Placement

Placement took place on Sunday April 2, 2006. That morning we met with Amanda and Hollie and watched conference with them. Following conference we headed to LDSFS and Hollie was placed in our arms. We signed lots of paperwork visited with Amanda and the caseworker. We took LOTS of pictures and then it was time to leave. That was the hardest part! I can't describe the feelings I felt. I was excited and yet, so sad. My heart just broke for Amanda. I could only think about her and what she is going through and what she was going to go through. We had talked lots and told her that we would come and see her every day until we were given the "okay" to go back home to Arizona. She liked that and we wanted that also. She buckled Hollie in her carseat, put her in the car, gave her kisses and told her how much she loved her. Ryan and I both just cried. we felt inadequate, we felt like we shouldn't be happy because we were making someone sad, but we weren't. Amanda was doing something that she knew she was suppose to do, it was going to be hard, but with ALL of our LOVE we could get through it together. We gave Amanda LOTS of hugs, told her how much we love her and re-assured her that we would call her as soon as we got home and that we would see her tomorrow, Monday. We followed through with our promises. The next week we spent every moment we could with Amanda. Hollie was out and about and was just perfect! We enjoyed the time we had with Amanda. We took SO many pictures, made SO many memories, shared stories and got to know eachother. It was PERFECT in every way. I loved watching Amanda with Hollie. You could see in the way she was with her how much she loved her. The experience for me was amazing! I will never forget the smallest details, the look of how Amanda looked at Hollie, all of that I will always remember. The experience was perfect and I would have never wanted Hollie's adoption to go any other way. For her, it was perfect!