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Dad: Robert Hall Mom: Susan Brother: Ralph age 11 fifth grade DOB August 20 Adopted sister: April Marie age 10 fifth grade DOB January 4th Adopting sister Pick up date: October 3rd One year ago, Ralph contacted the Social worker and asked about April. Nine months ago, Ralph wrote his first letter to his sister to be: Dear April, I am Ralph, a fourth grader who is interested in your story. I asked my parents, and they are talking about it, so don't get excited. But I might be your big brother later. I like your picture. Here is my picture. Eight months ago, Ralph wrote again: Dear April, Hi. It's Ralph. Mom and dad talked it over. They are asking the social worker about you know. Maybe you will be my sister soon. Love Ralph. Seven Months ago, Ralph wrote again: Dear April, It's Ralph again. I hope you don't mind me writing to you, but I like writing to you. I got kicked out of computer classes for the rest of the year. I got caught looking at your profile too many times. Now, I have to see the counselor when the rest of the class has computers. How are you being? After that, Ralph started writing her nearly every week telling her how close they were getting to getting approved, and the last letter she'd have gotten would have arrived three days before telling her that they were coming that Saturday to come and get her. ___________ Present Day, Saturday, October 3, xxxx __________________ Ralph was so happy that he was picking up his sister that day, that he woke up at FOUR THIRTY in the morning to wait for his parents to get up. He watched cartoons for a while, and kept looking around, as if wondering where his little sister would be sitting when he went to get her. She was supposed to be about six months younger than him, but the now fifth grader didn't care. She was still his little sister. Susan finally got up at five, and she smiled at Ralph as she passed by her fully dressed son. He even had his hair combed nicely. "Someone is excited about meeting his little sister," she said in a cooing way. "Mom! I'm not a baby," he whined. "And anyway, April is going to be the baby of the family. She's about six months younger than me, right?" Susan smiled. "Yeah, she's about that. What do you want for breakfast?" "Do we have time for breakfast?" "Ralph," she laughed. "We can't get her until ten, and it only takes three hours to get there. We're leaving at about seven, so we still have plenty of time." Ralph frowned. Time sure was moving slow. Dad finally got up at about six, and he came in and smiled at seeing his son all ready to go. Ralph may have found their little gem of a daughter, but by now, both dad and mom had fallen in love with the child, too. Ralph shared almost all of the letters she sent back to him, unless they had secrets in them. And mom started to write to her about two months ago when they were approved to get her. Dear April Marie, I'm Susan, Ralph's mom, and soon, I'll be your mom, too. The social worker has told me some of your problems, so don't be scared, baby. I'm really looking forward to seeing you in person, and your daddy has always wanted a daughter, so you are going to be so loved here. After that, she started to write to her new daughter every week, too. Only dad had not written her yet, but they did get information from the social worker, from the letters she sent Ralph, and from the letters she sent Susan, so that they decorated her room with her favorite colors and characters. They had two dressers for her, one with her regular clothes, and one with some diapers in it for her because they had been told by the social worker that she needed diapers at night. She also had a desk in her room and nice bed with a protective sheet that was made of water proof cloth rather than plastic. Nothing is more embarrassing to a fifth grader than having her friends sit on her bed, and it make plastic noises telling everyone you wet the bed, so they got her some expensive waterproof sheets that would protect her mattress without giving away her secrets to her friends if they came to visit her. She had a toy box with lots of toys in it that were neutral, and she had a doll house that was more like a castle as well as stuff for her favorite sports and non-gendered games. ____________________ Coming back to the car after getting her signed out __________________ Ralph opened the door for his new sister smiling at her. She was really his little sister now, though she wasn't really that much smaller than he was, maybe an inch or two. But she was cute. He loved her eyes and her plush round face. He got in the other side, and he looked over at her, smiling. She looked a little nervous, but then, she was going to a new place and though he didn't know how many homes she had seen before, he figured that others couldn't have worked out, or she wouldn't be available now. Then, he saw it. The crotch her jeans were soaked. When did she pee? He blushed when he saw she caught him looking. "Did you just wet your pants?" he whispered to her worried about her.

Characters: Dad Tom 41 years old Health care worker at nursing home Mom Cindy __ years old Brother: Ralph 12 years old D O B: December 4 Adopted: Sofia 8 years old D O B: March 6 Adopted: Raquel 4 years old August 16 ________ Present day: August 20___________ Ralph had been excited that whole day, as he thought about picking up his new sisters. For the longest time, nearly two years, he had thought he wanted a brother, way back then, he was lonely for a sibling. He got in trouble when he was in fifth grade for searching an adoption site in computer lab, and actually got banned from the computer lab the year previous for the same things. However, his counselor helped him understand what he was thinking and feeling, and the counselor, under his supervision, let him search the pages of the adoption site. He had wanted a Brother at first, but as his counselor gave him more time, and they talked more, this girl's picture came up, Sofia. He kept browsing that page at the list of boys on it, but the real reason, is he wanted to see Sofia's picture. He thought she was really cute. Then one day, the counselor told him to open a girl's profile, so he did, and when he read her profile, he liked her even more. She liked some of the stuff he liked. He didn't read at first that she had a sister. Then, he wrote a first letter sometime last year. Dear Sofia. I am Ralph. I am sorry that you don't have a mommy and daddy now, but I want to be your brother. Can we be friends? Now, here he was, in the car, waiting for his parents to bring her out, knowing she had a sister, knowing that her sister was likely going to come with them, but he was more interested in meeting his now 8 year old sister. He felt like he knew her so well from all the letters they exchanged. She was in second grade when they started the letter sharing, so her writing was hard to read, and she could only say a few things, but her drawings spoke volumes to him. Finally, Tom held Sofia's hand while he looked back at his wife, making sure she was managing Raquel well enough on her own. Raquel was still wearing diapers even though she was four years old. The social worker said that no one had ever gotten around to potty training her because every time they thought they found a family for them, something happened. In the last case, the foster parents were deemed too abusive, and so once again, the children were taken from them, and spent about a year in a group home. Ralph opened the car door immediately when he saw his new sisters, and he ran right up to his dad and bent down to Sofia's level not realizing she was so small. He smiled at her and gave her one last letter. Dear Sofia, Welcome to our family. I am Ralph, the brother who kept sending you all those letters. Then he drew a picture of mom, dad, himself, and the little girls. The youngest was in daddy's arms in his picture and Sofia was between mommy and Ralph holding their hands. "I hope you like this last letter" he told her as he handed it to her. "Now, we don't need letters to talk. We are in the same house, now." And he reached out to hug her.