I am sitting in my office, looking at it's 4 walls. The walls are painted pale yellow...but the wallpaper is one of a kind. Several hundred breathtaking pictures are everywhere. They are of newborns and toddlers and 8 year olds. There are babies that have huge bows in their hair, Mickey Mouse ears, pumpkin suits, crazy, silly, wild hats, Spiderman costumes and some are in their "birthday suits". Some are bald, some some have "happy hair" sticking up all over their head, there are pigtails and fuzzy little Afros. I see snow white skin, mocha skin, milk chocolate and dark chocolate skin. One baby is eating a crayon, one is examining the inside of her refrigerator, 2 are holding their "4 month old sign", one is wearing a strand of pearls, a little guy has stickers all over his face and there is even a SCARY lion! Birthday cake is smeared all over one's face, one is playing in the sand and one is sticking her tongue out at me! One is in a white wicker basket, one in a swing, one in a field of cotton and one in a funny car. Santa is holding a beautiful baby girl, a proud big brother is holding his new baby brother, and Rick and I are holding the newest "legal" member of a family. There is a mother, just back from Afghanistan, holding her daughter, a picture of a beautiful birth mother and me and a daddy with a smile bigger than the 4x6 photo paper. There a picture of our daughter Hannah, her birth mother Molly, our beautiful granddaughter Finley and me taken at Finley's first birthday party. There is a picture of my sister, her son she placed for adoption over fifty years ago and his Mother.
I can name every baby and every baby's nickname...Elmo, Handy Manny, Jiminy Cricket, Miss Bubbles, Woody, Tigger & Roo, Easter Lily, Miss Peaches, Rugby, Elvis, Miss Pumpkin, Sweetie, Boo, Tweety Bird, Miss Violet, Glo Worm, Tinker Bell and Peter Pan, Little Lamb, Ladybug, Sweet Pea, Miss Garnet, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, Miss Butter Bean, Valley Girl, Miss Valentine, Moose, Byrdman, June Bug, Miss Buttercup, Skooter, Winnie the Pooh, Lil G, Frosty, Baby Noel, Linus, Jingle Bells, Charlie Brown and Peter Rabbit.
The pictures remind me EVERY day of the amazing birth parents who have been in our lives and have lovingly & selflessly chosen adoption of their children. They remind me of some of the birth mother's who will be my heart friends....forever!
They remind me of the wonderful people who have come to Family Adoption Services....hoping to fulfill their heart's desire.... to be Mommys and Daddys and what a privilege & honor it was to have been part of their journey.
My breathtaking wallpaper...hundreds of photographs of beautiful children....and in their eyes....the face God.