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Puerto Rican Babygirl

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It doesn’t make any sense that the name the adoptive couple gave my niece a completely Italian name.

Our baby has absolutely no Italian heritage. Nothing against Italians, it’s just that she isn’t Italian.

Their family is Italian, so in my opinion, it’s just another way of trying to make a child believe they’re something they’re not, trying to change who they are and make them into what you want them to be.

It’s a way of trying to make a child theirs, that will never truly be theirs, no matter what.

I think it is borderline cruel to name a little Puerto-Rican girl the most Italian name you can get.  

I can’t wrap my brain around it, much like everything else about this adoption.

From Broken to Being Whole

So last night obviously my broken heart jumped off the page, but tonight I went outside and looked at the dark night sky I love so much. I breathed and felt God’s love pour down over me. I loved the gorgeous moon, and I must have wished on every star in the sky. My face looking up, the tears ran completely down my face.

I’ve described this monster like being on a roller-coaster because it is up and down at any given moment.

Now that I have taken an ordered rest, following an accident, surgery, and now waiting on the second surgery, I’m supposed to be taking it easy, of course I can’t. All I can think of is knocking out the rest of the key points that need to be written before the final edit before print. I want desperately to put this first half of the book to rest. I want my people to know what happened to us, and to give them a warning of what can happen if you let your guard down for even a moment. Specifically written for my niece and family, and to let everyone involved know the impact this made on us. Our lives imploded.

I imagine once the book is on the shelf next to my bed, I will be able to sleep just a little more comfortably. I will close my eyes and almost sigh with relief. Writing about this has literally taken thousands of hours. Hours away from my kids, students, friends, and lovers. Make no mistake, it is all worth it to me. I’ve made so many sacrifices and the greater the sacrifice, the greater the reward.

I trust in God to make it right, I trust my niece will come home to us. I believe one day I’ll turn back into that love bug I once was, only better. I’ll be stronger and wiser. I’m cutting myself slack for the way I’m handling all this. Don’t mind me, I’m just a girl who had her heart ripped out. I’m absolutely allowed to grieve and mourn, kick and scream.

Each day as I look into my babies’ faces, it melts some of the ice that my heart is encased in. I’m just so angry that something so devastating happened to us, and sometimes I daydream of what life would have been like had it not. We’ve all missed out on so many wonderful things. This turned us all into cynics, and none of us ever looked at things the same again. We’re always suspicious, guarded, I don’t trust people as far as I could bowl them. I hate what this did to all of us, and how it changed us and made us take our rose-colored glasses off. It was like one day I believed in everything and felt as though I could fly, the next my wings were snipped off and the more I knew, the less I wanted to know and the less I understood. 

We were betrayed, used, made to look crazy, then tossed away like trash. Is it any wonder I harbor so many ill feelings? Can you even imagine yourself in the kind of situation we were put in? I’ve never even hear of a story like this.

‘ Neighbor and court clerk sells baby. ‘

Just imagine for a moment how that would tear you apart. People always say ‘ oh  if that happened to my family I’d go kill them. ‘ But you can’t. Your hands are completely tied, there’s nothing you can do, and court personnel decide the fate of your entire future without knowing you at all, and never having to deal with you again. I never knew what kind of ‘ justice system ‘ we had until this happened. I despise the courts and their procedures so much that I want to stay a million miles away from them. I’m not sure if there’s anything worse than dealing with the system, it’s enormously stressful and all-consuming. Is it any wonder I try to wish this all away? Is it any wonder that my feelings about this go back and forth and up and down?

So I’m not just some hateful, spiteful person. Tragedies change people, and they have to fight their way back to a be just a fraction of what they once were. Their lives become divided into two timelines, before the nightmare, after the nightmare.

If I didn’t have so much love and feel so much love, I don’t think I even would have survived this. The hate for the adoption aside, I love hard and deep regarding everything else.

Love really is stronger than hate.

We Have Questions, They Give No Answers

I hardly ever write during the day, but I found a few moments to sneak away and get some things off my mind.

> How did the Elliot County Courthouse ever get away with this?

> Why was this woman setting up an adoption of all things while on the clock at her ticket and  scheduling window?

> Was it not Elliot County’s responsibility to protect my sister and her baby by not allowing one of their employees to do such a thing to them?

> Why have they not been held accountable for what they did to our family?

> Why have they pushed our very serious allegations aside as if this is something that should not have been fully investigated?

> Why is this woman still working there, typing our names in and able to keep tabs on all of us?

> What else has she done from that ticket window?

> Why did we find out that Judge Gavin resigned for years of misconduct years after we brought our case to his attention? Obviously he cared nothing about the morality and legality of our situation.

> Why does Elliot County just ‘ not get to answer ‘ our questions and prove to us that this adoption was legally done on their premises by a woman licensed to do so? Are they aware of the ‘ goodies ‘ this woman got from the adoptive couple as a result of this adoption?

> Whose desk are our police reports just sitting on? Are they not required to investigate and respond to our reports?

> Do they know Judge Campbell told me ‘ this entire building has been infested by what she’s done ‘ . He had to make it known that Lupita had involved him prior to the case coming to him so the opposing attorney had the right to have him recuse himself from the case, immediately after, he stated that he ‘ was going to do what was in the best interest of the child ‘ . No sooner than the words left his lips, the opposing attorney requested a new judge. I guess he knew that ‘ best interest of the child ‘ meant staying with her natural family, that all showed up and took up a row of seats.

> Why can no one do anything about it? Every office I’ve dealt with has told me that Elliot County would have to do an investigation because it’s their jurisdiction. Do they understand that Elliot County doesn’t want to explain how such an adoption took place, why adoption forms were being faxed to and from her office, why phone calls were made to and from her office, why the pregnant teen was her former neighbor and living at her house, why she was meeting with the adoptive couple, why she made all meetings and appointments in the 28 days this adoption took place in, why the couple flew her to the baby shower as the ‘ guest of honor ‘ , why the couple gave her an engraved Tiffany & Co. bracelet that read ‘ to auntie Lupita .’   Why my sister’s hospital bills remain unpaid, her wages garnished, her daughter gone, thanks to Lupita’s ‘ help .’

> Do they know the agency that handled the adoption lost their license to practice less than a year after we brought our allegations to them, for reasons they will not disclose?

> Is ‘ Adoption for Profit ‘ in the employee handbook?

> Why are our allegations not ‘ serious ‘ enough to be fully investigated?

 

> Why?

 

> Why?

 

> Why?

 

Somewhere Between Lovely and Lunacy

If it weren’t for this, life would be good.

Beautiful kids, lovely home, garden, nice car, many people who love me and multiple proposals, two great simultaneous careers: teaching preschool and event planning.

Writing a book that is nearly ready for print. I vacation several times a year, recently escaped to the Eastern Caribbean, another getaway to Hawaii soon.

I have a niece and nephew that no one can take from me. I’m creative, smart, one-of-a-kind Pisces girl, throwing a baptism for 6 in a few months, and much to my excitement, all the boxing! I’m a huge fan and I feel so spoiled with the recent fights of Pacquiao, Cotto, and upcoming Canelo fight. I’m the world’s greatest hostess for the fights, UFC, and Superbowl. Tons of food ( and I cook the best) a huge television with a Bose sound system, fire pit with chairs in the backyard, pool table, Dominoes, darts, and loud music in the garage. As long as I can remember, people have always come to my house for celebrations and kick-backs because no one does it better. 

It has taken me so long to fight back, to want to be alive, to want to smile. I keep thinking back to my life before all this happened. It was normal, whatever that means.

Then one day, the carpet got yanked out from underneath us and nothing would ever be the same again. It changed absolutely everything. After that point, I felt like everywhere I went, I needed security. I know it sounds odd, but it just means that anything can happen at any given time. If only I could have security for everyday life, to protect me from all the bad things in the world, all the awful things people do to each other without a second thought.

So life went from things like toasting ‘ to love’ and being VIP everywhere I went (which is everywhere) to breaking everything I could get my hands on in the house. Many dishes and decorations were casualties of this bizarre circumstance. A lot of screaming and crying, weeping, begging, praying.

It’s been so up and down, and it made a lot of people lose a lot of things. Marriages, miscarriages, great jobs, friends, homes, smiles, happiness, senses of well-being. I have always lived by ‘ Trust None ‘ and though I’m bouncing back, it unfortunately remains true.

Slowly the cynical is being chipped away. Other than God, I really leaned on myself to get through this. I didn’t want to burden friends, I had a partner who was clueless and careless, I didn’t want to further break the hearts of those I loved so I couldn’t speak of it. After all this time, I’m finally realizing I am strong, and I have made it this far. I haven’t given up for one single moment. Each day I thank God and when I finally lie down, I think ‘ one day closer . ‘

One day, life will again be sweet. No distractions of anything adoption. I won’t have to say the ‘ A ‘ word, I won’t have to carry it on my shoulders, and it won’t give me any more nightmares. I just want to be free of this. I want myself back, I just want everything to be okay again.

Always Making The Time

After a blissfully busy day, which started out very early with my eldest daughter, a rare and delicious cup of coffee, and the heartwarming movie ‘The Water is Wide’, now is the quiet time I cherish.  

The time I get to spend with my niece.

Kids are all tucked in after being fed, bathed, read to, and prayed with.

The house is spotless, Joyce Meyer on the television.

Got a ton of homework done, and decorated 45 cupcakes for my son’s class to celebrate his 15th birthday today.

Taking full advantage of my sabbatical over the next four months as I await surgery and recovery, I am enjoying every moment at home taking care of the two little babies I was recently blessed with. Although I miss my students everyday and can’t wait to get back to my classroom, I love falling in love with my miracle babies all throughout the day. Then when I go back to work, my son will be in my class and the baby girl will be in a nearby infant classroom so I’ll have the best of both worlds; having a career I love and spending the first five critical years with the babies I prayed for over eleven long and disappointing years. Losing two babies because of this ugly adoption was and always will be excruciating. Wondering about the two babies that may have been puts a lump in my throat that I cannot swallow. So as much as I hurt over that, I am trying to fully appreciate the blessings that are right in front of me. But when your heart hurts, it hurts. You can’t tell it to stop because it’s slowly killing you. The absence of the presence of the ones you love will run through your mind a million times a day. Their place is never replaced.  

No matter what I’m doing or how busy I get, I always make the time to try to achieve the heart to heart with my niece that I am so desperately longing for. I do anything I can to keep her with me. I see the resemblance of her little face when I look at the babies and though I am consumed with absolute joy, I can’t help but think what I wouldn’t give to hold my niece just as close. I just want to look at her, and when I once again do, I’m sure she will see and feel the love in my eyes.

So before I get ‘tucked in’  and pray, I want her to know she is always with me. It is sheer devotion to her that drives me on in this lonely, unbelievable, and indescribable crusade. It’s madness, a huge monster with a life of its own. Being away from her is a slow and tortuous ordeal. But I never lose faith. I never lose hope. I imagine our reunion and it makes me smile, my soul elated …. Then and only then will I be able to fully breathe, to fully live, to fully love.

The Pictures

I go back and forth with looking at pictures of my niece. Sometimes I need to have them all around me, and sometimes I have to not look at them because I know the feelings of despair and emptiness that I feel just holding the pictures in the frames. I look at them with such a sadness. Sometimes I cry my eyes out, sometimes I just stare at them feeling numb, in disbelief. Even after all this time, I still feel like this can’t possibly be happening. Have almost ten years gone by? They have and I know where the time went.

It went to coping with a whole new reality, trying to survive this day after day after day. Asking yourself the same questions. Feeling that anxiousness that makes my heart beat faster. Closing my eyes and wishing it away. Praying to God throughout the day. She’s the last thing I pray for when I go to sleep at night. I’m positively certain that this is how it will be, until one random day, it isn’t.

The wait and weight will be over. My niece will have read this book. She will have received the hope chest that holds her time capsule. She will have read through the scrapbooks I made for her. She will have seen the pictures. Read through boxes of paperwork. She will have seen the pictures we hold so dear. We have them in them near the dining table, we have them on the fridge, we have them in our wallets, in our rooms. She’ll see that we kept her with us the only way we knew how after she was ripped away from us without us even knowing.

We did everything we could, we fought every step of the way. She had a family who would have loved her and taken care of her, after all, she is one of our own. She will always belong to us no matter what kind of legal papers they flash our way or the smug looks they give when we come face to face. I’m still waiting for someone to jump out and say it was all a nightmare. That none of this ever happened and we opened our eyes and things were as they were before our world imploded.

The pictures make it real. They capture the moment of time that we had, so brief, in such awkward places. At a freezing park with a monitor watching our every move, because WE can’t be trusted, in attorney’s offices. In the Los Angeles court where we saw family after family come out having been ordered to be torn apart. In the pictures, you can tell we’ve been crying, trying to put on smiles so it will be hard to tell we’re dying inside.

The pictures are a whole other monster. It’s a whole separate thing to deal with. It’s a different hurt that comes from deep inside. It causes physical pain, you can feel the anguish sitting on your chest like a bowling ball. We all fight through all the emotions because it’s all worth it to see her little face. To feel for that moment that she is ours to have and to hold, to make dreams really seem like a possibility even for a moment. I hold the pictures close to my heart, close my eyes and say ‘she’s still mine …. she’s still ours.’

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I Will, I Won’t

I will allow myself to express my feelings.

I will let the words come from my heart.

I will allow myself to cry when it hurts.

I will forgive myself when I feel so weak and hopeless.

I will believe with my whole heart that one day this will all be over.

I won’t put on a smile when my spirit feels crushed.

I will stay strong when I want to break down.

I won’t feel ashamed because I am heartbroken.

I won’t apologize for loving my niece more than life itself.

I won’t ever give up the fight or trying to make it right.

I will trust in God that He will make our family once again whole.

I won’t be so hard on myself when I feel overwhelmed.

I won’t rest until every detail is told.

I will wait for my niece, no matter how long it takes.

I will allow myself to live while I wait, owing that to those around me.

I will pray night and day, silently and out loud, that our dream will come true.

I won’t take my hurt and frustration out on those that love me and are supporting me through this.

I will make a conscious effort to survive this.

I will always be her auntie, no matter who tries to take that away.

Resting and Recharging

It’s been so unbearably painful dealing with this catastrophe that I’ve had to take a break by forcing myself to clear my mind of everything.

For my sanity’s sake, I’ve had to stop myself from thinking about the million details that haunt me. Court dates, paperwork, unanswered questions, past visits, red flags, the set up, everything to do with the adoption, I’ve had to choke down and bury it as deep as it will go.

All these years that have gone by, it’s been non-stop and it never goes away. I can’t get away from it no matter what. Everywhere I am and everything I do, it’s always there. There is no escape. The whirlwind of emotions is constant. I keep my niece as close to me as I can, even if it’s only in my thoughts. Thinking about her, loving her, and writing to her are things that no one can take from me and I’m adamant about all of them. The love and passion I have for her keeps me going when I feel like I just can’t go one more moment or one step further.

I’ve had to keep my blood pressure down, I’m still recovering from an accident and surgery with corrective surgery coming up, the vivid nightmares still continue to wake me up in cold sweats, I have to close my eyes and breathe out the anxiety that consumes me. I have no choice but to take care of myself right now and to be honest, I’ve had to learn how to do that because I have put myself off for so long. I have come last and been the last thing that mattered and now that I’m being taken care of instead of being the caretaker, I really don’t know how to handle it. I feel out of my element when someone does something for me. I feel guilty about resting or even sitting down. I pray away whatever creeps in my mind, at least for the time being. As soon as I’m better, I’m sure I’ll be just as diligent as I’ve always been, but for the short-time-being, I have to take it easy. I have to give myself back to those who love me and depend on me, those who lost me because of the madness. I’m resting and feeling more rejuvenated than I’ve felt in quite a while. It’s a struggle, but my faith keeps me afloat.

For my niece, I can and will go the distance.

 

Wishing and Waiting ….

One of the hardest parts of this whole ordeal, is the stillness of the wait.

I want to just jump out of my skin, cry, scream, drive down right this second to go get my niece and bring her home.

Instead, I have to sit here quietly, keep all the barrage of emotions buried, pray through it, and try to breathe. I’m in a constant fight to keep myself calm. Every day I think to myself that we’re one day closer. Getting through each day seems like forever and as I look back at the years that have gone by, I really don’t know where the time has gone. It’s like I can literally hear the hours screech by. I never knew that quiet could be so loud.

The waiting is so hard. I think about all the time we’re missing out on, I wonder if she even knows that I exist.

As the days pass I ask God for strength, for patience. We’ll never get back all the time we’re missing out on, and that breaks my heart. I wish I could hold her close to me and never let her go. I wish I could read to her, I wish I could hold her hand.

I spend time with her by writing to her, by praying for her, by making things for her. She’s always on my mind and I want her to know that.

I wish we never had to go through this. I wish our family was still intact. What life would have been like without this dark cloud hanging over us. If not for this, everything would be okay.

What a horrible thing Lupita did. She stepped into our family, where she had no place, sold my niece away, and left nothing but destruction behind her. What kind of person would even think of doing such a thing? Every time I even picture her face it makes me sick to my stomach. She’s a baby seller, what else do you call someone who makes a profit from an adoption?

I just want this all to be over. I want our lives back. I want my niece back. But for now, all we can do is wish, and wait. I know God hears our prayers and sees all the tears we cry.

I love my niece with my all the pieces of my broken heart. I can’t wait until she comes home ….