I have waited..........

I have waited 400 days

I have waited 1 year 1 month and 5 days

I have waited 9,600 hours

I have waited 576,000 minutes (almost exact)

I have waited 34,567,000 seconds

for this to happen again.

I have ache and longed for this

I have prayed and been patience

I have given space and not step into it

I have asked a couple times and

got "no" from her.

Tonight at 9.24 PM

it all changed.

Erin has been attending a bible class 2-3 times a month on Friday nights

the class is for teens and they are either hard of hearing or deaf.

There are boys and girls there.

She has been slowly learning about Jesus and God

One of the teachers knows a little bit about Erin's history,

so she has been using some examples to help Erin.

A week and half ago, I wrote about "so so like" mom that Erin wrote.

Tonight I picked her up after her bible night,

tonight they went to a naviaty play.

They had a lot of fun.

We went to Walmart to pick up a couple of things

We are walking in the parking lot.

Erin stops

puts her arms up like someone that wants to be picked up

I stopped

she turns

I turn

She steps towards me

I froze

she puts her arms around my shoulder and pats

I lift my arms to give her a patted hug

she lets go and start walking.

I want to jump for joy

I wanted to cry tears of joy

I wanted to scream to the world

I wanted to call someone to celebrate

I wanted reverse and play back again and again

Instead I got to do it all inside me

while walking around in Walmart in a daze

Acting like it was no big deal

because I didnt' want to scare her

Wanted to call people but couldn't

I thank God over and over and over.

Thank you Lord, for this gift to her

for her to feel comfortable enough to give me

a hug all on her own in Walmart

parking lot. 

Giving her another opening in her heart.