Amelia Hope

Today is all about Amelia - as she loves to say. :)

As I was wrote in an earlier post - in 2003 we were trying and trying to have another child. We couldn't make it happen biologically, so we started researching adoption. We spoke to agencies all over the country that specialize in domestic adoption, we went to our local county social services to learn about foster care and adoption. We were being told that domestic adoptions had very long wait times and that our chances of being selected by a birth mother might be less because we were already raising a handicapped child. With the county, it seemed like foster care was just temporary - that we would be helping a family get their life back together while we took care of their child. Neither of these ideas sounded like a road we wanted to take at that stage of our lives, so we looked to international adoption. We spoke to many agencies who worked with children needing homes in China, Mexico, Russia and Guatemala.

July of 2003 after our second miscarriage we spoke with very good friends of ours who had just completed adopting a beautiful girl from Guatemala. They spoke highly of their agency, so we quickly called the agency for more information. We learned that we could adopt a boy or girl as early as 5 months of age, that only one parent had to travel to complete the adoption, and that we fit the criteria 100% to be considered to adopt by the Guatemalan government. It was August or so of 2003 when the agency told us that Guatemalan adoptions were on hold, but to keep preparing our paperwork so that we could be put on a wait list as soon as it became available again. The paperwork gathering that is needed for adopting is how to I say this.....HORRIBLE! It's a lot of time, organization and money.

Finally we had heard by September that adoptions were open and we could be put on the wait list for a girl. Our paperwork was complete and had been sent to Guatemala. December 8th - I got the call that twin girls had just been born that day. They appeared healthy and were a good weight. We received pictures of the girls. They were beautiful. Dave was at training for his work down in Georgia - he was gone for several months, so I called him and told him the news. He was hesitant about the twin part of it, but we decided to go for it. Well, as part of the referral we received pictures, very general information about the health of the babies and of the mother. The mother was 17 and couldn't keep the babies. We waited for the next set of medical tests to come in. December 23rd we got the call that the twins which we were to be named Amelia and Ava were carrying the HIV virus and that they could not be adopted. This news came right before Christmas and Dave was coming home from his training - we were shocked. Turns out that the birth mother probably had no idea she was even infected with HIV and that the agency would have to tell her that she was very sick, along with her babies.

That very same night we were given information on two more girls born earlier that week. We were given two more girls to adopt because we were in the process to adopt these twins. We chose just one girl - Amelia Hope, who was just born December 16th. Her mother had given birth to her in a very rural Guatemalan town - Huehuetenango - some six hours from Guatemala City. Amelia was now safe in foster care in Guatemala City. Her mother could not keep her and traveled through very mountainous, third world roads to give her up. It is amazing to me Amelia was born so very, very far away and found her way to us!

We received monthly updates - (which we camped out by the computer for). While we waited for Amelia my Grandma passed away. She knew about Amelia before she died, but would never meet her and experience the happiness she brings. We were told by the end of April that we could make travel arrangements to come pick her up and bring her home. Dave and his mom made the trip to Guatemala - staying with the lawyer who prepared the paperwork. They arrived at the airport thinking that they would meet Amelia the next day, but as a suprise the facilitator took Dave and his mom immediately to meet her. Dave tells me he will never forget seeing her big ol' face with a huge smile across the room. He knew it was her right away. Amelia being only five months old, didn't miss a beat. She took right to Dave and Grandma. Her foster family was sad for her to go. They had cared for her for five months as she was their own. Dave, Grandma and Amelia spent a day or two handling the paperwork and touring Guatemala. They arrived home May 18th, 2004. Me, my mom, brother Andrew, and uncle Jon were all there to meet Amelia at the airport. My huge wait was over - finally my baby was here - sleeping soundly in her car seat and oblivious to everything - but here.

Amelia is now almost five. She has a lot of energy - always has. Caring for Amelia was effortless, no therapy, no weekly doctor visits, no worry, just pure joy- still is. Amelia loves to be read too, loves the library, loves school, loves her stuffed animals, puzzles, drawing, playing outside and exploring and learning about everything.

Dave and I couldn't imagine life without her - always happy and easy going. Adoption opened up a whole new world for us. Strangers are always stopping to tell us how lucky it is that Amelia found such a good home, but we are really the lucky ones to have found her.