The Best Day...So Far.

Well, the dark cloud looming had a silver lining. Just as I was trying to come to terms with the fact that my adoption could be in a perpetual state of limbo, On 9/29/07, I got the call I had been waiting for for two months since I got on the waiting list. Yes, THAT CALL. My caseworker called me and said she had a beautiful baby girl that she was going to refer to me. She would be sending me pictures and medical information in the next few hours!! I couldn't log on to my computer fast enough as I spent the next few hours clicking "REFRESH" at least three thousand times. Finally, I got the pictures, opened them up and all of the stress immediately drained from my body. I never believed in love at first sight before, but in that split second, I became a believer. She was a tiny, beautiful, healthy looking 3.5 weeks old baby girl!

I shed a few tears of joy and started calling all of my friends and family immediately. This was the best news I had ever shared with anyone and I couldn't wait for everyone to see how adorable she was! I had already settled on a first name for her - Abby - but in Guatemala, the birth mother names the a baby and that is the name she goes by throughout the adoption process and in the Guatemalan court system. Her birth mother named her Maria Elena and she was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala at a maternity home on September 2, 2007. She was 5 lbs 8 0z and 18.5 inches long. She was turned over to foster care about 3 weeks later, and she began being cared for by a loving, young single foster mother named Sharon. Abby's foster mother lives with her parents and two sisters and cares for 4 children total. I was 99.9% sure I was going to accept the referral because Abby was exactly what I had dreamed of. She was perfect! I sent off her pictures and her medical information to a pediatrician who specializes in reviewing medical information from other countries and sent my Power of Attorney to be authenticated. The Power of Attorney (POA) is given to a Guatemalan attorney who actually handles my case for me in Guatemala and is hired by my adoption agency. A few weeks later, I accepted the referral, and by October 30, 2007, my POA was registered in Guatemalan court.

My agency spent a lot of time explaining the increased risk of accepting a referral since we were not positive what would happen if Guatemalan adoptions shut down on 12/31/07. We knew my adoption was months and months away from being complete (expected late summer, 2008), and we didn't know what would happen to everyone in process in the absence of any new law specifically mentioning how "in process" cases would be handled. I didn't think twice about the increased risk once I saw Abby's pictures. My heart was either going to be broken or it wasn't, but I wasn't going to end my adoption journey because of money, time or other factors. This may not be the right decision for everyone in a similar situation, but for me, it was a no-brainer once I saw her. She was real and I wasn't turning my back on her. I felt like it was my first big test of motherhood. I loved her and I wasn't letting go.