Reunification Plans

As I mentioned on June 6, our goal with Anellah’s mother was reunification. We loved Anellah but it was sinking in for Daniel how much of a commitment children are. He was feeling overwhelmed as he was watching Anellah on most of his days off and we were thinking maybe we wouldn’t have children at all.

Reunification plans seemed to be going well and we had a great relationship with her Mother. There were points of friction but for the most part Daniel, Anellah’s Mother, and myself really respected each other. We were able to spend quality time together and her Mother even asked if we would become Anellah’s godparents so that we would always be in her life.  She also asked that we would have Anellah baptized or dedicated at our church which we all did together on September 26th.

Her birthday was in September and Anellah and I went to San Francisco to spend the day with her. After that I described her as “mature, courteous, thoughtful, fun, and LOVES Anellah so much!” She respected the way Daniel and I chose to parent Anellah without displaying disagreement if things came up that she would do differently. I never expected to have such a positive relationship with my child’s biological mother.

By the end of October, Anellah’s Mother had additional responsibilities and was torn between wanting to be there for Anellah and also caring for the responsibilities in her life. Her intention was still there but based on what Daniel and I were seeing we started to doubt whether or not she would be able to take on the additional HUGE responsibility of Anellah. We prayed for her future and we prayed for Anellah’s future desperately wanting what was best for both of them in the long term…and in the back of our heads we were both wondering if we would be part of it. God was working on both Daniel and I though we hadn’t talked to each other about adoption yet.