"What do we do now?"

Our last day together began around 8:00 this morning. 

All of her things packed and ready to go.

:( (Actually, this isn't even half of her things. By a complete miracle of God, her grandparents are allowing us to come down in a few weeks [yeah!!!!!!] to bring all of her things. This is just some of her stuff.)

Bry made her special chocolate chip pancakes for our last breakfast together. He reminded her that when she came to us, he made pancakes the first morning and she was the one who was sad. Now, we were the ones who are sad. 

We asked our Little Lady if there was anything she'd like to do before she left. She requested a walk around the neighoorhood. Done! It was such a beautiful, quiet morning walk. 

Lucy has no clue how much she's gonna miss her.

We tried to recreate the pose of the two of them from our first morning together.

(April 4, 2014)

We're sending you off, little one. You better not forget us! 

Our last picture in front of the house. 

There were many hugs given this morning. 

Love these two. 

Walking back home. 

Bry found one lonely sunflower growing behind our house, so he gave it to LL. 

She wanted to make a flower press with this one and one other flower. 

She's sitting on the books with the first flower. 

One of the last things she touched in our house. 

After our walk, we headed out to the Frisco Heritage Center to walk around. Once again, it was so beautiful, peaceful, quiet, and perfect. We shared memories together and I even read LL some of the hilarious things she's said over the last six months. She loved hearing her funny quotes! 

Time for one more life lesson...how to properly organize money in your wallet. 

Forever our country girl.

We had her eat a little bit of her lunch before we met up with the CPS case worker. We were too sad to eat lunch, or breakfast this morning.

We spent a few more minutes in the car with her and reminded her how much we love her and how much we'll miss her. 

The case worker took our last official picture together. It was so important to us that we met her in the "right" place. It's hard for foster kids to maintain their dignity sometimes. We wanted LL to be able to look back on our last day together and remember that we packed her favorite things in boxes, with labels and tape. (As opposed to shoving a few things in a bag.) We wanted her to feel special, and loved, and valued. (Instead of looking back and remembering being picked up in a Wendy's parking lot.) So, we chose to meet in the Testa parking lot. There couldn't have been a more special place to meet.

If you recall from a previous post, the three of us decided that our "special time" would be 12:09 (LL's birthday.) We agreed that if we ever saw 12:09 on the clock, we'd think of each other and remember our special time together. As I watched her drive away and put the I love you sign out of the window, I glanced down and noticed that she was telling us she loved us and driving away from us at exactly 12:09. Words cannot describe how much this meant to me. 

We sat in the car and cried for a good half hour. The first thing that escaped Bry's lips was, "What do we do now?" After feeling imprisoned (not at all by our Little Lady, but by the long list of fostering rules and regulations) for the last 6 months, we were instantly let go and free to resume our previous life of choices. And spare time. And flexible schedules. 

What do we do now?

Only time will tell. 

It really was a beautiful and a tragic morning. 

We're going to miss that little girl more than anything else in the world. 

Thank you for sending the hundreds of emails, texts, calls, and messages. Please continue to pray for this little girl. Selfishly, I'd also ask that you pray that we can remain in contact with her - in the near and distant future. 

Thank you all for traveling on this journey with us. There have been so many ups and downs, and many of you have laughed and cried right along with us. I have no doubt that LL was brought to us for a specific reason. I know she was immensely blessed by the people who surrounded her while she was here, but we were the ones who received the biggest blessing...6 months to experience life alongside a beautiful, rambunctious, energetic, loving, incredible child of God. 

Our Little Lady. 

LL's quotes:

- "Babysitters like to make kids take naps."

- "I don't know how to be sad cause I'm small and I don't know how."

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About Us: 

We began our foster journey in mid-August 2013. We finished our classes in October, had our home study in early January, and we were licensed on February 7, 2014. After seven calls from CPS, we received our first placement, a 7-year-old girl (our Little Lady, or LL for short) on April 3, 2014. Thank you so much for taking the time to read about our journey through the craziness that is foster care. Most importantly, thanks for your prayers, love, and support. We hope to encourage fellow foster/adoptive parents as we document our ups and downs each day. 

Key Posts:

We are Facebook-Official!

Saying goodbye to someone I've never met

Will you get a white one?

Yup, it's gonna hurt.

Day 1 with our Little Lady

Oasis (post from Brian)

What we tried to build

Why I don't usually write (post from Brian)

Another night in the closet

LL...if you just stumbled upon this blog and you're freaking out because you see pictures of yourself, please START HERE.