My Family

My Family
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Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Adoption story #2 - Kelsey




Seven months after Chad moved in Jonathan was born. My itch for a girl began soon after and "trying" to make one wasn't in our plan. We were done, biologically speaking. We moved into a rental home soon after Jonathan was born and had room for more. We were still fostering, but primarily providing respite for special needs kids so their parents could take a break.

October of 1984 we received Robby as a long term foster care placement. He was 14 yrs. old and had multiple disabilities - used a wheelchair, non-verbal and severely mentally retarded. Unbeknownst to us at the same time Robby was settling in to our house, our daughter Kelsey was being born.

Kelsey was a typical Minnesotan, a blue-eyed blond. She had a family history that put her at risk for possible developmental delays. Her social worker chose our family because we had only asked for a girl up to age 4 with no other restrictions. I'm sure since we had adopted Chad she felt we would deal with whatever issues might develop. The social worker representing our family was floored that a family with 3 kids - two of whom were perfectly healthy would be chosen. She was 4 months old, healthy and not yet showing signs of any developmental issues.

Kelsey was an easy baby - very content and slept through the night right away, which was wonderful. The boys were all excited to have a little sister.

We were shopping one day not long after she arrived and the salesperson looked at me, I have hazel eyes, and then Mark, who has brown eyes, and said, "Where did she get those blue eyes?" I hesitated for just a second thinking I didn't really want to explain it all and said - "My mother had blue eyes." Very true - no connection at all of course, but true. Long explanation averted - at least that time.

Now - no girl should be without a sister should they?

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