” I was so touched by that, because it meant that she had really read the album that I made for them.
Our first family picture taken the first time we met
We went to the backyard of their foster home and their foster mom took a few pictures of us all together. Then we got into the car and went out for dinner. Their foster mom came with but sat at a different table. The girls were very entertaining at dinner. They told us stories about their teachers, stories about throwing up (gotta love that!), told us about their favorite colors, and asked if we would tuck them in at night. They also wanted to see more pictures of ChaChi.
After about 1.5 hours, it was time for them to go to bed and it was time for us to “get on the road.” We told them that we would see them that Saturday and that they would get to come to see our house where they would soon be living. We were super enchanted with them; they were so fun to meet in person. It was a fun car ride back home.