Two for one offer

Have you ever purchased a plane ticket at the last minute? I suppose it's terrible of me to talk about money when we were in the midst of a life-changing experience, but let me tell you!  It ain't cheap!  Fortunately, I have a very generous sister who had frequent flier miles that she kindly donated to the cause.  So, we managed to get ourselves to Texas for almost nothing.  We arrived on Sunday, went to the hotel and got a phone call. The lady from the adoption agency said,  "I'll be right over."  

When she arrived, she had lots of paperwork for us to look over.  She talked to us about the whole adoption procedure.  We had to sign something that would go to the Texas State government.  They would then send it to New York State (where we lived at the time)  and we would have to wait until New York said we could take the baby home.  It would take about 5 to 7 days.  

This may seem odd to you, so let me explain.  It seems that years ago, states were in the habit of trying to get rid of undesirable children and infants by shipping them off to another state. That way the state of origin woudn't be stuck with the cost of taking care of the undersirable child.  Since then, states have developed a system that requires you to get permission to transport a baby from one state to another. 

Once the paperwork was finished, she took us to the home of the lady who had been taking care of the baby since he was born.  She came out of the house with a very big smile on here face, turned and said, "Isn't he beautiful?  I thought, "He looks like most babies to me."  I felt stunned, scared, numb, joyful?  I'm not sure about that one.  

She then told us that he had been doing really well. You see, when we decided to adopt, we signed up for special needs adoption.  The baby was cocaine positive when he was born, nine days before.  That's why the birthmother had agreed to give him up.  Social services had stepped in.  The baby's caregiver, Karen, said that he had not shown any signs of withdrawal, hardly cried and seemed very strong.  Good.  That sounded very good.

So, we spent a little time with Karen, said "Thank you", scooped him up and went back to the hotel with the adoption agency lady.  I think it was at this point that the agency lady said, "Oh, by the way, he has a sister who was put in foster care when social services stepped in.  Would you be interested in adopting her, too?"

What? Oh by the way?  You have got to be kidding me!!  My husband and I looked at each other, our jaws dropped and we started asking questions.  How old is she? How long has she been in foster care?  Does she know about the baby? She answered our questions and said, "I'll call you on Tuesday to see how you're doing."  It was Memorial Day weekend.

How it all started.

At baseball practice tonight, I was telling stories, as usual, instead of watching my kids practice.  People seemed to be enjoying the stories, so I thought I might share them.  So, here's how it all started:

I was working in the lab one day, back in 2001, when somebody yelled, "Cathy, you've got a phone call." "What?" I said.  "I don't have time for a phone call!"  "Well, they have a southern accent."  Oh my gosh, I thought.  It might be Texas.

You see, Texas is where our adoption agency was....is.  So, I hurried to the phone.

"Hello?" 

"Hello. Is this Mrs. Wilcox?" 

"Yes."  

"How are you?"

"Fine."

"So, are you doing anything this weekend?"

"Yes, my husband is graduating from medical school tomorrow and our parents are coming into town for the weekend.  Why?"  Oh my gosh, Oh, my gosh!

"Well, we have a baby boy we'd like to tell you about.  He's 7 days old.  Do you think you could fly to Texas tomorrow?"

"What?"  Oh my gosh!

So, he graduated from medical school on Thursday, we put together a baby's room on Friday, with the help of our parents, and on Saturday we flew to Texas.