To My Brother--Julianna

​On July 21, 2010, my life was completely changed for the better, I couldn’t have asked for a bigger blessing in disguise. This Wednesday afternoon, my family and I had a dinner planned for my oldest sister’s birthday. We were at home when my mother received a call from the County of San Bernardino, this was a regular occurrence as my parents were active foster parents for the county. She answered the phone and it was a social worker asking if she and my father could take in a 3-week old baby that day, her quick and initial response, “I’m sorry I’m not sure if I am available at this time to care for a newborn with little to no preparation.” The social worker reassured my mom to think about it because this baby was still in the hospital 3 weeks after his birth and needed a family to take care of him. After a few moments of discussion between her and my dad, they finally decided that they would take him in temporarily while the county found him another family to be with. This was the 15 minute decision that completely changed my life to the more enjoyable thing it is now. My mother quickly called my sister and apologized for the change of plans as she and my father were on their way to Pomona Valley Medical Center to pick up my new foster brother. In my 8 year old mind, I thought, “A BABY????, I’m the baby!” because I am the youngest out of 4 girls, I could not adapt to the idea that a new baby would be around. I cried for hours at the thought that this new baby would take my place in my parent’s eyes as the baby of the family.
After coming to terms with this sudden shift in my life, I started to grow excited for the arrival of my foster brother. My sisters pulled out the newborn clothes my mom had stored away from previous foster kids and started going through it to see what would work for the new baby. When I saw the tiniest clothes I had ever seen in my life, my initial thought was I could play with him as if he was a toy. My sisters had to have a talk with me that my mom would be kept busy with the baby because of how much attention they require but she of course loved me no less. I heard the front door unlock and my parents walked in with a baby car seat that I had never seen before. At first, I felt instant jealousy rush through me and then it all changed in an instant. For the first time, I laid my eyes on my baby brother, Jesse, and automatically knew that this time it was different. Plenty of foster kids had come and gone as my parents opened up their home to care for them, but this time I knew deep down he was going to be my baby brother. My sisters surrounded him, blocking me from view and I grew anxious thinking I wouldn’t be able to see him enough. The weeks to come brought a lot of stress on my household as we all pitched in to help care for Jesse, there were sleepless nights, and days full of his crying but as a family we didn’t care because even then I think deep down my parents knew this was going to be their son.
Months passed as my family embraced Jesse with our love, we treated him with an overwhelming amount of care as we welcomed him into our family. On Jesse’s 1st birthday we celebrated by throwing a huge birthday bash in his honor. We invited our extended family as we all ate, danced, and had fun with Jesse as he enjoyed himself. My sisters and I also encountered a surprise gift from my parents the same day as his birthday. They sat us down at the dinner table and asked a life-altering question. “How would you all feel if we adopted Jesse to be in our family?”, my sisters screamed in joy but I sat quietly confused about the question. “What does that mean?” asked my confused 8-year old self. My parents explained to me that adopting meant he would permanently become a part of our family for the rest of our lives, meaning I would have a baby brother. Already feeling that Jesse was my baby brother, I joined my sisters screams of joy as we all said yes to the question. My parents immediately got into contact with his social worker and asked what were the next steps we would have to take to adopt Jesse. Finally, on June 21, 2013, after all the years and months full of those sleepless nights, days filled with crying both good and bad, The State of California recognized Jesse as my parents son and we legally adopted him. By this time

I was 11, and had a much better understanding of the situation. I didn’t need a pen and paper telling my family that Jesse was adopted, I knew since I first laid my eyes on him that he was my baby brother.
From the time I first met Jesse to now, the present day, he’s changed me as a person. Being the baby of the family I only really cared about myself, my toys, and my mom but when another baby came around my feelings completely changed. I learned then that I needed to not only think about myself but to think about my new baby brother. Becoming a big sister to Jesse has by far changed my life for the better, I’ve learned a lot of skills that I would come to need throughout my life. I’ve learned to care for someone more than myself when I met Jesse, I took on the responsibility of being an older sister. I couldn’t have asked for a bigger blessing in my life as he brings so much happiness to my family and I, my mom describes Jesse as the missing piece to our family puzzle. This is for Jesse, I will always make sure that you are well and have everything you need before I even think about myself. I have your back, front, and both sides, I love you forever.