My Zachary

Mama. Have you ever heard a sweeter word? Me neither. Yesterday, I told you how Charlotte came to join our family. Today I will tell you about Zach. The biological womb just happened to be pregnant again when we took Charlotte into our home. That would make 4 in total. The first two were already adopted out. One out of state and one in the family. Both had been taken before 6 months. I hoped they could find a good home for this 4th baby! The baby was born the end of July and from what we heard, he was ok. Even though he had cocaine in the umbilical cord, it was not in his body (meaning no drug use for 48 hours before birth). New baby, new day. That is the law here. The biological womb and her vampire took the baby home. (do I sound a little bitter?) After one day, the womb disappeared with the baby. A health department nurse had been to visit on the first day and the womb asked her "If the belly button comes off, will milk come out?" On day 3 they found the womb and baby outside a shelter in 100 degree heat, the womb screaming obscenities at the infant. When taken, his umbilical cord was gone and an infection was in it's place. Zach was placed in a bridge home. DCFS (Dept. of Children and Family Services) had talked to us previously about taking him. There was really NO way I could, right? I mean I am old and this little girl needs SO much of me. It would not be fair to her. Well, Charlotte had to go every other week for visits with the womb, the vampire and the new baby at the DCFS building. They were supervised visits and most of the time ended up cancelled. By the end of January the vampire was in jail and the womb never showed up for scheduled visits. DCFS wanted to have a visit between the siblings. The regular driver was sick and I was asked if I could drive Charlotte to the visit and pick her up. I did not have to do this but said I would. When I got there they said the lady who was to supervise was out on an emergency, could I please sit in on the visit. Oh, Come ON!!! I did NOT want to see that baby. Ok...I can do this. I just will NOT hold him. I had been pressured over the last 5 months to take him and even told I could lose Charlotte if I didn't. My lawyer assured me that would not happen. I walked into the room and Zach and his foster mom were there. I tried not to look at him, but the "catapillars" he had for eyebrows captivated me. I chatted with her for a minute, she seemed very nice, loving and sweet. Ok so he is in a GOOD place. Guilt-free, I could be!! All of a sudden this baby puked all over the foster mom. I mean projectile puke!!! "Oh could you please take him for just a minute?" What?! Me? There was no one else there. The baby was screaming and the lady was full of puke. "He does this all the time." Great. Charlotte was off playing with the woman's 3 year old. Wasn't she suppose to be visiting him? I took the baby and he instantly stopped crying. He looked me in the face and said "Mama". The foster mom stopped wiping white puke off her navy blue blouse, mouth hanging open. "He has NEVER said that. And he stopped crying. Oh my he does belong with you." I calmly handed him back to her and said I think it was a fluke. He instantly started crying again. I was too busy trying to figure out how I was ever going to get this feeling to go away. What is this feeling? She handed him back to me. He stopped crying and looked me in the eye. "Mama". No way! I handed him back. The scenario played that way several more times. Every time Zachary would look me in the eye and said Mama. I had no idea what was happening, only that this overwhelming love for this little baby boy was growing with each "Mama". I left that meeting watching the lady walk away with my little boy screaming in his car seat. That was a Friday. All the way home I argued with God. "Why did you do that? You know Sweet Hubby will never go for this. He won't even let us get a dog!! Ok, God, if this is what you want, then you need to change his heart. I will not argue with him. If you want this then YOU make it happen." That night I told Sweet Hubby what happened. I cannot remember the exact conversation, but I know by the end of it, there was no arguing and I was calling DCFS on Monday to tell them we would take the baby.

I can tell you that Zachary is one of the brightest lights around this house. He always has a smile and a hug for you and he is STILL a Mama's boy. Oh, and he never puked like that for me and went from skinny to fat in a month. Charlotte adapted well to having her brother here and they are typical siblings. On September 3rd of this year, the womb had another baby. This time there was cocaine in the baby's body. He never went home with her. DCFS called me on the 6th and said "You can come get your new baby tomorrow. He is very small and very addicted, but otherwise he is fine." I smoked 3 packs of cigarettes that day (I haven't had one since). The next morning I called Sherry (my sister in law who taught me to quilt) in Colorado. Before I could say anything she started telling me as fast as she could "You won't believe this! Conner (her 5 year old) told me that he had a dream last night that I was going to get on a plane and go get his baby brother who has brown hair." WOO HOO...Go God!! Thank you Jesus!! That baby is 10 months old now and living happily in Colorado! Oh, and God does not know age...Sherry is 57 (Conner is adopted too). Better her than me ;)

So that is how Zach came to be. His first name was misspelled so we changed that and he had an evil middle name given by the vampire. His new name...Zachary Brendan. Named after his "Mama" Just to give you a little peek at his personality, Zach was in the pool with my daughter in law the other day. He is afraid to get his face in the water and Rachel finally talked him into trying. He gave a heavy sigh and said "OK, but if I don't make it tell mom I love her".