Jeff and I met in 1998, both of us fresh from long term, unhappy marriages. I brought 4 children with me (Chris, Sarah, Emily and Alex who lived with us) and Jeff brought 2 of his own (Erin and Kevin, who visited on the weekends.) We were married in June 1999 and in November 2000 we added Jeffrey Jr to our pack.

Both Jeff and I were adopted as babies and both felt the need to give back the gift of family that was given to us.

As a teen I can remember watching 60 minutes about the Romanian orphans and I immediately knew that one day I wanted to go and rescue one of those children. Today, Romania is no longer allowing international adoptions but there are countless other children living in many other countries that need homes just as badly as the children I saw 15 years ago.

Adoption was always a thought lingering in the back of my mind but with so many kids of my own it and other responsibilities it seemed like something that might never happen. In May 2003 we brought my mother, who had advanced Parkinson's disease to live with us. With her came her live-in help. Adding the 2 more people to our 5 kids and us, creating a total of 9 people living under one roof.

My mom lived her last year with us and passed away in February 2004. This was the same month our oldest, Christopher set off on his own into the Air Force. With my mom, her help and Chris gone our house suddenly had 3 less people.

That summer I began surfing the internet and scanning the international photolistings. I began emailing Jeff pictures of little girls. He looked up at me one day from his computer and said "You realize of course its like getting pictures of homeless kittens. You just want to pick them up and bring them all home." Well that was the point. I kept sending pictures. 

One day in September he looked up over the top of his computer and asked "So how long does this whole process take anyway?" I told him at least 9 months to a year. "If you stop sending me pictures then you can go ahead and start the process..... We wont travel until late next summer and that will give us some time to work out details and get our finances in order. And I will stop seeing little faces peering up at me from my inbox"

I was ecstatic! I immediately began making plans and calling agencies.

I found a picture of a little girl who looked remarkably like our youngest son. (With her cropped hair and heavy winter sweater, Jeff thought she was a boy). I knew this was going to be our little girl. When I called the agency I was told someone had already inquired about her so they had taken her off the available list. I was crushed. I stopped looking for a week.

I ended up calling the same agency a week later to find out if they had any other girls in the age range I was hoping for. While I was speaking with the coordinator she remembered me from the week before. She told me that the lady who had been interested in the little girl I had originally called about, changed her mind. She said the little girl was available again and asked if I was still interested.

I couldn't believe it. "Yes, of course" I said.

The coordinator said if we got all of our paperwork ready quickly, we could travel to meet her in as little as 3 months. I hung up feeling on top of the world.

Right up to the point that I realized Jeff was not expecting to travel for almost a year..... what was he going to say when I told him we could travel by Christmas?