David's Story
By Michael & Laura C
Our family's adoption journey began almost five years ago. My husband, myself and our three biological children decided we wanted to adopt an older child after realizing that our family didn't seem complete. We went to the Wide Horizons informational meeting and began our paperwork the next day! Our social worker was very supportive and made the initial paperwork process as painless as possible, matching us with David as soon as all our paperwork was complete. David was a waiting child in the Philippines. He was six years old. We read everything available on David. We began to send cards and gifts. We got his bedroom ready and I bought several different size clothes and shoes at every department store sale. We were nervous, excited and anticipated David's arrival in the coming months. After six months of waiting, we finally got the call that we were free to travel and bring David home!
The morning of our travel we packed clothes for David, gifts for the staff and children at the orphanage and everything my husband, my twelve year old son and myself might need. Our two daughters, age nine and thirteen at the time, decided they wanted to stay at home. After 38 hours of travel time we arrived in Manila. The next day we traveled to David's island and made the journey to the orphanage. It was very hot and we were exhausted. We met David as we drove into the orphanage when he was walking home from school with his friends. We pulled up beside him and he jumped into my lap! He never left our side after the initial meeting. Our journey home was long. David cried from Hong Kong to LAX. He tried running away in the airport, stole food from the store and tried to eat cake out of the garbage can. We all laugh at what we went through now, but that day I wanted to cry. I tell our story with honesty because I can't believe how far David has come. I look into his eyes today and see a boy I forget I didn't give birth too. The bond we share with him is as strong as I ever hoped it would be with any child! I forget what our family was like before he came home.
Today, David is a bright, articulate and an athletic 4th grader. He plays lacrosse, which is coached by my husband. David wrestles for our town and won several gold medals last winter. He is playing football and his coach told him, "David you were born to play this game." He has his red belt in karate. David enjoys snowboarding, annoying his sister and playing X-box. David is very witty and makes people smile wherever he goes. Our son, David, age 10, is home.
Our family is now complete.