I just emailed the news anchor/reporter at News 4 in Denver Colorado about a possible follow-up story to the one he did just over a year ago on our daughter. The segment that was filmed for the local Wednesday’s Child was that of Jessica at a Build a Bear Workshop. The thing that we most remember is how we knew as soon as we saw the video that she was our daughter. Her mannerisms and the way she played to the audience were amazing.

The fact that she was making a black and white dog, similar to the way our Sarah looks, was another clue. And the famous, or infamous quote "I like shopping, like every girl", when responding to the question of what she likes to do was priceless. It would be hard to imagine not having her as part of our family.

Things happened so fast after we contacted her caseworker for the first time. When I say fast, I mean in foster adopt time. There’s earth time, and then there is court and government-related time. In court time, things are not rushed, which can be good and bad. When you are trying to adopt it is good to take time and make sure everyone is a good match, and to be sure you are ready. If you are a foster child, it’s not good that it seems to take forever to be reunited with your family.

Anyway, back to the story. We contacted Jessica’s caseworker after we saw Jessica on AdoptUSKids. We inquired about another girl about the same age, at the same time. We found out that the other girl had been placed, but the caseworker contacted us about Jessica right away. This was in December 2004.

Our homestudy was sent to Colorado, and we held our breath. The excitement of having found our daughter was too much, and the having to wait for her to get here was worse. Several calls and emails later, we were told that we were one of the families being considered for Jessica. It was now near the end of January 2005. Not bad in foster adopt time. We would know if we were a match in about a week, we were told.(part two)