We have always told Allie that she “came out of the blue,” with a double meaning for being heaven-sent and unexpected. After discovering that a second birth child would not happen, my husband and I began the ups and downs of the adoption process. Since we were in our late thirties, we knew that the chance of meeting the wait period for adopting from a public agency would exceed the cut-off of being under 40, so we chose the private route. We completed forms, answered personal questions about every aspect of our lives, and hoped for a miracle. For Christmas we gave each other the gift of making three contacts that might lead to a child: doctors, attorneys, friends, friends of friends, …show more content…
When we moved from Delaware to Marion, her place of birth, my husband and I initially became cautious about who might recognize her or see a family resemblance, so we became more private in our sharing of her background. Within a few years those feelings subsided, and we no longer examined faces at the mall or grocery story. As we have watched Allie grow into a young adult, we are so very pleased with the ease with which she has accepted her birth story and the comfort of friends who know it. In defending her preferences, she often teases about the issue of nature vs. nurture, yet she wishes she could have better access to the health records of her birth parents. She has chosen not to search for