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"Hi, Mom!"

Today was a very momentous day. 

 I will preface all of this with a simple fact that everyone involved in our journey will need to accept: due to confidentiality, there are some things that we just can't share.  
With that said, I will tell you that we met a beautiful girl today.  For now, let's call her "Kiddo".  Kiddo is 6 years old and after a brief 30 day stay in a residential placement, she will be coming into our home with the intention of adoption.

 There have been lots of meetings, phone calls, and logistical maneuverings leading up to the events of today and I won't bore you with the minutiae.  Basically, Kiddo's social worker met us (and our UMFS intake coordinators) at UMFS for lunch today.  Until now, all we knew about Kiddo was on paper and via case worker reports.  She hadn't seen a picture of us either.  

 When we asked her what she knew about what was happening right now, she said, "I'm going to go stay at [residential placement] for 30 days, and then I'm going to come and live with you. And hopefully you will adopt me."  My heart melted.  

 So we sat down with this engaging little girl and talked about favorite foods and what our house looks like and our pets and her favorite things (Frozen is a big with her right now...no surprise).  Then we got to play with her for about 30 minutes on the playground. We were dubbed "king" and "queen" while she pretended to be a princess, expelling ogres and spraying fairy dust everywhere.  

When the time came to say goodbye, it was with a promise that we would come to visit a few times over the next month of her residential placement, using the time to get to know each other better.

 It is so hard to explain the emotions I've experienced today. Over the last week, knowing this meeting was coming, I was somewhat emotional anyway.  The gravity of this new part of our lives and everything that the foster/adoption journey entails can weigh heavily on my heart sometimes.  It is this odd combination of reflecting on how much we have lost (what brought us here) and anticipating everything that is to come.  It is knowing that the rest of the journey still will have its share of bumps and hurdles but what parenting journey results in smooth sailing 100% of the time?  With all of that, we still had this vague picture of "a kid" but without the specifics.  

 Now we have a Kiddo.  We are becoming parents again but in a totally new way. The picture is a little more complicated now.  There are many people involved in the process, which is alternately reassuring and challenging.  

 I guess all we can do is see what the next chapter will bring!  
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