Graves Family Adoption Story

PART TWO

The changes to our lives with the adoption of our son Jack were monumental, but the joy of his addition to our family far exceeded our hopes. He quickly captured the hearts of his new extended family. And, we quickly realized that God was using Jack to bring us back into His presence. With Jack’s arrival, we began looking for a church. We wanted him to grow up having a relationship with God and a church family, just as we did growing up. God led us to our church home, Christ St. Paul’s Episcopal Parish. At the time, we thought we had found a church for Jack, but of course, God was using Jack to bring us all closer to Him. Over the next two years we experienced a spiritual growth that left us in awe of God’s power.

In the fall of 2003, God was leading us to adopt another child, again from Guatemala. We definitely wanted a second child, and we wanted Jack to have a sibling. His initial reaction was typical of a 3-year-old, “That would be awful! Me, Mommy and Daddy only!” But he soon gained our enthusiasm and began looking forward to bringing his sister home.

The adoption process was no less wearying, but we were mentally prepared. To our surprise, the process proceeded more quickly than Jack’s adoption. We received our daughter’s referral in late February 2004. She had been born February 13 and we fell in love with her baby pictures. We had narrowed our choice of names to a couple, but we decided that Anna Gabriela, the name given to her at birth, was perfect! We were blessed to get some video of her and her foster mother taken by CWA when they visited Guatemala in April. We expected to travel to pick her up later in the summer, but were elated when we got the call in June. Anna was only four and a half months old!

Again, we found ourselves in Guatemala City on a Friday night, reliving the story of Jack’s adoption with him. Anna was to be brought to the hotel the next morning. Of course, the wait seemed unending. Anna finally arrived and, once again, we felt that indescribable love and exhilaration that comes when you’re united with your child. The remainder of the weekend was filled with the simple joys of doing things together, and visiting familiar places from our previous adoption trip. We were so glad to have Jack with us experiencing these first few days with his sister. At the U.S. Embassy, he participated with us in swearing that our documents were truthful -- the three of us raising our right hands for the oath.

Our trip home was relatively smooth. Reentry into the U.S. was crowded and tiresome. We waited quite a while in the Immigration office where Anna’s Visa was to be processed. Jack finally lost his patience and announced to the room filled with weary travelers, “This isn’t any fun at all!” It brought a lot of laughter and smiles to everyone. Our arrival in Charleston was a celebration, as we were welcomed at the airport by family and friends with balloons and banners. Lots of tears, hugs and kisses!

So, our adoption journey continues. Jack, now 9, and Anna, almost 6, are our Guatemalan angels. It is so heartwarming to watch them together and to envision the future that lies ahead for them. We often hear people say, “What a wonderful thing you’ve done for Jack and Anna...” We believe that God, through Jack and Anna, has done so much more for us. He’s softened our hearts for orphans around the world, shown us the unconditional love shared between parent and child, brought us new friends who love God, and above all, brought us into a closer relationship with Him. If ever we begin to question whether God still performs miracles, we only have to look at our children. They are, without a doubt, God’s miracles in our lives.

Gerry & Martha Graves