Little Brother
Ed & I were married in July 1999 after dating for
1-1/2 years. We were already raising my son, Anthony, from my first marriage.
We had discussed adoption prior to getting married, as we wanted a child together,
however biologically we could not. Prior to having Anthony I had 4 miscarriages,
Anthony was premature and only weighed 4-1/2 lbs. at birth. I had a long history
of endometriosis, which consequently led to a full hysterectomy in January 2002.
Ed adopted Anthony in July of 2002.
Anthony had asked for years for a little brother. Every year for Christmas he was asking Santa for a little brother. We tried explaining to him that for medical reasons it would not be possible for us to have a child biologically and that we were planning to adopt in a few more years.
We bought a home in June of last year and then began seriously talking about planning to adopt in a few more years and what would be involved at home, with our family, and financially.
I was working with someone (Mike) who had adopted 2 children from Kazakhstan and had worked with Frank Adoption Agency (FAA) in Maryland. Mike & I talked extensively about the process, the travel, the children, and most importantly the desire to adopt. After a few months of talking, Mike told me about different ways in which we could apply for financial assistance with the adoption expenses and offered to put us in contact with FAA, Maryland.
When I told Ed about what I had learned about these programs we became increasingly excited about the possibility of adopting sooner rather than later. So we decided we would start the process and see if we could qualify for some of the programs and if not, we would do whatever was necessary to make this dream a reality. The financial responsibility of another child was not the question; we knew we could handle that comfortably. It was the initial expense of adopting that was our hurdle, which we are sure is the same for many families.
The first time we saw the picture of Viktor we knew instantly that he was the one. Of course, we still wanted his referral reviewed by a doctor, but we just knew. Once we met with the doctor and accepted his referral we introduced his referral to Anthony and began making our preparations for Viktor's arrival.
We have been home now for just over a month with Viktor and our life is wonderful. This little boy is the perfect completion of our family. He is definitely the little brother Anthony has been longing for and the child Ed & I wanted for so long.
We owe a lot of thanks to many people for their assistance
in making our dream a reality. A Child Waits Foundation
is a wonderful organization and without their help we may not have been
able to make this dream come true, we are extremely grateful to them for their
kindness.
The Tardino's