Our adoption started to become legal five days before this picture was taken!
Paul was born in late May. Three days later the birth mom signed the papers and we were on our way out of town waiting for the state papers to be filed, we needed those to take our son to our home state. The NY court signing a few months later was basically a formality, so we knew we had our son.
The above is a picture at Paul’s circumcision ceremony. Eight days after a male child’s birth is the suggested time for this to occur, so I had already contacted a “Moyel,” the Hebrew name for the man who performs this. He also happened to be a pediatrician, so I was already making sure all bases were covered!
My parents flew out to join our new family and witnessed this experience. Actually, my mom witnessed while Peter, my dad, and I all cried. I was 44, this had been a dream my entire life, to have a child and raise him in my faith.
I had been an Uncle for 15 years, and as much as I loved that role, I knew I wanted more. I did not want to hand the crying baby back, I wanted to know how to get that crying baby past the tears. I try to explain to my first nephew Adam: the minute I saw him, in the hospital, within 24 hours of his birth, I knew I had to be a dad.
I cannot imagine my life without my son. This has been the greatest journey of my life, after all, he is the most incredible kid! He is also a teenager, and a huge pain in the butt, but I have to be nice because we have a contract, whereby, I will live in his basement when I get old. We have been reviewing electric chairs, that will bring me up the basement stairs, for a while now! If you read between the lines you might notice that my husband is not mentioned. He has to make his own deal!
So, we celebrate National Adption Month every year, and I will repost the links to our adoption story, but be warned, many have told me that it brings them to tears. I started the blog to write the full adoption story, so I will always remember those details to be able to share with my son!
He had his Bar Mitzvah this past June. Another experience I thought I would never have, what a blessing!
This is a great thing adaption especially for those children that truly need it! No child should bouce from foster home to foster home.
What a beautiful picture! Happy national adoption month! Love hearing happy stories like yours.
No matter how old your son is this is a beautiful story
What a great story – happy national adoption month!
Amazing story-Happy adoption month.
Your story is amazing and so beautiful. Now you and Peter can look back and remember the moment you heard about him and how fast the time has flown. I enjoying reading about your family, and I am never disappointed. It’s so great to be able to follow Paul’s journey into adulthood along with all your exciting escapades. I feel like I know your family and I can feel just through your words, the love that your family has for one another. Your family is a perfect example of what adoption can do to make one life better, that spills into 3 lives mingled together with love and togetherness. it would be great if more were able to do it. Thanks for sharing your life with us.