This past Saturday was the Annual Adoption Picnic for the Diocese. We went last year and had just finished with our paperwork and Home Study. We were waiting to be licensed and hoping that for next year's picnic we'd have a baby to bring with us! Well, our wish came true and we took Anna this year. There were more people there this year and after we encouraged those from our Adopiton Support Group to come, there were like 5 couples from our area who showed up! It was fun to see all of the kiddos and to chat with all of the people there, some who are waiting, some who are still going through the process, some who are waiting for a second, third time and others who adopted children years ago. It's fun to hear everyone's stories and see all of the case workers.
We were excited to see Sr. Anna again. She's a sister in the same order as the Sisters at the Newman Center. She was appointed the head of Catholic Charities just a few months ago. Funny story about her, the Sisters from the Newman Center had shared our story with the sisters in their order. They had been praying for us when we were waiting, when we were identified, and when our first adoption fell through. They were elated when we brought Anna home and continue to pray for us today. Sr. Anna was moved by our story and in a meeting with our caseworker (she didn't know it was our caseworker) she was explaining about this couple who had recently had a fall-through adoption and after just a fwe weeks, had received a phone call about a baby girl and picked her up a few hours later. Our caseworker laughed at the sweet Sister across the table telling her about HER case! She couldn't believe the amount of prayers we had for us! (And it's certainly no coincidence that her name is Sr. Anna... and that when Jeremy's brother was in Rome, just a few days after we got Anna, he stayed at Hotel Anna, he couldn't believe it when he got there!)
So anyway, we met Sr. Anna officially at Holy Thursday Mass and she instantly fell in love with Anna. We've seen her a few times since, and each time she just can't get enough of her. She calls her "Annita" meaning "little Anna". She said that was always her nickname, and she always wondered why because she said she's never been a little person. She also always calls Anna "edible." She says she could just eat her up!
At the picnic, she came up and ignored everyone else there and went straight for our Anna.
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| Sr. Anna Pia and Anna |
What I really wanted to write about was Anna's eyes. All of the adoption case workeres were at the picnic (these are the case workers that deal with us, the adoptive parents). One of them is a newer adoption worker who was an intern when we did our Homestudy. She works in another town as the adoption worker and we found out that she actually went with the Birth Mom's Counselor to get the surrenders signed when R, Anna's birth mom, signed them. The case worker was really excited to finally meet Anna. I was excited to hear more about R and the case worker quickly said that Anna, without a doubt, has her birthmom's eyes. I was SOOO excited to hear this. I've wondered who she looks like, but most specifically where she got her beautiful eyes from. It's always the first thing about her that people comment on. They're big and brown and absolutely beautiful. I can't really explain it, but it was so fun to hear that. R has to be just a beautiful woman. I hope I can meet her one day. If not, at least I know where Anna gets her gorgeous eyes from.
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3 comments:
So glad you guys have so much support!! I've been meaning to ask you, but how is CC in central IL doing after that new dumb law was passed stopping CC adoptions because they won't adopt to un-married couples? Does this effect you guys at all? How about everyone who's already started the process but is waiting for a baby? It just breaks my heart.
As of right now, the diocese of Peoria and Springfield (and someone else, I can't remember who) sued the state in order to get them to allow CC, a religious institution, to abide by their own beliefs and continue to refer people to other places. So for right now, they're simply not taking any new foster families. From our understanding (our caseworker has explained), nothing as of now should affect infant adoptions. They don't receive state money for those right now anyway, they're funded totally through us. I don't know all the details, but if you go to CC of Peoria's website, they have all of the press releases (Jer reads them all, I, admittedly don't although I should)
I just have to tell you that I am so inspired by the two (and now three!) of you. You are such a great example of true Catholic faith. Your story touches my heart every time I hear a new part of it. I'm thankful to have you as a friend. And yes, Anna does have the most beautiful eyes.
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