China
Guatemala
Russia
Vietnam
Brazil
India
Ethiopia
It’s hard to believe that it was just over a year ago, that I made the choice to be a single mom to a baby from Guatemala. I attended an FTIA Informational Seminar and learned about all the paperwork and waiting that must be done. I began my paper chase and long wait in July. Everything went well with getting everything typed up and stamped by all the different places.
By mid-November, I had completed all the paperwork and sent it in to FTIA. I now had to wait to see if I would have a son or daughter to love and care for. On December 16, 2005, I called my coordinator to make sure she had gotten the phone number where I could be reached over the holidays. She did get my email and had a surprise for me. She had a baby for me, a beautiful one month old little girl. I could not believe it. When I saw her pictures, I knew she was my Cora Susan. After a road trip to Chicago to have my Power Of Attorney stamped, my adoption process was out of my hands and into someone else’s.
The months of waiting went by quicker than I expected, which I’m sure my family, friends, students and everyone else who had to deal with my nervousness were happy about. The call I had been waiting for came on April 24, 2006 at 4:30p.m., I could finally travel to bring my daughter home. The only thing more exciting was that I needed to be in Guatemala tomorrow!(this was a little unusual to have to go the next day, but I didn’t mind.) But my parents and I made it and at 2:30p.m. on April 25, 2006 I was holding my Cora.
Cora is a happy, healthy, and beautiful baby. She has brought such joy and love to my life. I look forward to many wonderful and happy years with my daughter. And now Cora and I are returning to the same place where I first learned of FTIA to our experience with others.
Love,
Emili & Cora
