They lived with me for seven, maybe eight months, but as soon as Monica was able to find work and save some money, she rented a place of her own and gained her independence.
If we adopted Valery, she is going to be happy with us because she knows New York, she knows her little friends and she knows who is family.
She hasn't been asking about her mother as much as she did in the beginning, but she needs to be told about what happened. We can't hide this from her for too long.
She told me she wanted to get to know him better before she made any commitments.
It was a very positive meeting. We both said we want what's best for Valery.
We saw him as a friend we could trust.
I got very emotional, but I tried not to let her see me cry. We didn't want to make her sad; she has gone through enough already. We played and sang, but it gave me great pain to watch her there, so defenseless and with no idea that her mother was gone.
She is very little to understand Mama is not going to come back. But she understands Mama is in heaven watching over her. In the future, it's going to be hard.
