Our first meeting...expanded version

Two weeks ago we left on a Saturday morning a little after 8:30 filled with excitement and anticipation headed to Greenville SC to meet our birth mother. In these updates, I will just call her C to respect her privacy. After stopping a few times to make sure none of the furniture was going to fly off the back of the truck, we finally made it to her apartment around 12. We had to wait a little bit for C and her birth mother liaison Danielle to get back from grocery shopping. They arrived along with a guy to help Walter move the furniture into the 2nd floor apartment.

When C got out of the car and our eyes met, I felt at peace, we hugged and said our hellos and proceeded into the apartment. Danielle suggested I stay in the apartment with C while she and the guys unloaded the truck. I helped C put away groceries, we chit chatted nervously and tried to think of things to say. I showed her some of the things our family and friends had given us to bring and she was very thankful. Her favorite color is yellow, but she loves bright colors, so we had a yellow rug she put in the kitchen, another great friend gave her brand new green towels and bathroom set and she loved those too.

I left the bolts/screws that held the kitchen table legs to the table and Walter needed to get a few other things, so he left and went to Lowes and Danielle was finished so she left too. So it was just me and C. We sat in an awkward silence for a little while, I would ask some questions about her college or her family and she would answer. I think she was just shy, nervous and tired. She even dozed off for a few moments sitting on the couch. Then she had the idea to go sit in her room where we had set up the tv and dvd player. I had brought her Miss Congeniality 1 and 2 because she had said those were her favorite movies, but she also had a movie with her, and when she pulled it out, it was funny because, I said that's my favorite movie...How to Lose a Guy in 10 days! ;) So we watched part of that while we waited for Walter to return.

Once we got everything settled at the apartment, we left and went to Olive Garden for a late lunch. We were all starving. She said she had never been to an Olive Garden. Lunch conversation was still kind of awkward silence, but we did talk more about her family and ours. She says she talks to her dad everyday. She seems to be closest to her dad out of all of her family but I don't think that was always the case. It did sadden us a little because when we talked about Christmas, (she said, you guys will have a nice Christmas present) she said Christmas was like another day to her, she didn't really spend it with family, she wasn't close to a lot of her family.

After lunch we took her to a store to get a shower curtain and bedspread, we picked up a few other necessities and when we got back in the car,and you could tell she was a little overwhelmed, she said thank you so much for everything. This is my favorite moment of the day: Walter replied, "You're family, that's what we do for family."

Even with all the awkward silence and nervous moments, I think the day turned out very well, I feel more comfortable about everything and I am planning to go with her to her first doctor's appointment.

Please continue to keep all of us in your prayers. We thank you so much for your love and support.