Adoption story

A bonus post today for anyone who is interested in knowing the story of Elizabeth & I. I waited until Elizabeth turned 18 to join the different adoption websites (because you can't search until the child is 18), but never found any information or got any responses from my information that I put on the websites. I had told Walter about her and we were looking for ways to try to get information, when one day I noticed an ad on an adoption site that caught my eye for some reason (divine intervention, i'm sure). We had been searching on our own for a year and I had never contacted anyone for help and wasn't interested in sending money to someone who I knew would not having any information and rip me off, but this ad said "If you are looking for someone in these states (and Louisiana was one of them), I can probably help you." I emailed the lady and we exchanged some emails and then talked on the phone several times, then she told me that she had the information I needed. She said if I sent her $300 by Western Union, she would give me my daughter's name, address, etc. Now, I will admit to being impulsive, but I am SO not naive or gullible. I talked to Walter about it and we agreed that it would be a cheap lesson (some people spend thousands)if we got ripped off, but I had spoken with the woman enough times that I just felt it was ok. So, we sent the money. The next day, just as promised, the lady called me with my daughter's name, address, and had spent some time looking up her phone number while waiting for me to send the payment. She found my daughter, who's name I learned for the first time in 19 years - Elizabeth Gail! The lady wanted to call her for me, but I wasn't sure what to do. I talked to my step-dad who adopted 2 of my step-brothers years ago and he felt that I should contact Elizabeth's mother and not Elizabeth. The lady was telling me that she does this ALL the time and if I contact Elizabeth's mother, she will most likely threaten me with attorneys if I call there again. So, we made the decision to have the lady contact Elizabeth directly. In the meantime, knowing where Elizabeth lived and freaking out that it was SO close, I called my friend, Carol, who's daughter goes to school in Elizabeth's area and asked if her daughter knew her and she said YES! I couldn't tell her why because I didn't want Elizabeth to hear about me from someone else, so I just told her Walter's son was dating her and could she PLEASE scan and email Elizabeth's yearbook picture for me!! And she did!!

I was so surprised that she had hair the color of mine! Her biological father was Italian and had black hair & brown eyes, so I just assumed Elizabeth would have his dominant features. I found out later that she DOES have black hair and just randomly colors it the same color as mine!

So anyway, the lady contacts Elizabeth, who is just OVERJOYED to hear that I'm looking for her, gets my number to call me right away, but first calls her mom to let her know! Her mom is a teacher and was in the middle of a class (why she answered her phone, who knows) and when she heard the news, she went ballistic! But, it was too late because Elizabeth already had the number and called me anyway. I have to say, it was one of the best days of my life!! We talked and planned to meet for dinner that weekend, with her parents & brother who wanted to be there, and Walter, Sean, Cameron, & I.

Then I had A LOT of explaining to do! My family, including my older son, JP, knew about Elizabeth, but Cameron did not. Neither did any of Walter's family or any of our friends that didn't know me back when I was a pregnant teenager. It's one of those family secrets that just don't get talked about. And how do you bring that up in conversation??? So I sat down with Cameron and talked to him about it. JP was living with us at the time, so I asked him if he remembered me telling him about his sister when he was younger (probably 8 or 9) and he said yes. I said, "well, she's calling here today!" I knew he would be home to answer the phone and didn't want her to feel rejected by someone not knowing about her. I emailed everyone else and received nothing but support then and to this day!

The dinner was one of the most awkward moments of my life, but I got to meet her and her family. This picture is from that night:

I found out shortly afterwards that Elizabeth had just found out she was pregnant the week that found each other! And God gave her a little boy who was not black haired & brown eyed like Elizabeth & her boyfriend, but blonde haired and blue eyed like me! I think if we hadn't been reunited when Landen was born, seeing him would have prompted Elizabeth to look for me for some answers! She had already tried going on the internet to look at adoption websites but said she didn't know how to use them. Our second meeting was lunch with my sister and Elizabeth's childhood friend who they had always said if Elizabeth ever met me, the friend would get to come with her! I was really touched by that.

Here are pictures from Elizabeth's birth until now.

This is the day Elizabeth went home from the hospital. I had held her earlier that day and had always had that head full of black hair & sweet little face in my memory, so to see her again was incredible!!




This was taken at Elizabeth's baby shower shortly after we met when things were still really awkward. I begged my friend, Lesley, to go to the shower with me and she suffered through one of the most bizarre days of my life along side me! Elizabeth's boyfriend's family threw the shower, so they didn't know much about the whole story, other than his immediate family, and the shower host played a game where we went around the room and said who we are and how we know Elizabeth!!!! I am pretty sure I made it through the game, but it was the longest 5 minutes of my life waiting for my turn and whispering back & forth with Lesley trying to figure out what to say!



This is Elizabeth, Landen, & Cameron - one of my favorite pictures!




All 3 of my kids in one place!!! Never before done!


Mack's baby shower
It is incredible how many times our lives have crossed paths and we didn't know it and how we know so many of the same people! I thank God often for bringing Elizabeth and these boys into my life!!! Hope you enjoyed the story!