The morning of June 16, 2015, I woke up before the alarm. I just lay there, staring at the ceiling, heart pounding like I was about to take a final exam or walk down the aisle. In a way, it was both.
Down the hall, I heard giggles. They were already up.
I’d laid out their outfits the night before—matching dresses for the girls, a little black suit for Dorian. He hated ties, but today he didn’t complain. Not once. He just grinned and said, “I want to look like family.”
That word—family. It used to feel fragile. Like something we weren’t allowed to say out loud.
I still remember the first time they showed up at our door. Raelynn wouldn’t let go of her sister’s hand. Dorian had a backpack with a broken zipper and a face that didn’t match his age. We thought it would be temporary. Just a few weeks, maybe. Help them settle until the next placement.
But weeks turned to months. Then birthdays. Then school registrations and scraped knees and first lost teeth. We started learning their bedtime quirks. Which one needed the nightlight. Who always snuck an extra book under the covers.
Every time a social worker came by, I’d hold my breath. Every time someone said “next step,” my stomach would flip.
The system doesn’t prepare you for how much love you can feel—and how helpless you are in the wait.
But that day? When the judge looked up and said, “It’s official,” I swear time stopped. Dorian clutched my hand like he did the night he had that nightmare about being taken again.
He looked up at me and said, “So I never have to leave now?”
I couldn’t even get the words out. I just nodded.
We took that picture on the way out. I wrote the sign myself. “1,103 days in foster care. Today, we became a forever family.”
And then, just before I snapped the photo, one of them said something I’ll never forget—”
Raelynn, the youngest, with her bright, inquisitive eyes, looked up at me, her small hand reaching for mine. She’d been the quietest of the three, often observing more than speaking. But in that moment, her voice, though soft, was filled with an incredible weight of emotion.
