Bussani

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

115 Conifer Riad, Inman, SC 29349

864-621-1228