The first excitement had faded.

Volunteers canceled at the last minute.

The refrigerator in the church basement broke on a humid Thursday, and Denise called to tell us she couldn’t release chilled food until we had safe storage.

At the same time, Rebecca’s evening supervisor changed her schedule without warning.

She needed an adult to watch her children two hours later than usual, and our little program had not yet found consistent after-school help.

For the first time since court, she asked whether the whole thing might have been a mistake.