Are you familiar with the term “familiversary?” I think Foster Parenting Podcast made it up. Some people call it “Gotcha Day” (usually when traveling to meet a child and bring them home for adoption) or “Family Birthday.” It’s not Adoption Day…it’s the day that we became a family unofficially, but a very real family.
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On September 21, 2011 Jason and I were just sitting down to dinner on our back patio when my phone rang. I went in the house to grab a paper and pen and started repeating details out loud as I jotted down notes and shot some glances at Jason.
“Two-month old baby girl.”
“Bi-racial…white and hispanic…”
Umm hmm. Ok. Uh huh. I scribbled down information about her biological siblings and her situation.
“Can you hang on a second while I talk to my husband?”
It was just shy of 3 weeks from the day we said goodbye to Ladybug and we were still grieving. We thought we’d wait a month-ish before saying yes to a call. We had gotten plenty of calls but they were all outside of our parameters so it was easy (easier…) to say no.
Jason’s response to this call: “The only reasons I can think of to say no to this one are completely selfish.” Which meant yes. YES.
“Yes!”
I let my dinner go cold as I snapped into hyper nesting mode. Are there clean sheets on the crib? Do we have any baby clothes? Blankets? How much do 2-month-olds eat? How often? How much do they sleep? I realized I was completely clueless. Remember all those What to Expect books you read while you were growing a baby for 9 months? Yeah, nada here. So I called my sister-in-law Ginger who had just had my niece 7 months prior and she gave me bullet points (which is all my brain could handle) on what kind of bottles to get, a typical daily sleeping/eating schedule, a few suggestions like bibs and burp cloths, and an invitation to call her any time of the day or night.
An hour later, this precious little peanut was delivered to our house. I’ve been saving this picture to share today. It’s the first picture I took of our beautiful girl to send to family and friends. I even managed to accidentally get our DCS agreement paperwork into the picture, too.
Our life will never be the same—it’s so much better now because of our dear little Alianna!
It’s a fun coincidence that I happen to have pictures of both myself and Jason on September 21, 2011. I was dressed up for a meeting and wanted to remember my outfit for future reference.
Jason was trying to help me to relax and calm down before my important meeting so he was playing his guitar for me, while I chilled out…in our nursery!
myMCMlife.com 
What a wonderful day! Alianna has sure changed in appearance since then, but she remains the sweet, delightful beauty she was then. Praise God for this precious gift to our family!
So sweet. I selfishly love that September 21 is your special day as that is my birthday and I’m glad it means something to someone else too. That day last year, we were actually pregnant with our first child and I was put on bed rest for a week. We had our daughter in April. It’s fun to read what was going on in someone else’s lives on special days. In case you need a fun way to celebrate, look up Dancing In September by Earth, Wind and Fire. it’s a super peppy song about the 21rst night of September!
p.s. love your outfit that day!
Thanks for that suggestion – sounds like a fun tune! Happy Belated Birthday to you.
How amazing that you have those pictures of you and Jason! It is amazing, with fostering, your life can change in an instant.
Happy Familyversary! It is awesome that you have those pictures.
Happy Familyversary! How awesome that you have those pictures! I forgot what I wore the day the kids came until this summer, I walked outsider wearing a dress I hadn’t in a while and Bird said, “that’s the dress you were wearing the day we came!” I could not believe she remembered. I will be thinking of your family today, and saying a prayer that today is extra special!
happy familiversary!!! 🙂 what a perfect little family you make!