The Peanut's Perspective

So, a blog would not really be complete unless I took a moment to talk about our "peanut", Miss Gabbi. She's the light of our lives, a joy to be around, and just gosh darn adorable. (I'm not biased or anything, she's just the coolest kid on the planet)


Gabbi will be three in September (going on twenty) and she has been a huge part of this process. The first time I brought the idea up to her, we were in the car. I asked her what she would think about having big brothers and sisters in the house. Two tiny fists in the air, she yelled, "YAYYYY!! Mommy! I would love big brothers and sisters!!" Now for those of you that think, she's three, she couldn't possibly understand...you must not have met Gabbi yet :)


Since that day, we talk to her about everything. We had to leave her with her adoring Uncle Christopher twice a week to go to our foster certification class this summer. Every night, she would say, "Go get me big brotherrrrrrsss!!!!" We show her pictures of the kids we are looking at as potential matches, and we talk to her about what our caseworkers were doing here during homestudies, etc. 


I'm not saying there won't be adjustment issues, after all, she has been an only child for the first three years of her life. But she's as ready as we are to share our home and our family. She has, however, recently declared that she would really like a big sister, too, so someone could share her room. Gabbi and I spend a lot of our time together, since Brian works nights and sleeps during the day. She is so excited about all of this, and I know she will be world's greatest sister. 


I did have one concern---we live in rural Chautauqua County, where racial and cultural diversity are not exactly on an upswing. I wasn't sure what Gabbi would say when she saw our new family members, who most likely be a different color than she is. "Out of the mouths of babes" became a bit of a terrifying idea. And then, as usual, she proved to be much smarter and cooler than I give her credit for. We were in a doctor's office, surrounded by kids who were all of a different race. She looked around, looked at me, and said, "Mommy, are these ALL my brothers and sisters???" Cool kid. She's gonna be great.