first night

the first overnight was july 4th weekend. and the following friday they would come to live with us permanently. we picked them up after school, they fell asleep on the more than an hour ride to our house. when we got home we showed them around the house and showed them their room, all their new toys and clothes. our son loved the new cars and our daughter loved trying on her new shoes. after a while we took the kids for a ride in the double stroller around the neighborhood to meet some neighbors and show off our beautiful kids. we went out for dinner and came home to begin the first of what would become a nightly ritual... bath, book, bed... we bathed the kids together, with lots of bath toys, and our son had no complaints, only fun. we got them changed for bed and watched finding nemo. part of their nightly ritual at their last foster home was warm milk before bed. we continued that. we then carried them both to bed, kissed them good night and told them i love you. we checked in on them later and were amazed at how soundly they slept, even the fireworks didn't wake them. i drove them back after that first long weekend. they watched as i drove away and cried, it broke my heart. as i got closer to home and realized they wouldn't be there i was the one crying.