I’d been waiting to see that smile for two years. In reality, I’ve been waiting to see both those smiles.
My sister, MaryAnne, and her husband had been on the adoption path for a few years and each month it became harder and harder. The countless calls of craving to have a child but unable to get pregnant and then having adoption possibilities fall through. Even on my wedding day, they got their hopes up when she received a call, only to be told a week later that it was a false alarm.
So when Clayton and I got back from our honeymoon and had the whole family together to Facetime MaryAnne, I knew this was the moment. Tears flooded the kitchen where we all stood. In less than 2-weeks, I would become an Aunt yet again but this time to the beautiful Leilani Rose Budden.
Her big brown eyes, chubby cheeks and a smile that goes on for days would have you swooning alone, but her happy attitude and love for cuddles simply make your heart melt.
It wasn’t just her smile I had been waiting to see ever since my sister said they were going to adopt, it was MaryAnne’s smile that I was waiting for. The moment when all her dreams came true and she was finally called mom. Even her husband looked different now that they were parents. Whatever it is about being new parents, there really is a glow to it.
After all this waiting we were all finally together.
Sister, husband, daughter, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all together as the latest form of this family and I couldn’t wait to capture it all. More specifically I couldn’t wait to take their family photos and freeze this moment in time. The moment that had taken so many years, tears, phone calls, and prayers to get too.
This very moment was the one we all wanted to hold onto forever. And so we did.
