June 2002 Newsletter
Greetings from San Antonio!
Summer's officially arrived, and it's hot-hot-hot in the Alamo
City… in the words of one out-of-state adoptive Dad that was in our office
this past week, "it feels thick" outdoors mostly due to a combination of the
high humidity and soaring temps. We're used to it around here, though, and
combat the nine month long summer weather by brewing lots of cold iced tea
and trying to be in or near the water as much as possible!
Congratulations!
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. --Helen Keller
As I've mentioned in recent newsletters, 2002 has been an incredibly joyful year for A.S.A. families…fifty placements have been facilitated in only the first half of the year in the domestic program, and the international program has been busy, as well! If you're a family awaiting a match, please be encouraged by these wonderful "statistics", and know that your turn is just around the corner… In the meantime, please join me in extending congratulatory wishes to these happy families who've been touched by adoption….
Domestic Adoptions
Ismael & Vivian - Angela
Marie Gene & Lori - Luke McKay
Richard & Mary - Johnathan Emmanuel
Brad & Sandy - Victoria Lauren
Donald & Lynn - Christina Lee
Joseph & Lauren - Reed Noah
Erik & Julie - Liam Kyle
Trent & Julie - Caleb Blake
International Adoptions
Marilyn & Wayne - Martha Jeanette
Nancy - Anastasia
Elizabeth & Evan - Nikolas
Meet our Staff…
In the eleventh part of our series introducing A.S.A. staff members, I'd like to introduce the agency's founder and Executive Director, Linda Zuflacht. Many of you may have met Linda at APC conferences and other adoption-related events. She is truly the driving force behind the agency's incredible success and is an inspiration to each and every person on staff.
When I became an attorney twenty-four years ago, I realized almost immediately that adoption was where my heart would lead me. Now, almost nineteen years have passed since A.S.A.'s founding, and I still feel the same joy I felt when our first child was placed in the arms of her loving family in July 1984. I am the mother of one son and two stepsons. Harold, my oldest, is thirty-seven, and an attorney here in San Antonio; David is thirty-five and is a physical therapist, living in paradise on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. My son Michael is twenty-seven and just passed the Texas Bar Exam and is currently studying for the Colorado Bar Exam in Denver where he now lives. The agency shares the same property as my home, which I share with four cats, two dogs, five birds, two horses, and one very special man. I hope to meet each of you here soon!
One Family's Story
"There are only four questions of value in life, Don Octavio. What is sacred? Of what is the Spirit made? What is worth living for? What is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same. Only love." --From the film "Don Juan deMarco"
Thanks to John and Suzanne for sharing their adoption story in this months newsletter...
I thought I would share our experience in adopting John Carlos. It was a dark and stormy night…when we finally received the call that we were waiting almost two years for. Our birth mother was going to deliver her baby the following Monday and wanted us there for the delivery. We took deep breaths, finished packing our bags that had been ready for two weeks, boarded the plane to Austin and were in Texas in time for the delivery. We both were present when our wonderful birth mother gave birth to the most beautiful baby we had ever seen, our John Carlos. We were able to meet his birth grandmother and other relatives, and we all agreed that we were doing this out of great love for John Carlos. We took our beautiful baby to our temporary home, the Holiday Inn Express, when he was released from the hospital, to wait for clearance to take him home. The people of Texas opened their hearts to us. Everyone we met could not have been nicer and more supportive. We wanted to show John Carlos some of Texas while we were here, so we put him in his carseat (where he would promptly fall asleep) and drove around in our rented minivan to different parts of Texas. We showed him the state capitol in Austin, the Texas Ranger and Dr. Pepper Museums in Waco (from the outside, of course), and the Alamo and Riverwalk in San Antonio. When it was time for the flight home, we purchased a seat on the plane for him, to insure that we could place him in the carseat on the airplane. When we were ready to board, the airline representatives had his and our names on a list to be searched! We soon realized that because we bought a one-way ticked for John Carlos two days before the flight and he was boarding with no luggage, that the airline thought he could be a terrorist! So Baby John Carlos was searched on his first flight! The rest of the trip was happily uneventful, and we are now home almost a month enjoying our new addition.
The Heart of the Matter
At our staff meeting this week, Nikki Lopez brought a delightfully touching story from one of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books. I couldn't resist sharing it with you this month. It sums up all that is most amazing about the extraordinary bond between birth and adoptive families, the child they share. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did…
"Courage of the Heart"
I sit on the rickety auditorium chair with the camcorder on my shoulder and I can feel the tears well up in my eyes. My six-year-old daughter is on stage, calm, self-possessed, centered and singing out her heart. I am nervous, jittery, emotional and trying not to cry.
"Listen, can you hear the sound, hearts beating all the world around?" she sings.
Little round face turned up to the light, little face so dear and familiar yet so unlike my own thin features. Her eyes look out into the audience with total trust…she knows they love her. Eyes that don't look like mine.
"Up in the valley, out on the plains, everywhere around the world, heartbeats sound the same".
The face of her birth mother looks out at me from the stage. The eyes of a young woman that once looked into mine with trust now gaze into the audience. These features my daughter inherited from her birth mother…eyes that tilt up at the corners and rosy, plump little cheeks that I can't stop kissing.
"Black or white, red or tan, it's the heart of the family of man…oh, oh, beating away, oh, oh, beating away," she finishes.
The audience goes wild. I do, too. Thunderous applause, and they rise as one to let Melanie know they loved it. She smiles…she already knew. Now I am crying. I feel so blessed to be her mom…she fills me with so much joy that my heart actually hurts.
The heart of the family of man…the heart of courage that shows the path to take when we are lost…the heart that makes strangers one with each other for a common purpose…this is the heart Melanie's birth mother showed to me. Melanie heard her from deep inside the safest part of her. This heart of courage belonged to a sixteen-year-old girl…a girl who became a woman because of her commitment to unconditional love. She was a woman who embraced the concept that she could give her child something no one else ever could…a better life than she had.
Melanie's heart beats close to mine as I hold her and tell her how great she performed. She wiggles in my arms and looks up at me. "Why are you crying, Mommie?"
I answer her, "Because I am so happy for you and you did so good, all by yourself!" I can feel myself reach out with tendrils of love and hold her with more than just my arms. I hold her with love for not only myself, but for the beautiful and courageous woman who chose to give birth to my daughter, and then chose again to give her to me. I carry the love from both of us…the birth mother with the courage to share, and the woman whose empty arms were filled with love…for the heartbeat that we share is one. --Patty Hansen
Isn't that an incredible and thought-provoking vignette?
As the month of June nears a close, I wish each and every one of you a safe and Happy Fourth of July. Please feel free to contact me anytime by telephone or email (dgaribay@adoptionservicesassociates.org). I welcome your questions and feedback.
Warm Regards,
Denise Garibay
Director of Social Services