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Conners' adoption experience

By Miranda Holloway
Editor- in- Chief 
This is a supplement to a story on adoption which ran in the May, 25 issue of the Prospector. The article ran in the Features section. 
Science teacher Deb Conners held up an envelope in the air in relief as she entered her hotel in Guatemala. Her return from the Guatemalan embassy meant that she and her two newly adopted sons could return to the U.S. as a family.

      Conners adopted her sons, now four and five, from Guatemala after a nearly two-year process as she filed her first paper work in Aug. 2006 and brought her boys home in June 2008. Connors was originally expecting to adopt one son, but when a second baby was available, the two cases were linked together.
    The process was filled with paper work, questions and legal matters.
    “It was nerve-racking because you have do this and sign a certain way and with your full given name, including your mother’s maiden name in some countries,” Conners said. “There were a lot of details.”
        The logistics of where and what age child she wanted to adopt was a bit of puzzle. After deciding that she wanted to adopt a baby, Conners was introduced to a friend of a friend who had adopted her daughter from Guatemala, which is what ended up steering her toward the country.
    “That was the piece I was missing from the puzzle,” Conners said.
    The international aspects of the adoption were relatively smooth for Conners, however she occasionally ran into some trouble with the process shutting down due to diplomatic issues between the US and Guatemala. Although she considers her experience to be good, as there are instances of adoptions falling through and legal troubles associated with international adoptions.

Conners took two trips down to Guatemala. During the first trip she traveled alone and  visited both of the boys, one at a time. Which was both exciting and exhausting.

    After returning home, Conners was having doubts over her decision, as she was sick, recovering from surgery, and dealing with the recent loss of her mother.
    “I was like, ‘I can’t do this,'” Conners said. “I had to calm down and realize, ‘Yeah, I can.'”
    With her confidence reinstated, she made a second trip down with a friend to bring her sons home. Although she was excited, the process was stressful, having many details to cover and having very little in her control.
“I don’t think it matters if you’re going to be having a child by birth or adoption; you’re not a parent one day and you are a parent the next day,” Conners said.
    She also had to deal with the unknown sickness of both of her sons and needing to learn to use a nebulizer for one of the boys every four hours.
    After returning home, Conners was more calm, even when she left the diaper bag containing the boys’ visas and paper work at the airport. Her brother- and sister-in-law stayed with her for four days to help her adjust to having the two boys.
    “You come home with an enormous amount of laundry and enormous amount of exhaustion,” Conners said.
    This transition was especially difficult for Conners, who was a single parent now in charge two kids. And although she has gotten more used the routine, it’s still a little stressful.
    “It never slowed down.”
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