Our Own Little
Miracle
by
Tracy Bussani
"I'd like a little girl." "What?"
I replied, unsure I had heard my husband Gianni correctly. "I want a
daughter," he said again. And with those few words our lives were changed
forever. Our story begins one night in September when my husband and I were out
for dinner. All of a sudden, he was talking quite seriously about adding a
daughter to our family. I was both stunned and thrilled, since after the birth
of our son I had wanted another child, but due to some medical problems, giving
birth again was out of the question. I immediately started looking into adoption
options, and very quickly we felt that an international adoption was the best
choice for us. After scanning the Internet daily for a month or so, we were
still not sure if this was something we could feasibly do. The cost seemed
staggering, and aside from knowing it would be a girl, it was a huge leap of
faith. Taking these factors into consideration, we sadly decided it was beyond
our reach. I shed many tears when we made that decision, but I accepted it and
remembered how blessed we already were with our wonderful son, who was almost
five now!
A few months came and went, and shortly after the
holidays we got a couple of pamphlets from agencies we had talked to before.
They wanted to know if we were still interested and included lots of pictures of
all these little faces waiting for homes. It was January, and we didn't throw
those pamphlets away. A few days later, my husband came down the stairs and said
"OK, let's do it." I felt like the stick had just turned blue! I then
place the call to Peggy Ewing at WORLDWIDE Adoption Services because out of
everyone I had talked to, I had the best feeling about her.
We spent the next few weeks filling out applications,
getting them back to her as fast as she could send them! We knew we could be
first in line for a little girl from Guatemala if we chose that country, so that
was the decision we made. We were officially waiting as of February 23rd. Then
an amazing thing happened. Gianni and I had a disagreement about the adoption
because he thought I was obsessing about it and forgetting about all else in our
lives. The next morning, on March 5, I asked God to please let me know I was
still on the right path. Well, within the hour the phone rang and it was Peggy.
"I have good news", she said, "I have a little girl for
you!". Well, I was just as emotional as I was when I found out I was
pregnant with our son! It was a
wonderful moment. I called Gianni right away because
we had to make a decision on whether to accept the referral or not. Once we had
a clean bill of health for the baby, we happily began preparing for our newest
family member to come home.
It was a whirlwind couple of weeks as we rushed to
get our documents done correctly. I personally drove all over the state in order
to save time! We had hoped that our daughter, whom we named Gabriella, would be
home by summer. But we had been warned that the only certain thing about
adoption was that it was uncertain! When July came and went, and then August, we
were getting antsy. But Peggy kept telling us to have faith, that she felt that
soon we would get the call. We were then told it would be the end of September
and we should be ready to go at a moment's notice. Then, on September 11th, at
11:00 at night, the phone rang and it was Peggy saying it was time to start
packing! We would have to leave on the following Tuesday for an appointment on
the 17th at the embassy.
The morning we left was filled with excitement and
nervousness. What would it be like in Guatemala? How would our little girl react
to two strangers tearing her away from all she'd ever known? Would it all go
smoothly? Finally, after waiting so long and traveling so far, the time came for
us to go to the orphanage. The home itself was beautiful, very well taken care
of. Inside we walked nervously from room to room looking at all the little faces
and wondering which baby was ours. Then the director said, "Gabriella's in
there", pointing to a crib. We had seen pictures and had watched a video,
but it's nothing compared to seeing your child in person. She had been sleeping
and when she looked at me she had terror in her eyes! She started screaming as I picked her up, so needless to say it was not the
warm, fuzzy moment I had imagined. She was calmer in my husband's arms, so we took her outside
away from all the commotion. The moment I will always remember is when standing
in the beautiful yard, she leaned back to look at Gianni, and then tentatively
put her hand on his face. Now THAT was the special moment I had waited for!
After a side trip to Antigua, we went about getting all the
final papers in order for the embassy appointment. The embassy was an
experience in itself, there must be an easier way to do it, but it was basically
uneventful. "Sign here, sign here, did you lie about anything in your
application? Ok come back at 3:00 to pick up your Visa." And
for that, we waited hours!!
At last it was time to come home, there were several adoptive
families on the plane back, and as the plane lifted off, you could hear a sigh
of relief as we left Guatemala behind. There was also a cheer as we landed
back in the good ole' USA, Miami never looked so good! It wasn't until we
had been processed through immigration and were on our way to catch our next
flight that we truly felt it was over. The whole way you keep waiting for
someone to tell you that there's been a glitch, or that you're missing an
important document that you must have. But leaving immigration, we knew
she was now our daughter forever, and we finally let ourselves enjoy the moment.
There was a lot of celebrating once we got home, both sides
of our families as well as many friends were thrilled to see Gabriella come
home. The adjustment was fairly easy, she was a breeze to take care
of. She was 13 months old when we picked her up, but very petite.
And while she had been well taken care of as far as her basic needs, she was
sorely lacking the one-on-one of a family of her own. She was only
comfortable lying on her back, any upright position made her cry. Her
muscle tone was practically non-existent in her legs, and she had two ear
infection. She hated the high chair at first, but within days, was
pounding the tray for food! She slept through the night from the
beginning, and still eats whatever we give her!
Gabriella is now 18 months old, and an absolute joy.
She adores my husband, as he does he, and our son Alexander is happy to have
another child in the house. She walks holding on to one hand, and flies
around the furniture! Quite different from the little girl we picked
up. She is amazingly loving and personable with everyone, and every time
she looks at us with those huge brown eyes, we know that every penny, every
delay, and every day of waiting was worth it...
|
WORLDWIDE Adoption Services, Inc |
101 Builders Court, Spartanburg, South Carolina
29316
Phone 864-814-1336 Fax
864-814-1340