This was it. The big day; the day that she'd been anticipating for so very, very long. Megan's heart pounded as she walked out to the gate of the acreage, and opened it. There were two social workers outside the gate, with four children between them.

"Welcome to Healing Hearts," Megan said, smiling warmly at the children who looked so terrified. The littlest girl particularly captured her attention. She had brown hair and huge brown eyes, and she looked nervous; yet there was a stubborness in those big brown eyes that said she would not be held back. The look in her eyes was not a defiant look, more of determination and a strength that Megan couldn't immeadiately comprehend.

As she ushered the orphaned children and their guardians into their respective bedrooms, Megan was overjoyed. She had longed for the day when Healing Hearts, a place where children could come and stay when they lost their parents, would open it's gates and she would open her arms to these children. This was it.

The social workers left once the children were settled, not because they didn't care, but because they had so much else to do. There were many other children in the city who needed their services. These children, however, were in capable and loving hands.

Megan spent time that first day with each child. Brian was an eight year old bookworm who had finished the entire Hardy Boys series before his seventh birthday. His parents had been lost in a terrible car accident, which the small boy had miraculously survived. But Brian seemed to retreat into his books for solace, seemingly trying to forget, to rid his young mind of nightmarish memories. He would need lots of reassurance, but Megan and her team were ready to give it to him.

Jamie was only five, but she was a captivating child. She had personality, and she was very talkative. Jamie would make eye contact when she talked to someone, which was a good sign to Megan. But her eyes were so deep, so penetrating, that you could get lost in them. Megan longed to know her story, but she knew that would come in time.

Nathaniel and Anna were brother and sister, and they had a fierce sense of loyalty to one another. Megan found out that the pair had been in foster care since the ages of four and two, but had never been separated. Thankfully, the twelve and ten year old duo communicated well, and they seemed to like the other children as well.

The first day seemed to go well to Megan, until it was time for bed. Nathaniel, Anna and Brian did not fuss, but Jamie put up a struggle. She cried and screamed, seeming terrified of the darkness. "That child is as stubborn as the day is long," thought Megan. Finally, Anna knelt down beside the smaller girl, put her hand on her shoulder, and said, "It's ok, Jamie. We're all here with you. There's not anything that can happen to you." Megan watched in amazement as Jamie's fit ceased. Anna looked up at Megan and asked, "Can Jamie sleep in my bed tonight?" Megan nodded, still in awe of the younger girl's skill with Jamie. Anna took a flashlight and shone it all around the room. "See, Jamie? There's nothing here but us." Without another word, the two girls climbed into bed. When Megan checked on them later in the night, they were sound asleep.

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