Happy Homecoming Day, Henry!

A year ago today, we brought our son home for the first time. We’d gotten a call 3 days earlier.

There’s a baby boy in the NICU who needs to come home soon. Can you take him?

At the time, we had twin 3-year-olds, a 7-month-old, and the messiest house on the block. We were i-n-s-a-n-e to even consider it, but still, I called Mike.

Me: What do you think?
Mike: (well, to be honest… I don’t remember what he said. But it wasn’t a no, and that alone shocked me!)

The next day, we met him. He was the tiniest baby I’d ever held. He was less than half of Maeve’s birth weight and I couldn’t believe that something so tiny could be real. When they told us he was ready to go home, I was stunned. How in the world!? He’s so little! I’m afraid we’ll break him!

But we didn’t. We fell head over heels for this tiny little buddy who has brightened our lives every day since. At the time, we didn’t know if he’d be with us for three weeks or three months, but it turned out to be forever.

Below is one of my favorite videos of all-time: my twins meeting Henry. We decided to surprise them after school (foster care is crazy, and sometimes babies you think you’ll take home, you don’t— so we didn’t want to tell them ahead of time.) I love how immediately excited and willing to help they were. People often ask how foster care has affected them, and I always say for the better (you can read that post here.)

Happy Homecoming Day, Henry-o. Life is so much sweeter with you in it!