{"id":63792,"date":"2025-06-09T17:29:29","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T17:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=63792"},"modified":"2025-06-09T17:29:29","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T17:29:29","slug":"i-didnt-plan-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=63792","title":{"rendered":"I DIDN\u2019T PLAN TO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"736\" height=\"988\" src=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-372.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-63793\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-372.png 736w, https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-372-223x300.png 223w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It began like any other patrol. In a park in Modesto, I saw her\u2014barefoot, wrapped in a hoodie, curled on a bench. She couldn\u2019t have been older than nineteen. \u201cI\u2019m just trying to keep her warm,\u201d she whispered. In her arms was a newborn, Nia. No ID. No medical records. Just survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her name was Kiara. Recently aged out of foster care. Alone. Afraid. I got them into a shelter and thought my role was done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I couldn\u2019t stop thinking about Nia. When she gripped my finger, something inside me changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kiara eventually told me, \u201cShe smiles when she sees you. You care.\u201d She wasn\u2019t ready to be a mom\u2014but she believed I could be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The system stepped in\u2014investigations, home checks. Two long months with no contact. Then Kiara called, in tears, surrendering her rights out of love, not failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I adopted Nia. She\u2019s four now\u2014bright, joyful, and deeply loved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fatherhood wasn\u2019t in my plans, but it\u2019s the greatest gift I\u2019ve known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes, miracles arrive in messy moments\u2014wrapped in a hoodie, on a cold bench, asking only for warmth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=63765\">also read&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It began like any other patrol. In a park in Modesto, I saw her\u2014barefoot, wrapped in a hoodie, curled on a bench. She couldn\u2019t have been older&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63792"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63794,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63792\/revisions\/63794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/63793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}