Alina and LW

As I was preparing for my trip, I had the thought to contact Alina's birth mother. My reasoning was that David's birth mother had a visit with him as we traveled through her home town at about the same age Alina was at the time I was traveling. I thought it was a long shot, because LW lives with her wonderful husband several hundred miles away from where I was going. But I figured that I would at least let her know, invite her for a visit, and see what she decided.

You can imagine my surprise when she immediately messaged me back to tell me that the dates I was going to be in Utah were the very same dates she was going to be in Utah. With very little extra effort on either of our parts, we got to arrange this playdate with Alina and LW. To make it even better, we got to meet LW's husband for the first time. It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon together!

Alina was a bit clingy to me until I had LW put a pad of paper on her knee, then Alina drew close enough to color. From there LW moved to the floor and Alina grew more comfortable, as long as I was within sight. 

Then LW pulled out the big guns--her phone!! My phone had been off limits to Alina up to this point, so instantly LW had a new best friend.

Teddy, cell phone and LW. Alina was a content little girl!

Then life got even more exciting when the phone she was holding actually rang . . . and Philip was on the other end! Alina had a nice long chat with her new friends (which translates to: she refused to give up the phone once she had it).

They ended up bribing her with the phone once more to get a picture of the three of them together, but Alina was quick to be done--even with that bribe!

I am so grateful that we were able to meet up. I consider it a miracle that I had that thought and acted on it before it fled--my life was more than a little hectic leading up to my trip, so I attribute the arrangement of it all to be a miracle.

We love LW, and I hope next time Alina sees her that the little girl will be more open to finding a friend in LW. In due time, I am confident that Alina will love LW as much as we do. There's just no other way to feel about such a lovely example for our girl to look up to.