I've been trying to find pictures of inside the orphanage where Kajal spent her last few years, before I brought her home. I saw so little of the place and was hoping to document her recent past as best I could. Through reaching out to other women who have adopted from India, I received a remarkable message. An email from a woman on the west coast stated that after seeing a picture I had posted of Kajal, she remembered her! She had gone to pick up her own daughter in July of 2006 and had taken pictures. She had a picture of Kajal. July of 2006 was before I knew of Kajal, before I'd even started the adoption process. To see her, before any pictures I had. I couldn't believe it!
I know it's blurry, but that's my baby on the right. And that's her friend Manisha on the left! Seeing this picture, you can't imagine how it made me feel.. emotional, happy, sad.. that there she was waiting, hoping for a family and I was going about my life in Boston, clueless this precious child was around the world needing me. It also made me happy, to see her little smile. The woman on the West Coast told me she remembered her clearly, she remembered how sweet and happy she was, when the woman handed out some crayons for the children to play with. Look at that smile!

Kajal looked at the picture, she was okay. But then she had nightmares that night. A few days later she told me again, a story about being hungry. How they were always hungry. She told me how Manisha had picked up an apple from the ground and when she took a bite, the children got caught and they were punished. They had to stand and bend over and grab their toes... holding their toes, hunched over, they had to stand... I don't know how long they were forced to stand there, hours or minutes but she stood up and bent over and showed me. It hurt mommy, it hurt so bad we cried.

Mommy, we had no park, We had no toys. We didn't play. All we did was be quiet and sit, all the time. That, and eat lunch. A little lunch. Then she thought. We didn't have cookies mommy. No cookies, no icecream, no cupcakes.

We were hungry mommy and we no play

This Wednesday we go to court. Most people don't realize that in India they don't do adoptions, they only give legal guardianship. I knew long before I got on the plane for India that this child was mine, completely and undeniably. But by the law, I'm just her guardian. If all goes well on Wednesday, I will become Kajal's legal mother, forever. They'll issue her a new birth certificate, with me as her mom. Can you believe it! And her name, her name now, legally is Kajal. Just Kajal. But when the adoption is finalized, she'll have her new name, her full name, legally. The final legal step, 11 months from the day I brought her home.

Keep us in your prayers