adoptions and disabilities

rainey826 — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:14:00 GMT

hi all, i like to share my story with you about parenthood. i was stricken with polio a week before my third birthday and never knew i could not give birth to a child untill the time came that we wanted to start our family . what a shock it was to me . family is very important to me for i grew up in a large italian family , my dad was one of 13 and my mother was one of 6 . so we look into adoption . the first country was usa , now dont get me wrong i love my country yet they are not very open when it comes to giving a handicapp woman a child , so we went international adoptions . there are so many children in this large world that need homes . there was a long list of countries to choose from . now not every country was handicapp friendly but i was sure i would find one , after sending out letter after letter and being shot down i was losing hope .it was getting to the point of wanting to give up , for i could not bear hearing no again ...you know how life works just when your ready to give up the sun shines ! i got the letter i was so waiting for . it was from mother teresa in india , asking us to go ahead and do a home study ! well i wrote back and asked mother did you see i am disabled ? her response was yes and i only have one question ' CAN YOU LOVE ? ' we did a home study and our first daughter arrived home at jfk airport little over a year.i can't begin to tell you how this beautiful child has enriched my life . i do believe i did all the things i could as a disabled parent , sure we have limits but i gave my all , she is now 28 and hold her masters in education and teaches first grade . we wanted a second child so a letter went to india and six months later we were back at the airport once again picking up our second beautiful daughter , she is now 25 and still in medical school . i cant begin to find the words to express the love we have for one another , i can say i could not love them more if i gave birth to them myself . i am so gald that i did not let my disability stand in my way of parenthood the greatest gift in life ! mother teresa was visting america and asked if she could meet with us and see the girls , we did and it was very moving for me , how do you thank someone who gave a life ? all i can say is when mother kissed my hands all i was able to do was cry ! the words thank you just did not seem enough , in the end when she grabbed my daughters and kissed and hugged them with tears in her eyes i knew she was pleased to see how much they were loved. . when mother passed away it was a very sad day for us and i still thank her everynight in my prayers for giving me the gift of ' LIFE '. please if your thinking just because your disabled you could never be a parent look into adoption. you can adopt as a single parent as well . i could not ask for anything more in life. nothing ! you can see my daughters pictures on my profile , my two angels from heaven ! not only do we celebrate birthdays we also celebrate what we call a ' happy day ' the day they arrived home and we became a family ! please feel free to ask any questions

lorraine { rainey826 }