American Adoptions -- America's Adoption Agency
 Aloha and thank you for taking the time to get to get to know our family. We asked our 4-year-old son how best to describe our family and he said, "Hugs, kisses and holding hands." We then asked for one word to describe each of us and he said "love" for Bart and "help" for Jane -- and basically that sums it up. We are an easy going family filled with lots of love, laughter, encouragement and support for one another. We very much want Patricio to have a sibling and having already gone through the adoption process with him, we know and understand what a selfless, courageous and loving gift you would be giving to us. We appreciate how important it is to you to choose the right family. |
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We were first introduced to adoption first hand by two of Jane's very close friends, both of whom were adopted at birth.
One is in close contact with her birth mother and the other has no information regarding her birth. They both have talked openly about how adoption affected their lives; how they felt growing up, and the gratitude, thanks and love they feel toward their adoptive parents.
Then during our four years of infertility treatments, Jane's sister adopted her two younger children from El Salvador and Azerbaijan. We were able to witness firsthand their wonderful journey home and the amazing joy they brought to their parents and older sister. We then turned to adoption ourselves, and adopted our baby boy from Guatemala in 2006.
People always praise us for welcoming a child into our lives and state how lucky he is, and we have to quickly correct them because we are the lucky ones!!
We think it is important as a family to not only remember our cultural customs but also to create our own special rituals or traditions. Jane, in particular, has very fond memories of her childhood family traditions and her mother's British customs, which she tries to continue by cooking roast beef and yorkshire pudding and Christmas pudding with hard sauce.
We always decorate for all the main holidays, and Jane believes that it's not just your birthday, but your birthday week! The other important holiday that we have added is June 21st which is not only the summer solstice, but also is the day that we celebrate Patricio's adoption. We make sure to look at his adoption photo album and take time to talk about his birth mother, foster family and his journey home.
Every night as we put Patricio to bed we have the same routine; we say our prayers and any special prayers that we might want to add and then we each take a turn and say the best part of our day. It allows us to share our day and to appreciate all of the things we are blessed with no matter how simple. Perhaps our favorite ritual is what we call Saturday morning music. While we are still in our pajamas having coffee and warm milk, we put on lively music and start dancing around the living room; it is the best way to start a day together! Patricio has also started "three way hugs." It seems that we cannot have a private hug without Patricio climbing his way into the hug -- we can't wait to make it a ‘four way hug’ with a baby sibling!
When looking at a photograph of our immediate and Jane's sister's family, you would see 8 people all born in different countries; the Philippines, United States, Guatemala, England, Spain, Belgium, El Salvador and Azerbaijan. We know that our adoptive daughter would feel right at home no matter what her heritage is.
Having grown up in the New York City area, Jane was always exposed to numerous cultures and religions. Her Mother was born in England and as a child Jane spent her summers in England. Her Mother also was a professor of Middle East Languages and Cultures, particularly the Turkish language and literature and Jane grew up very exposed to the Turkish culture, arts and food.
Bart grew up in the Philippines until the age of 8 and has strong memories of living in the province. He still speaks the Ilocano dialect and holds onto many of the Filipino customs and traditions.
