After the usual hugs and kisses, Mama and Myra left us. With the morning sun steaming in and this deep peace in the room, I met Maggie’s eyes and we both smiled. And then, right on cue, Layla being her cute little self reached up and grabbed her mommy’s nose and did a little baby sound that sounded like pure love. “You know, sweetheart,” I said to Maggie, “I get the feeling that maybe we’ve just been adopted!”

With her usual quick wit, she replied, “I’m up for it. We can use all the help we can get!”

I heard relief in her voice and I didn’t realize until just that moment how scared and overwhelmed Maggie was feeling. But we had never had a baby before so both of us were on a pretty steep learning curve.

Knowing that Mama’s family and extended family had to number in the hundreds of people, I was wondering just what Mama and Myra meant when they offered to take us in—but it didn’t take long to find out.