The Meaning of Family

(This is short but sweet. I honestly lost all motivation for this story, specifically the fact that it's an Upstead story, so I'm ending it here, short and sweet. I love this little family I created and wanted to do more with the story, but I'm just not in it anymore. Thank y'all for the love and support for this one!!)

Pretty quickly, the holiday season was over, and Ava was not happy about the Christmas decorations going away in early January. She begrudgingly helped with the clean up, then proceeded to cry her little heart out because she wanted the lights back.

In February, Hailey and Jay went on their first date night since Ava came to live with them. They were hesitant to leave her, but they knew they needed to do it at some point. So, Trudy came to babysit and it went pretty well, other than Ava not wanting to go to bed without them home. They got through it though, and date night was decided to be a bi-weekly occurrence when possible for the health of everyone involved.

Ava also started having play dates at friends houses. That was a big deal. Hailey and Jay met Faith's parents and her older sisters, and they had Faith come to their house first just for everyone's comfort. They got along with Faith's parents and her mom and dad were more than happy to go at their pace, and Ava's, with playdates because they had experience with foster children and had all the licensing and approval for Ava to even come to their house without Hailey or Jay present. That made them feel a lot better. And Ava loved getting to go play at Faith's house, although she would often ask when someone was coming to get her. It was progress though, and that's all that mattered.

In April, Ava asked to start gymnastics. She'd seen some on TV, and Faith was starting it too. After consideration and having a long talk with Ava about how doing  gymnastics would involve touch at times, they said yes. And met with the coaches about how Ava could get and her history with abuse and dislike for sudden touch. And men. They found out within two months Ava was a natural, and the competitive coaches were looking at her to join when she got a little older. It ended up being a great decision for Ava and helped with her confidence as well.

Then came June. Specifically, June 3. That quickly became Hailey and Jay, and Ava's, favorite day of the year. It was the day Ava got adopted. They had the whole unit there and Ava's class from school, along with her favorite people from Med and Firehouse 51. She got to pick a special dress to wear for it, and they were beaming the whole day. Ava was officially becoming a Halstead. Officially in Hailey and Jay's custody, nothing could change that. Everyone cried when she was declared their's and then they went and had a picnic at the park with food and cake and had a photographer do their first professional family photos to document the day and have the photos hanging in the house. It was the best day of their lives. That night, Hailey, Jay, and Ava were on the back porch on the porch swing, Ava asleep between them, exhausted from the big day. Hailey looked at Jay with a smile. "This. This right here is the meaning of our family. We may not have brought her into the world ourselves, but Ava's ours. I wouldn't have it any other way," she said, tearing up.

"I couldn't agree more. Our family is perfect," Jay responed before kissing Hailey.

This was their family.