We currently have two adopted sons and are in the process of adopting one or possibly two more boys. More on that in the next few days.
We adopted our son Nigel at six weeks old back in 2000. At the time we had asked for a two-to-four-year-old boy, possibly a boy and girl sibling pair. At the time our three daughters were nine, ten, and eleven.
Our intention in adopting was to provide a home for a child who needed one. We decided to go with the State Wide Adoption Network (SWAN) and adopt a child from Pennsylvania. I wanted our first adopted child to be as young as possible, my wife was not as concerned about age. But we both figured two was as young as we could hope for.
We completed the adoption classes in the Spring of 2000 and expected to begin the adoption process soon after. We waited. We got pictures of kids ready for adoption, but the boys were eight, ten, even older. Not happening. Then just before Christmas we got a call about Nigel. A teenage girl walked into a crisis pregnancy center in Pittsburgh and decided to put her so up for adoption. We got the call the Thursday before Christmas saying we could pick up Nigel on Monday.
Then they told us Nigel had a stroke when he was born. I started talking like Porky Pig. Annalisa saw no problem. We had plans to take the girls on a Christmas vacation, but we drove to Pittsburgh when we got back and brought Nigel home.
Nigel's name is the only request we had from his birth Mom. She wanted his name to be Nigel. I was elated. I am a Formula 1 car racing fan and my favorite drive is Nigel Mansell--1992 World Champion.
Next--Jacari
Neil's official fact-checker offers this gentle correction:
ReplyDeleteNigel's birth mom DID have one request; it was that we write to her twice, once after he moved in and once on his first birthday.
She didn't expect us to keep his name, but was delighted when we did (although we changed the spelling; she had it "Nigal").