Becoming a Family

The adoption of my daughter has been the greatest joy of my life. Growing up in a large family with loving parents always led me to believe that having a family was the most important thing. I believed that one day that I would get married and have my own family. I dreamed of having six children just like the television show The Brady Bunch. Eventually the day came and I got married. After a few years in our marriage we began talking about starting a family. We knew that we were unable to start a family the old fashion way so we looked into adoption. We attended many seminars and spent countless hours doing research on adoption. After about a year we decided on an adoption agency and a country.

The process seemed to take forever. The timeline established by our agency seemed like eternity. We were always anxious when the phone rang or when the mailman delivered our mail. Always hoping and praying that our special day was near. The days seem to come and go just like the holidays. When the Christmas season came, we placed a stocking for our baby next to ours. We hoped and prayed that this would be the year that we would become a family. Christmas came and went that year but still no child. I spent many nights that Christmas season wondering when or if it was ever going to happen. Often I would find myself looking down into our living room from the second floor balcony. Thinking about how Christmas would be next year if our child came home. I pictured mom sitting beside the fireplace drinking a cup of coffee and taking photographs, our child tearing through the wrapping paper, and me at the controls of the video camera. This is how I wanted to spend all of our holidays, together as a family. When the Christmas season ended and we were taking down the decorations, they telephone rang. We thought that it was just another person wishing us a Happy Holiday. But this call was different. It was from Raul from our adoption agency. He informed us that our special day had come. We were going to be the parents of al three month old, beautiful baby girl. Two days later we received our first picture of our little girl and it was love at first sight. A couple of months later we were finally home and now our family was complete. We had finally become parents of a beautiful baby girl.

I believe the adoption of our child has completed our family and has brought a new perspective on my life. Everything seems to have a new or restored meaning. From celebrating holidays, including all the Hallmark holidays and our own special holiday called Gotcha Day, to all of Haley’s firsts. Every morning when I wake, I give thanks to the good Lord that has blessed me in so many ways. But mostly I give him thanks for my girls: my wife and daughter.

I believe that adoption creates and completes a family.