Anna Dombkins

He really could just sit and stare.

His face didn't move at all.

And so the next few months were just this incredible process of watching him come to life and come out of that little shell.

And first he started making little sounds and then he started

smiling or he'd move his face and then he'd grab his face because he was so shocked it was moving and then he started smiling he had little dimples everywhere and then we taught him to laugh and stand up and so he just yeah he came to life before our eyes and and watching that we just thought he's gonna make it he's we're not bringing this child home to die he's gonna survive this um and it was uh it was just incredible

Yeah, so they were developmentally, physically very normal one-year-olds.

They could, you know, get to their feet.

They were starting to learn to walk.

But because they'd been in a baby home, they hadn't had, basically since birth, they hadn't had parent figures.

They'd had lots of mamas on rotation who would care for them and they were given exceptional care in that baby home.

But they really just believed any adult was their parent.

And so you might be in a park and they'd fall down or whatever.

They would just crawl to any adult and climb up their legs and just try and

go to any adult they saw as a trusted figure.

And so it took a very long time for them of being the only ones to provide care for them for a long time until they kind of developed that connection with us where they knew we were their parents.

And it was many years before they actually came to us or pushed past another adult to come to us.

Yeah.

So Jackson was so ready and he'd been years in this process knowing it might happen and he was so excited and particularly he just loved teaching Jabari

those things he taught him to walk.

He'd hold his little hands and bring him up and toddle him around.