Happy Birthday Gem!! (and it wasn't the surprise I was expecting)

Well, I woke up late today, and started on a big loaf of bread and a homemade birthday cake - GG helped for a bit, but then went off to the park to play football (and meet Laddie!). She stayed about an hour then phoned and came home. I am so happy that she is finally able to do normal stuff like this! Earlier this year, she also managed her first supermarket trip alone as well! Although, supermarket is much worse than park, since the park is right around the corner, and part of it is in sight of the kitchen window. But still, it's huge progress :)

Gem phoned about an hour before she was due, to ask if there would actually be enough food for an extra person?! Thanks for telling me earlier I thought! I figured she was either bringing her closest friend, or 'Topaz', who is her younger sibling.

But when the car pulled up, out stepped Gem, her DH and a girl I didn't recognise immediately.. then I saw the huge obvious resemblance between her and Gem, and I realised.. BAM! It's 'Jewel'! Not the surprise i was expecting!

This is big..

Gem has a few younger siblings, all of them are adopted. By the time I adopted Gem at 10, three younger siblings had already either been placed for adoption, or had finalized several years previously. So I made contact with all the families. Most were delighted that Gem had a home, and were happy to be in contact.. all except one set of parents, who had adopted Jewel as a baby. She was well a toddler by this time, and they made it clear that there would never be any contact between us, that Jewel didn't need to know her brothers and sisters..she had new ones...and they basically seemed to want to blot out Jewels biological family altogether. Not healthy.. so neither I nor any of the other siblings families heard anything more of Jewel. It has been a source of great pain for Gem, who cares very much about all her siblings and had a gaping hole where Jewel should have been..Jewel could have died for all we knew!

But..suddenly at the beginning of December I found Jewel's profile on facebook..Gem also found it, and her other siblings. Much ado followed, the outcome being that contact was made with Jewel, who has been texting and phoning ever since. Jewel's parents have no idea...


So my shock when I realised it was her standing in front of me...I nearly forgot to wish my own girl a HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY!!!

more later...