WASHTENAW COUNTY, Mich. — Sunflowers stretch every exterior wall of Cindy Kennedy’s Ypsilati home.
“They’ve gotten so tall," she smiled.
They're now taller than her biggest blessings.
“I planted petunias and pansies. What I didn’t know was the boys were behind me planting sunflowers until they grew. Just started popping up. And in the last two weeks, they’ve really bloomed," she laughed. “They’re my little helpers.”
Living on a 20-acre farm in Washtenaw County filled with award-winning fair donkeys, dogs, cats, horses, chickens and bunnies, there isn’t much that can surprise Cindy.
“He got out," she said, pointing to a mule in a pen. "The police were trying to figure out if it was a pony, a donkey, or a mule. It was Ricky the mule."
But at 62 years old, she did not see her future until it was at her doorstep — eight-year-old Xavier and nine-year-old LaKota.
“Oh, it stopped everything to take care of two babies in diapers," she said.
“I was asked if I would take them by the state, or they would take them," Cindy said. “Of course I would take them."
Cindy always knew they were hers. She just needed the paper to prove it.
"I couldn’t really afford it," she said.
Case worker Monica Hicks helped connect Cindy with law students at University of Michigan, who took care of the case, helping her skirt the court fees.
“I really got lucky," she smiled.
But her boys? They'd argue they’re the lucky ones.
"She just like... took care of us as soon as she walked through the door," said Lakota.
"I just love her," said Xavier, holding onto her leg.
She would walk through the door of the courtroom, too — for Washtenaw County’s first in-person adoption hearing since COVID-19.
“That was pretty cool, huh?” she said, looking at her boys.
A special title, when really all it meant was coming home.
“It was all good cries," she said, of adoption day. “You’re gonna make me cry again.”
Cindy would return home herself that day to see the flowers planted by her boys were finally in bloom. For the first time in their young lives, rooted to Cindy’s soil.
"Their permanency is a relief for them and a relief for me," she said. “’Cause now I know that they won’t go nowhere, and they’re mine," she said.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.