It happened overnight. You hear about this, but never imagine it will happen to you.  In an instant, our lives changed forever.

My husband is a pilot for the U.S. Air Force. One afternoon, he was departing on a weekend trip when our caseworker called and said she had some news. A 6-week-old baby girl in transitional care was ready to be placed in a forever home.

Of course, this would happen to me, I thought. I am alone, my husband is in the air, and they need an answer now. I knew I had to get in touch with my husband right away, so I called the commander and explained the situation. Then, I waited for a long 20 minutes, holding myself together, while they tried to reach him. I could just picture it —Husband: “What did you do today while I was at work?” Me: “Oh nothing. The caseworker called. She will be bringing our daughter home on Sunday, but besides that, it was a pretty slow day!”

Finally, my phone rang and it was my husband. The plane had not left yet. It was a true miracle. I didn’t want to do this without him.

He turned the plane around on the runway and jumped off.  When he ran back through the squadron to grab his bag, everybody was waiting for him and cheering. He told them that he was getting a baby, that his little girl was coming home. My heart melted.

Elaina Sofia arrived on Sunday afternoon. She was beautiful. We couldn’t believe she was finally here. She was ours and she was here to stay.

Your Story

We want to make it easy for you to also share your stories with us and with other families who are going through this process. If you adopted from one of Gladney's adoption programs and would like to share your photos and stories, here are some story starters:

• The first time I saw you . . .
• Our placement day . . .
• We chose Gladney because . . .
• Our adoption journey . . .
• Our rollercoaster ride . . .
• Not knowing what to expect . . .
• Gladney helped us . . .
• The trip home . . .

Please email those stories and photos to us at adoption@gladney.org. We look forward to hearing from you!

By submitting this material you grant the Gladney Center the right to use, publish and otherwise publicly display this material in the manner the Gladney Center chooses, including use in brochures and on the web.