A New Meaning to the Phrase, "Home Is Where the Heart Is"

By Annemarie

We would like to share with you a wonderful story that brings new meaning to the phrase 'Home is where the heart is". Our relationship with Wide Horizons began when my husband, Terry, and I first started the adoption process in 1997. With the expertise of our wonderful social worker, Bethel Gilbert*, we joyfully brought home our son, Justin, from Guatemala in August 1998. We knew we wanted a second child, and when Mariah arrived home from Guatemala in August 2001, we knew our family was complete. A few months later, we received a call from Bethel, who informed us that Mariah's birthmother, Enma, needed to relinquish her other two children and would we consider bringing them home as well?

You can imagine how our hearts and heads were reeling as we thought about Christopher (3 1/2) and Allie (18 months) needing to find a forever family. After much heart-wrenching, soul-searching and discussion, we came to the decision that we were not able to parent four children (all under the age of four!), but that we knew with absolute certainty that we wanted to be in touch with whoever did adopt Christopher and Allie.

We learned of Maria and Carl's family the following July, shortly after they brought Christopher and Allie home. Over the next year and a half, we were in touch through phone calls, letters, pictures and emails. Maria and I were becoming fast friends as we got to know each other sharing information about our children and realizing how much we had in common. Like our family, Maria and Carl had adopted their first son, Eric, from Guatemala. In fact, Eric and Justin share the same birthday, two years apart!

We knew we couldn't wait to get our families together, but with them living in Mississippi and us in Massachusetts it made the logistics a little challenging. Terry and I decided to invite Maria, Carl, Eric, Christopher and Allie to join us on vacation and spend a week with us in the Caribbean this past February. The experience was amazing--we all felt this wonderful connection with each other the minute they got off the plane, which only got stronger each day. Watching our children getting to know one another was truly incredible. Mariah, Chris and Allie were shy at first with each other, and then slowly blossomed into smiling same faces that seemed eager to be together. Eric and Justin developed a strong bond, in part due to their uncertainty about their places in the family, now blended with birth siblings. All five children have formed a deep attachment for one another and seem to sense how important they all are to each other. They understand what "forever family" means and are happy, excited and looking forward to the next visit. They visited us on Martha's Vineyard in June and we are planning a trip to Mississippi in October.

We have all been blessed with this rare opportunity to be part of each others' lives and we look forward to a lifetime of laughter and love with our new family.

* Bethel Gilbert is a social worker in the WHFC Waltham, MA office.

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