Full Circle

 Recently I was asked if I kept in contact with any of the sixteen foster kids that had spent time with us.  I explained that we knew where most of them were, but that we were not in contact with them.  We've always left that up to the kids and once they are reunited with their biological families, our job is over.  It's hard and that's what eventually led us to stop taking in kids.

But the question stuck with me.

It bothered me because Ann, our good friend at The Woodshed, had explained to me a long time ago that most of them wouldn't even remember us.  It appeared as though she was right.

And then, one Monday in October, I received a call at school.

It was from Brandon, one of the boys for whom we had become legal guardians.

"Do you remember me?" he asked after he had identified himself.

"Remember you?  I could never forget you," I replied.

We agreed to meet for supper the next night.

When I got home from school I drug out the boxes and boxes of photos.

We had always had duplicates made, thinking that someday the boys might want them.

I'm glad that we did because he doesn't have many photos from his childhood.

His favorite book in the whole world was The Little Red Hen.

We read it at least every other night.

We spent many hours working together in the garden.

But it wasn't always all work and no play ....

We had a great time with our Super Soaker guns.

I taught him how to ride a bike.

He dearly loved playing dress-up with Marissa.

We celebrated holidays 

.... and birthdays .....

(Woodshed Annie with Nick and Brandon0

(Brandon's birthday the night Mardell brought home four more kids)

(Brandon, Michael J., and Nick on Michael's birthday after a supper of grilled burgers and smores)

(My 30th birthday .... ye gads, that was a long time ago!)

(Nick's birthday with the caseworker and her son ---- I named my donkey after her)

We also went to the fair and took in the carnival

and visited Cabela's in Sidney.

But mostly, we just hung out like most families.

We've come full circle now .....

and have met his fiance.

It's been fun reconnecting and he is looking forward

to reuniting with the rest of the family as well.