A Thanksgiving to remember.

Well, as many of you know I don't post on a daily occurence like my wife. Usually I post about a political issue or something that is on my mind. This time I have a story to tell.

In 2004 my son Gabriel had a siezure, he was just an infant, as parents do, we panicked, we had dozens of tests run on him. After about 6 months of personality changing medication and consulting with his doctor, we decided to wean him off of the medication. Since that time he has not had any seizures, we have come to the conclusion that they were development and that he would grow out of them, and that he seems to have done.

At that time I decided that I should find out any medical information I could about my birth parents. So I researched and found out about a mutual consent adoption registry that the NY Department of Health has online. I submitted my information to it. What I got back was a form stating very basic information about my birth mother, her age, race, etc. There was no medical information of any value, so I believed I had hit a dead end at the time. The form also stated that if she registered we would both get a "final consent" form for identifying information to be exchanged, I held hope that perhaps she would register at some point.

At this time I was driven to find out more information, so I searched the internet, even went as far as to call the hospital I was born at, all led to dead ends.

So we fast forward to October 2008, I have moved several times, relocated to Arizona, doubled the size of my family. I received a final consent form in the mail. This could only mean one thing, my birth mother had registered and also recieved that form. I decided it was time to move forward with things. So my wife and I filled out the form, got it notarized and sent it via certified mail to the State of NY. I was hopeful that within days I would hear something.

On November 21st I recieved the information, my birth mother's name is Linda, she lives on Long Island, NY. (I am sparing additional details out of respect for her privacy.) I was in shock, almost 31 years have elapsed since I was born and given up. What would I find?

Late Sunday night I received an email from Linda. She told me a little about my birth family, she told me that she remembered my birthday every year, that she prayed for and worried about what happened to my brother and I. She told me that I have another brother and a sister, a niece and a nephew. She told me that her and her husband, who she met after giving birth to us have thought about us throughout the years.

I responded with my story and was thankful that she made the decision that she made. I told her about my wife, kids and my brother. She went from having 2 grandchildren to 10! She is thrilled!

I am truly thankful for the very adult selfless decision that Linda and her parents made when she was only 16. I believe that God put things in place so that we could all be happy and eventually come back together to heal a family. I have room in my heart for my birth mom, my new brother and sister, cousins, niece, nephew, uncles and aunts and grandparents.

I hope as you read this you think about your family's blessings and they bring a smile to your face.

-John