The Day We Got Anna

     Eight years ago today I was sitting down at my table drinking coffee and planing out my day, when I got a call that would change my life forever.  It was our case worker, wanting to know if we were able to foster a ten day old little girl named Anna.  I didn't know then how long she would be with us, but when I got off the phone, I knew I was going to pick up my daughter that day.

     She was the smallest baby I had ever held.  Our toddler sized car seat swallowed her.  The buckle was as big as she was.  We had no diapers, no formula, no bottles, no clothes; the only baby item I owned was a crib, but none of that stuff really mattered.  We had our baby; things are easy to acquire.  I spent hours just holding and looking at her.  Memorizing every line of her face.

     The thought that we might not get to keep her, that she would be ours just temporarily, was always at the back of my mind like a bad dream you just can't shake.  We loved and delighted in her; she was our daughter, but not according to the State.  So we waited and prayed and hoped, and prayed some more.  There was one prayer running constantly through my mind, "Lord, let us keep her.  Let me keep my baby girl." 
     Over two years after she was first placed in our care, she became ours,  officially and forever.  My daughter, my darling, my little baby girl.  My Anna.