Beth Gilbreath will never forget the phone call that changed her life forever.
About two years ago, the director at the Dubuque Montessori School was asked if she would be able to take care of a former student.
Kelly Simpson, the student's aunt, explained that the girl and her siblings were abandoned at Simpson's house by her stressed-out mother.
Despite her desperate desire to keep the little girl, Simpson couldn't. Gilbreath was the family's last hope.
The single mother of three grown children didn't have to think about it. Gilbreath immediately said yes.
In July, Gilbreath adopted Kalyn, now 7.
It was an emotional day.
"Now I have four kids," Gilbreath said. "I have to get used to saying that."
Gilbreath and Simpson agreed to support each other to raise
Kalyn in a happy environment.
"We are going to share you," Simpson said to her niece on adoption day.
The two women have kept their promise to share the one thing they both love more than life itself: Kalyn.
"We
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Simpson and her parents took care of Kalyn for most of the girl's young life. The family couldn't care for her anymore, and were terrified that if she ended up in foster care, they'd never see her again.
"If we would have lost her, it would have been devastating to the entire family," Simpson said.
Gilbreath, whose youngest son dated Simpson's daughter, kept in touch with the family ever since she petitioned the Montessori School Board of Directors for a scholarship for Kalyn.
"I knew that she would be awesome if she came to Montessori," Gilbreath said.
Kalyn has no contact with her mother, and her father's parental rights were terminated.
Despite the trauma she experienced, Kalyn has begun to sing again. The bubbly girl starts to sing the second she wakes up each morning in her very own pink bedroom.
"I like that (Beth) has just a small house and that it's comfy," Kalyn said. "I always know that I'm safe and nobody is going to hurt me."
Gilbreath is determined to ensure that the little girl always feels safe.
"She is going to grow up and know she has a very big family," Simpson said. "Everybody is so focused on what is best for Kalyn."
Simpson is able to take care of Kalyn in morning before school several times per week.
"Going with her makes me happy," Kalyn said. "She's really fun and nice."
She especially likes playing with her aunt's dogs. Kalyn also visits with her siblings every Sunday during dinner at their maternal grandparent's home.
"It's all working out amazingly well," Simpson said.
