Memories

I got an email from a gal named Heather today and her letter, blog and all reminded me of something in my past….

A long time ago a happy couple with a two year old son sat watching the ten o’clock news on a Wednesday night in San Antonio Texas. Of course they watched the ten o’clock news every night, but that night ended up changing their lives.

Every Wednesday night that TV station had “Wednesday’s Child” showing some child or children that needed homes. Well that particular Wednesday night they showed a darling baby girl. They watched silently then turned off the TV and went to bed. After a good night kiss and laying there quietly for a minute or two, the husband says to the wife, “Why don’t you call about that baby”

Well I jumped up out of bed and flew to the phone, and called. Of course someone was there answering the phone and questions even though it was almost 11. The lady on the other end of the line asked me two questions and said that we were not eligible for that baby girl. However at that time they were in desperate need of adoptive parents and if we were willing, they would love to talk to us. Just like that we were on our way to getting another child.

The darling little girl we saw had parents who were not of the same race and their parents could not accept the fact they had crossed that line, so were they were giving their baby up for adoption. They wanted her to be placed in a bi-racial home which was why we did not qualify. However since we were willing to adopt her, the agency knew they could help us and we could help them place another child in a home.

We went into the agency the next day, and began the process that would make our family complete and get Jonathon a brother or sister. We qualified, that was determined instantly, but there was a lot to go through, and normally it took years, but they needed us and if we were willing, they would push things through faster so they could get a child into a home who needed one.

As we went through this process the social workers would talk to us about different cases… a brother and sister who needed a home, an unwed mother with medical issues who was looking for a home for her baby, twins almost three, etc etc. We were never “offered” any of these children, but were asked to think about them and let the agency know our willingness. We had a few stipulations, the main one being that Jonathon would be the big brother, meaning the child we adopted had to be under 2 1/2.

Every week different cases would be brought up, the brother and sister who needed a home, the unwed mother with medical issues who was looking for a home for her baby, a little boy, a little girl, etc. But with this agency, the birth parent (s) picked the home their child was to go to, we were just talking over our willingness to have that child or children.

We went to Doctors appointments (physicals and mentals too) and counseling sessions and paper work galore. We had to call each and every family member to discuss our possibly adopting a biracial child, and since we were thousands of miles from home and both had large families, that was one HUGE phone bill… no make that three HUGE phone bills, February’s, March’s and April’s.

Final step was the home visit. We were told that the state of Texas only required running water and electricity to place a child in a home, so that was all the social worker was looking for. Of course we spit shined that house for three days before she arrived and there wasn’t a speck of dust or dirt anywhere to be found. She never even looked at our bathroom, LOL. We sat and chatted, she went over the cases that we were considering, and she left. As she left she asked us if we were ready for this, and we assured her we were.

John went back to work, and a few hours later the phone rang. It was the social worker calling to tell us we had been approved. She asked me again if we were ready for this… and then she said, “if you would like, you can come pick up your new son tomorrow morning.”

It was a Wednesday and exactly two months and nine days after we had made that Wednesday’s Child phone call. The next day three week old Michael joined our family.


(Thanks for the memories Heather, and best of luck to your growing family!)

This photo is the first ever of my three guys together, Jonathon is being introduced to his little brother.