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Well, my story starts back in the 1960's, even though I am not that old. The
most amazing gift was presented to me and my family. On the night of November
22, 1965, two very amazing "Victories" were won! Hubert Humphrey (my Aunt
Nancy's father) was elected U.S. Vice President, and Victoria Solomonson
(Hubert Humphrey's granddaughter, my aunt's daughter — so my cousin)
was born into this world with Down syndrome. A huge Victory for everyone!
Back
then people that were born with Down syndrome usually were put
into institutions, not Vicky! She was and still is the light
of our lives! So, my family always had Vicky come stay with us
a week every year as I grew up. I knew from a very young age
that this is exactly what kind of child I wanted if I ever were
to have children. All of my dolls were special just like Vicky!
When I met my husband I introduced him to a lot of new things that he never had in his life: Special Olympics was the big one. The first time we went I looked at my husband and his eyes were filled with tears. He said that these people are amazing, they put all of their hearts into everything that they do! My husband and I would talk a lot about having a child with Down syndrome. I thought the people that God gives these children to were the luckiest people in the world!
To
make a long story short, we decided that since we were not sure
if God would give us this special gift biologically that we were
going adopt! So our journey with the adoption process started
April 23, 2007, and there were many ups in downs. We were picked
immediately by a birth family and we thought, "Wow, why do people
think that this process is so hard? We did it right away!" We
kept in contact with the birth parents and the baby was due on
July 14, 2007. We got a call on July 17th from the birth mom
thanking us for helping them with the decision to keep their
little angel. The birth mom told us that God really worked through
my husband and me to let them know what a special gift they were
receiving and that not everyone is blessed with these amazing
people. She also said that when the doctors delivered their angel
that she came out smiling and they had never seen that before!
We went through three more families until October, 2007. I was doing my everyday networking with adoption agencies trying to see if there were any new situations - and the first call I made was the one. An agency in Florida told me that she just got an email from a birth mom that said she was due in the middle of October to deliver a baby girl with Down syndrome, and she wanted to give her up for adoption. I said that I would get my home study to her in the next couple of minutes and whatever else they needed. We got the call on a Sunday that the birth mom had delivered, but still had not yet decided. So we just waited, and on Tuesday we got the call that we were chosen and we could come tomorrow to get our daughter.
Gertie-Leigh
Audrey Munholland is the most amazing person I know and in her
short two months she has changed several people around us! People
with Down syndrome are truly God's gift to the world!
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