The long wait for T

Our second wonderful gift was T.   We had moved back to Southern Ontario-where we both were from-when A was 2yrs.  His adoption was finalised by the local CAS.  When we finalised, we asked to get back on the waiting list for another adoption-and we told them we would be willing to Foster with the intent to adopt.  Our worker told us they really didn't like to do that because it is really hard when a family becomes attached to a child and then they have to take the child away for legal reasons.  You see foster care is temporary.  When children  come into foster care the first obligation is to see if there is a way to re-unite the biological family.  Depending on the situation, the parents are given requirements that must be met-such as parenting classes, drug testing, anger management, etc-so if a parent is co-operative and works with the CAS the child may be sent home.  This worker also stated that because final decisions are made in the court system, by placing a child in a home with the intent to adopt they are guessing what a judge may decide and judges don't like that.  But she did say that since we have already been foster parents in Northern Ontario they would consider us if an appropriate placement came along.  A year went by and we still hadn't gotten a call.  A was now 3yrs old and I was really feeling like we needed more children in the house.  We had told the adoption worker that we would like to continue fostering while we waited for another adoption, but she kind of just avoided answering that.  So one day, Hubby was in the back yard with A, I decided to take matters into my own hands and I called the foster care department directly.  When I called  I was put through to a worker and I told him that we had been foster parents before and that we were on the adoption waiting list, possibly for fostering with the intent to adopt, but that we really liked being foster parents and would like to foster while we waited.  The worker went quiet-then said-"I have heard about you-we had a meeting this morning about you-we have a baby we are looking at placing with you-he's about 2 weeks old"  I was stunned-what do you mean?  A baby for us? A meeting this morning?  I hadn't had contact with anyone there in almost a year.  What are the chances that that day they had been talking about a placement for us.  I really believe the Lord guided me to make that phone call that day!  I hung up the phone-by this time I was in tears.  I walked into the back yard to where Hubby and A were playing-by this time crying so hard I could barely speak.  Hubby panicked thinking something was wrong until I finally got the words out that I had just spoken to CAS and they have a baby for us.  Poor Hubby-he didn't know I had made this call and spent the next few minutes trying to put all the pieces together of what I was telling him.  A newborn baby.  A little brother for A.  But then we had to wait-there were legalities.  The adoption worker didn't want to place him with us until it was closer to a sure thing.  Just wait.  We set up a bassinet, we bought newborn clothes for him.  And we waited.  CAS decided to get our homestudy done so we would be ready.  The plan was to approve us as both a foster home and an adoptive home.  They rushed it through-but we still waited. I asked if we could foster while we waited.  They agreed, so we took some short term placements.  It helped the time go by a little faster.  I got a call one day from the adoption worker,  OK this is it-we are going to move him to you in 2 days-call the foster home he is currently in and find out his routines, what he eats, etc.  Within about 15 minutes the worker called back and said that something had changed and it would be another 2-3 months before they would be back to court. I crumbled.  I cried and cried.  Was it ever going to happen?  Another month went by and now Trevor was about 2 months old I got a call from the foster care worker.  It was the foster parent conference this weekend and they were short on homes.  Would we be willing to take Trevor for the weekend but we had to understand that we would ONLY get him for the weekend-we had understand that we had to give him back to the other foster home after the weekend.  Well of course we would take him-but what torture.  We held him all weekend-we didn't want to put him down.  The other foster home said they would be back Sunday but if they were late they may wait till Monday to get him.  We asked if they would please wait until Monday.  On Sunday we decided we wouldn't answer the phone.  One extra night we could keep him.  The phone rang and Hubby forgot and answered it. He was white-so upset.  They would be there in 1/2 hour to get him-they missed him and wanted him back.   Hubby kept apologising-he was so upset.  I was so hurt.  This was our baby-we wanted him-it was so hard to let him go-I just held him and cried.  But we had no choice.  So with tears we packed him up and let him go.  Another month went by.  All the newborn clothes we had bought we took back to the store.  He was now 3 1/2 months old.  We held onto our pictures of him, we dreamt about him but we were starting to give up hope.  Finally on a Wednesday afternoon I got a phone call from the adoption worker-they had Crown Ward on him and he was ready for adoption-they were going to place him with us on Fri.  I was very cautiously excited.  I wanted to prepare-but we had been let down so many times.  I bought 2 new outfits-we didn't tell anyone.  On Friday morning the social worker called and said she wanted to stop by and pick up my car seat to transport him in.  As she left with the car seat we knew it was true.  He was coming-forever.  We called family and invited them for dinner-we didn't tell them why-we surprised them with our new baby.  I still remember sitting with him in my arms that day-squeezing him.  He's here - he's finally here.  It had been such a roller coaster.  So much heartache-but so worth it. When we brought him in the door A pulled up his little rocking chair, held out his arms and said "Give me my baby."  In contrast to A, T was the perfect baby.  He slept well, he ate well, he was referred to as "Happy Baby."  T seemed to be born with a sense of humour-he has always loved a good joke.  He is a born entertainer-he is quick with the one liners.  he is very antagonistic to his sibling(we like to call it  "stirring the pot").  He is now almost 15.  He  went with a beautiful girl tonight to his semi-formal.  He can play almost any musical instrument, draws beautiful pictures, is great at many sports,  has many friends and is well on his way to being a great, well rounded man.  It took such an emotional toll on all of us waiting for this baby to finally come to us, but I can't even begin to imagine our life without him!