K's story...

Every child has their story and K loves her story! She loves it so much that she knows it by heart and still at the age of nine when I sing the song I wrote for her when she was born she will take my hand, put it against her cheek and lay on her pillow (she has done this since she was a baby), she looks up at me with those beautiful brown almond shaped eyes and says,

"Mama, tell me my story..."

and I do.

(This version has swearing. As you know I never swear in front of my children and is more indepth)

It was April 22, 2002, my sister Boopie was in town for a conference and staying with us (God works in crazy ways). We all went to bed like normal and at 5:15am the the phone rang...Kevin grabbed the phone and it went flying, no shit. It flew up in the air and when he finally got a hold of it to say, "hello", the line was dead...FUUUUUCCCCCKKKK. We both knew that it was the hospital calling for Frannie or Frannie saying she was at the hospital or somebody calling to say something...something that had to do with a baby girl!

We waited, got dressed, stared at the phone...then at 5:25 am it rang again (you will never know how long that 10 min was!!!) Kevin answered and a nurse told him that Frannie had given birth and she wanted us to come to the hospital!!

We arrived in the hospital in a fog...we checked in with the nurses station, showed id and were given wrist bands. Then we went to Frannie's room and knocked on the door. We walked in and she was sitting in bed holding the most beautiful baby I have ever seen...I couldn't even see her face, she was glowing.

I have to take a moment to explain something here. We were non-people...non-parents...no rights, we were nothing. If Frannie would have said, "get them out of here" or "I've changed my mind". We would have walked out of the room and that would have been that. Prospective adoptive parents give up ALL control.

Back to the story :)

She held onto the baby as we talked, asking how she was and such...I never asked to hold the baby, it was not my place. She asked me to call her social worker and I went out into the hall to make the call, when I came back, Kevin was holding the baby...tears in his eyes...holding this little pink bundle...I stood there, staring when Frannie said, "Do you want to hold her?"...all I could do was nod and take her in my arms...she was amazing...Frannie was amazing...she was laughing and joking with Kevin...she asked for the baby back...I handed her back...a nurse came in to check Frannie and she asked us to to leave so she could rest and to come back later...we did...it was a dream...I kissed Frannie on the head and asked if I could kiss the baby...she said yes!

We went back and saw them again, we brought her lunch, every time her family was there or her friends, all holding the baby...I would ask if I could hold her and they would all watch me...I fed the baby and they watched...her aunt judged...We didn't stay long any of our visits. Frannie was spending time with the baby and this I knew in my heart was needed.

On April 24th we came to the hospital, the baby was being released and so was Frannie. We had planned in our earlier conversations to have a "handing over ceremony". This is one of the hardest things I have ever been a part of. In our situation the reverend for the hospital came and talked to Frannie the night before and she was leading the ceremony. I had brought three different outfits for Frannie to choose from so she could dress the baby, she wanted us to do this together, she will never know what that meant to me. Frannie held the baby as the reverend spoke of love and loss...of families...she asked Frannie what the baby's name was. "Kayleigh Marie Liberty May __________", this was the name we had decided on "together", two names from each of us, blended together forever...just like us. Then...Frannie walked over and put Kayleigh in my arms...we cried...we hugged...we thanked one another...we cried more...we hugged more...we finally smiled.

Frannie left with her family. And for the first time...we were alone with our daughter...no one...just us...sitting on a hospital bed, crying...crying for the gift that we were just given...crying for the Frannie...crying for it all.

Then a nurse came in, in your life if you are lucky you meet people, people who are put on this earth by God. She smiled at us, asked if we had a camera...and took the first picture of our family...