Max's Story
By Joao & Sharon M
We still look up to the heavens before going to bed each night and say, "Thank you for bringing Max home to us." It has only been a little over two months, since June 6th, that he has been home and our family has fallen right into a routine and we love every minute of our new lives together.
When we received our referral of an eight-week-old baby boy, back in July 2006, we thought maybe he would be home shortly after Christmas. At the time we began our process it was typically taking 6-8 months for babies to come home from Guatemala. We tried to patiently wait out each step as months passed. For the most part all went fairly smoothly until our case entered PGN. We spent 5 ˝ months in that office waiting for approval from the Guatemalan government. It was an extremely frustrating and painful time. We took two visit trips during this wait in order to spend time with our son. The trips were wonderful but coming home was very difficult. Thankfully, we had incredible support from the WHFC staff, especially Edna Cruz. She always answered our, sometimes frustrated, emails providing information when she could or just gave encouragement. We also sought out support from other families adopting from Guatemala via online forums. Of course family and friends listened and tried to help but only those in our same position could truly understand the range of emotions we felt on a daily basis. The yearning to see him, to touch and smell him, some days could be utterly unbearable. Just when the tears seemed endless we finally received the word of our approval in April. The relief was enormous.
Max arrived in Newark airport with us on June 6th, 2007 after having spent 3 weeks with him in Guatemala. We, and our family and friends, are so incredibly thankful he is now home forever. The room that waited for him for months is now filled with his laughs, his cries, his smell, his warmth. Our house is littered with toys that are now played with rather then tucked away in a closet. And Max… he is doing amazingly well. He’s adjusted completely to us, learning new things each day and just living. He loves playing with his cousins, nieces and nephew. Even as I write this, with Max sleeping soundly in his crib, we can’t believe at times he is home forever. As natural it all feels to be a family, we can easily remember the painful road traveled to get us here. We would do it ALL again if we had to because it was completely worth it… the TTC disappointments, the failed fertility treatments and of course the adoption waiting.
One thing we are sure of, we were meant to be a family. Life could not be sweeter.