The first Sunday of every month during the school year St. John’s serves breakfast over at the Portico throughout the morning. It’s a king’s breakfast on a peasant budget – pancakes, French Toast, eggs, corn hash, sausage, butter (that’s a food group for our Ben), and an assortment of beverages.
The Knights of Columbus puts the whole thing on, creating the perfect family atmosphere. And there are plenty of families there, with their precious children running around. On this particular day I was looking for little Mary Pat, who is about two months older than Elizabeth. When asking Mary Pat’s mother, our dear friend Lee, the whereabouts of her daughter, she said something like, “Oh, she’s somewhere over there.” (Yes, Mary Pat, all of 11 months at the time, has six older, very doting brothers and her mother just doesn’t need to sweat certain details in a safe haven like St. John’s.)
Within a minute I found the sweetie pie on the north side of the hexagonal building. She was sitting on the floor, surrounded by several doting children. Stooping down, I introduced myself to a boy, about nine years old. Here we find the brief exchange that changed our life forever:
“Hello, my name is Demian. What is your name?” I asked.
“Hello, my name is Liam,” the boy responded kindly. “And I have a brother Sam, a brother Luke, and a brother Jacob. And our little sister is Lilly, who is in Guatemala.”
“Guatemala?” I inquired with much interest.
“Yes, we are adopting her,” Liam said.
“Adopting? Who is your father?” I asked, with even greater interest than before.
We stood up and Liam pointed to his dad Terence, who was standing on the other side of the room. I knew Terence on a friendly level, yet obviously not well enough to know his children, let alone that his family was adopting.
“Thank you Liam, I’m going to go speak with your father. It was nice to meet you.”I walked away, sprang away really, without even letting him say good-bye; nor, ironically, without having given little Mary Pat more than an initial glance!
Terence was manning a table for an upcoming Marriage Investment session, a ministry dedicated to strengthening marriages through education, fellowship, and prayer. I said hello, shook his hand, and got right to the point: “Liam said you and Maria are adopting? Tell me all about it!”
We spoke for about 15 minutes, every second of which were very exciting. Terence is an interesting fellow, yet that day he was the most fascinating person in the world to me!
Don’t let the slight silliness in that last line reduce the reality of how important that time was with Terence. I had been aware that he and his wife Maria were people of strong faith, and the prospect of learning from them and possibly following along in their direct path for agency selection was, again, very exciting.
The breakfast period was winding down and we started for the east door to look for our wives. As anticipated, however, I wanted to find Maria along with Terence. We did – and she was given the short version of our family’s desire to adopt. Immediately, sparkles of support were in her eyes, and encouragement came simply by hearing Maria talk of her Love in South America.
To hear a mother speak of a young child is one of the most beautiful things our human ears can hear; and that was Maria of Lilly. To further heighten the moment, it was as if I had never heard an adoptive mother talk of her daughter. Possibly I had been a poor listener within previous conversations, but then – right there – I witnessed a depth of charity to which there was no bottom. Their story is not mine to share, but I can tell you it is captivating, one that wraps you in the Gospel.
Yet let us move from Heaven to earth. Where was Rose? I was dying to share, for her to hear! There she was, coming through the double doors in the crowd. My dear wife joined the conversation, and among all the richness encountered that morning, she heard the name of the agency for the first time: “All God’s Children International.” They were out of Portland, Oregon.
On a practical level, it was everything for us to have a golden lead on a placement agency. Trust is paramount in an adoption and the stamp of approval for AGCI from Terence and Maria was major for us.
Upon arriving home a bit later, Rose Googled AGCI, devoured their web pages, and requested an information packet on-line. Just like that our adoption took flight.
Nearly a year has passed since that seminal encounter with Liam. Having since had the opportunity to get to know him, he is a fine young man, and part of a beautiful, faithful family. At times I wonder where we’d be if not for meeting him, if not for a proud brother’s desire to unabashedly share the love for his sister (who came home the week of Thanksgiving that fall). And then I’m reminded that solving that puzzle has no point. Something otherwise was not meant to be, for God had sent Liam to us that day.
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