By Anne (Sraboni's Mom)

I still can't get over the fact of her! I was told to hope for the best but anticipate the worst for the first few months after her arrival. She is just so even-tempered, always happy, always wanting to do whatever is fun and finds joy in everything around her. Her teachers and all of my family and friends are describing her as a butterfly! Just so happy and free and flying around exploring her world. She is picking up English words every day. This afternoon one of my dogs was barking outside, so she went to the front door and hollered "DOGS KNOCK OFF!" Cracked me up because I guess I tell them to knock it off a lot. Everything about her is cracking us all up. She is truly a princess!

My TV gets four or five channels from India, mostly in Hindi but two of them have English subtitles. I have become totally addicted to the India soap operas and we watch them together every night. She was asking to have her ears pierced for a couple of weeks. She kept pointing to the women on the TV shows and at my earrings and then to her own ears. Last weekend we took her to have her ears done. She sat, let the ladies mark and then remark where the earrings would go a few times. She held my older son’s hands, and pop—they were done! Not a fuss, not a tear! Just a huge, wide, happy princess smile! She has been showing them to everyone! Oh my goodness, she is such an incredible gift to me—and to everyone around her!

By Laura Gaukroger

We first investigated adoption in 1979, after experiencing infertility. State and private agencies told us the wait was five to seven years for a healthy infant. We decided to become foster parents, and within months, our foster child, Josh, arrived. He had many special needs and soon became our first son.

We were still waiting to adopt when a friend told us about WACAP. I attended "pre-adopt" meetings at WACAP, and met families who had already completed the adoption experience. At our first meeting, we learned that India had the shortest waiting period and that the children could be high-risk due to prematurity. As a pediatric/nursery nurse, that seemed right up my alley!

We applied for the India program. We did the homestudy, learned a lot about ourselves and did the paperwork. And we waited. Approximately 16 months after attending our first pre-adopt meeting, Lacey was referred to us from Calcutta, India. She arrived home at six weeks, weighing in at four and a half pounds. She was beautiful. She also came home with salmonella infection—common in those days—which she carried for 14 months. We were the first family in our area to adopt from India, and Lacey brought us lots of attention.

When Josh was five and Lacey, six months, we applied again. Jaime was referred to us 14 months later and arrived home at seven weeks, weighing in at five pounds. Another beautiful baby. Jaime also had a few medical complications, but all were eventually resolved.

Two years later, I had a wonderful surprise—a birth child, Korey. Then our son Josh died at 10 years of age from an illness. My husband and I divorced. (I learned that 50 percent of couples divorce following the death of a child.) Life continued, though, and I remarried, gaining two stepsons and another surprise birth child—a son, Ian.

Life has been full of adventures as a parent—by adoption, birth and step parenting. My children have grown up attending the WACAP Family Camp; this year will be our 18th. My family is so rich in life experiences. I can’t imagine my life any other way. Well, maybe a little less hectic … but I am very glad that I have the good fortune to be a parent through adoption.

One last story. Once when Lacey was about four years old, I was again talking about her birth mother—the woman whose body she came from—and how lucky I was to get to be Lacey’s mother. Lacey was quiet for a moment and then said, "Well, when I was in her tummy, I was crying for you."

Thank you, WACAP, for the incredible gift to be able to know my daughters from India, to be able to love them, and to be loved by them. Thank you for all the experiences and friendship these past 22 years.