WE WANT TO ADOPT

WE WANT TO ADOPT

When Suz was three years old, she started praying for a baby for our family. For Dick and me, that meant adopting. We needed another child to make our family complete, but because Suz prayed, and kept on praying, it was a daily reminder. Dick and I had agreed to adopt a baby before we got married. We had good jobs. I was 26 years old, and worked for the government as a clerk stenographer. Dick was 40 and was a Flight Inspection Pilot for the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA). It was now or never— but I didn’t know where to start! How do we do this? The prayers of a three-year-old started the ball rolling. Every night as I tucked Suz into bed, we knelt and said her bedtime prayers. Suz never forgot to pray for a baby. Not knowing how to go about adopting made it seem difficult for me, but every night I wondered if it might be possible.

I started discussing it with friends and people I worked with at the Salt Lake City FAA. We exchanged ideas and reports that we had heard. One friend said that she heard of a couple who had just adopted a baby through an attorney in Los Angeles. I asked her to find out the name of that attorney. After a few weeks, she came back to me with the name of that attorney in Hollywood, California. Suz’s prayers were working, because just after this we were informed that Dick’s office was closing. Dick and all who worked there were being transferred to Los Angeles! I wrote the attorney’s phone number in my address book. I was determined that I would call for an appointment once we were settled in the Los Angeles area.

We moved to the L.A. area in July, 1968. In September, Dick and I went to an appointment with the attorney. He interviewed us and then said he had six babies that were due to be born in the next several months. He told us about each of the six babies, and I took down everything he said in shorthand. He told us about the parents—their ages, nationalities, and whether they were in high school, in college, or in the military. The briefing included when the babies were due to be born. In those days no one knew if a baby would be a boy or a girl. When he finished telling us about the babies that were expected soon, he asked us which baby we would like. We told him that we’d like the first one we can get. He said that the first baby due had a mother who was Jewish and there was no record of the father. We agreed that we wanted that baby.

We left his office and started getting ready for the baby. Suz wanted the baby to be in her room as she had a large bedroom. We bought a used bassinet, a baby changing table, and a dresser for baby clothes. Since we didn’t know if the baby would be a boy or a girl, we painted the furniture white with pink and blue knobs on the drawers.

In November we received word through our attorney that the Jewish baby had been born, but that the mother had decided to keep her baby. He assured us that another baby was due in early December, and we told him that we wanted the next baby. Suz’s Grammy Jones came to visit and stay with us for a few weeks. We were into the Holiday season. Thanksgiving had passed and Christmas was approaching, when we got the next call!

Our baby was here! He was a little boy, born at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital two days ago, and we would be allowed to pick him up tomorrow! It was Friday when we got the call, and not knowing we would be getting a baby that weekend, we had invited Dick’s co-workers to our house for a Holiday get-together. We surprised them with our exciting news! Someone asked what we were naming the baby. I suddenly realized we had done everything but choose a name for our special little baby. We hadn’t known until that day that he was a boy. After the guests left I found the baby name book I had and went through it. Thank God for baby name books! His name would be Shane!

The next day we left on our exciting trip! We went to the attorney’s office to register the baby’s name for the legal paperwork, and then drove to the hospital to pick up our new baby!

We met our Baby Shane who would bless and change our lives! He was perfect, precious and beautiful! Every baby is a gift so fresh from God, that God’s holiness seems to be still on them—making them pure, innocent and unique! He was a wonder—our gift from God. We dressed our priceless treasure in his “going home” clothes. He was wonderful and we already loved him! I still remember going down in the elevator with our new baby, Shane. People in the elevator admired our baby. We were the new mom and dad with an adorable baby!

When we arrived home with Shane, Suz was taking a nap. We brought Baby Shane into her room to the changing-table and laid him down. He made a cooing sound, and Suz woke up. Her eyes were as big as silver dollars! Here was the baby she had prayed for, for almost three years!

All of us took turns holding him, and we were so happy! Our little family was complete! It was Christmas-time and much of the world was celebrating the birth of Jesus! We celebrated the birth of two babies! We were so thankful! It was a very precious, special Christmas!

Later we had time to read the shorthand notes I had written when the attorney told us about each baby. Shane is Norwegian and German. I am half Norwegian and Dick is half German. I recognized the college his birth mother had attended. She, like me, was a Minnesota girl! What a perfect match! Other things in my notes gave Shane clues so that in his college days he was able to search and locate his wonderful birth Mother. Shane is one of the biggest blessings our family has ever received, and it all started with the prayers of Suz, a three-year-old!