1 Year Ago Today Our Plane Landed & 5 Kids Became U.S. Citizens

“So what brought you to Costa Rica?” Came the voice from a gentleman sitting next to my wife on our flight back to the states … (Crazy that was 1 year ago today.) Coleen and I were separated on this flight and I was in the next row but could hear their conversation perfectly. If you know Coleen, you know that talking about ourselves is not her strong suit. She kept the conversation simple, trying not to give away too much information but he was a curious guy.

The moment he was able to pry the story from her of why we were in Costa Rica … he was dumbfounded and blown away. Coleen relaxed, question after question followed and she handled them in stride with great poise. He owned a resort in Costa Rica and we later found out that he actually owned a significant packaging company in the United States.

By the time we landed in Atlanta, the entire plane knew our story and many people watched as our newly adopted sons and daughters became American citizens for the first time. (So cool… the moment their feet touched American soil they became U.S. citizens!) Bystanders were videoing and clapping as our family stepped off the plane. 

We were given gifts, one man told us he owned multiple McDonalds and gave us free meals, people shared social accounts, and one guy gave us his business card and offered to put them all through college. (I truly believe he meant it and was able to do it … I might should call him back ... )  It created such a positive energy … perfect strangers offering to help in anyway they could.

ADOPTION IS WORTH CELEBRATING!!!

365 days ago that plane touched down from Costa Rica and almost immediately our world went dark (radio silent) ...  The celebration we intended to have with family and friends, the stories we wanted to share, and the world we wanted them to embrace changed overnight …

Interesting coincidence; Coleen and I are actually at a Lifeline conference (that’s the agency we adopted through ... they’re awesome!) this weekend on our 1 year anniversary and the message is clear… CELEBRATE LIFE!  

More to come …