Marceli's adoption story

As promised here is the story of how we got Marceli.

It started with an e-mail. The social worker who had done Paulina's post placement years before had heard from a domestic agency that there was a child soon to be born who would be born without arms. The parents had decided that they were not prepared to raise this child and so wanted to place the child for adoption and contacted the agency. None of the waiting parents on file with the agency were interested. I called and got some information and talked to Bob. By some mirical he said yes. So we rushed a new homestudy, paid a fee to the agency, wrote a letter to the birth family and waited. We were assured that we were the only interested family and that it was just a matter of time till the birth mother officially chose us. As the due date drew near I started to worry. Especially since I heard the agency was still looking for families. Several other families who had adopted limb different children were approached. Some turned it down becuase of the cost. Others worried about other things. I asked the agency what the issue was. I told them that if they told me, I could either drop out or perhaps address it. For instance if it was that the birth family wanted the child raised Jewish, I could not do that, though I could promise to teach him of his heretage and do the circ and such. I specifically mentioned that if she wanted him to be an only child I would drop out since that was not something I could control. If they would only tell me the issue, I could address it and know if it was something we could work with or if we should just back out. Well, she kept saying no, we were perfect. Finally the day came when she called to tell me the mother had chosen another family. Turns out she wanted to him to be an only child. Had they told me that in the first place, I would not have even put our name in. I would not have paid the fee to the agency (non refundable of course) or gotten my hopes up. So then I was left with a homestudy and my heart set on another child and no child. I knew that we wanted another limb different child since this was a special need we knew a lot about. So I began looking for our child. We started the procedure for a boy in Russia, only to be told that he was no longer available. Finally we gave up, and decided it was not meant to be. A week after that I got a phone call. An agency that works with Guatamala had recieved a letter and a photo in the mail from Poland. A charity in Poland that works with disabled children had decided that he needed to be adopted so they had sent letters to agencies all over the world. They never heard from most of them. Others told them they could not help. This particular agency, did not even work in Poland so the lady opening the mail was getting ready to throw it away. At that moment the owner of the agency walked by. She saw the photo. Marceli's Romani blood gives him coloring that could pass for Guatamalan. So she was intriqued. She asked about the photo and the lady told her. She remembered my asking about limb different children and dug out my phone number. She told me that they could not help me adopt him, but would send me the letter and photo if I wanted it. She also read me the letter over the phone and described the photo. Also in the letter was a website. The site was in Polish but I was able to click around till I found the same photo she had described. I told Bob and showed him the photo. We both knew this was our son. It took a lot of paperwork and waiting and searching to find an agency to help us and they were delays and issues, but in the end we were able to bring him home to our family and the rest is history. We are grateful for the all the God-incidences that brought him to us. (we dont' beleive in coincidences). He is a blessing to our family. Here is that first picture we ever saw of him.