Why India?

People who don't understand the international adoption process will often ask if you had to choose a specific country and when I say yes, I often get asked why I chose India.  My mother is from India and I was born there, but I don't really look Indian, I much more resemble my father who is American despite my dark hair and dark eyes.  In all honesty, most people think I am Latina or Middle Eastern.  Culturally I would say I am far more American than Indian though ironically I have more relatives in India than I do in the U.S.  Adam and I considered domestic adoption first, but connected with a domestic adoption lawyer who we didn't care for, so we decided to go the international route.  Adam and I were married in India in December of 2009 and although he wasn't as concerned as I was as to which country we chose, I would definitely say India holds a special place in our hearts.  My mother and father were actually living in the U.S. when they became pregnant with me.  They realized it would be just as cheap to fly to India to have me as pay for medical care in the U.S. and my mother wanted to be near her family for my birth.  When my mother was 7 months pregnant she got on a plane with my brother who was 15 months old at the time to be reunited with her family who she hadn't seen since she first came to the U.S. a few years earlier.   My father came to India right around the delivery date.  He ran 6 miles through Pune to get to me the morning I was born.  Unfortunately, he got amoebic dysentery and was really sick...we had to leave India in a hurry.  I was only 10 days old.

In India as a young girl

We visited India several times while I was growing up.  On one such visit when I was around seven years old, the reality and contrast of poverty in India really hit home for me.  We were at the train station and I distinctly remember wearing a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt and bright yellow pants as we waited for our train.  A little beggar girl came up to us holding out her hand for money.  She was about the same age as me.  She began to sing in a sweet yet powerful voice and play spoons.  She would glance back at a woman who I am assuming was her mother.  Her mother sat stoically in a corner.  She had no legs or arms.  I realized the girl was essentially working to support herself and her mom.  I remember looking down at my Mickey Mouse sweatshirt thinking how unfair it was that she had so little and I had so much.  It was the first time I recognized my privileged life and it left a big impression on me and has stayed with me all these years. It means a lot to me to be able to bring a young girl who might  have otherwise been very limited by her poverty and special needs to be with our family in the U.S. where she will receive the care of two loving parents as well as an amazing extended family and be able to receive the best medical care.  I do hope she maintains a connection to India.  I envision her some day going back to Missionaries of Charity  to volunteer and help out  another set of orphans or homeless children. I do feel in my heart that  Anjali was somehow meant to be ours and I can't wait to get back to India to bring her home.

Just me and my sweet Anjali!