Well, it is Easter Monday, and today is my last blog dealing with a "book" I wrote to my children about what I wanted to pass on to them.
On Eagles Wings
And He will raise you up on eagles' wings
bear you on the breath of dawn
make you to shine like the sun
and hold you in the palm of His hand.
Written by Michael Jonca
There were two reasons I wrote a book to my children. First, I wanted to share what little wisdom I had gathered through my lifetime and share those things I thought would help my family lead a successful life.
The second reason was that I wanted to see if I could make my family whole once again. If you have followed this blog, and I know some of you have read it everyday, you know that I spoke of adopting two children. My wife and I had two biological children, and then we adopted two children. We have a daughter we adopted from El Salvador when she was 6 years old, and we adopted a little boy from Brazil when he was a year old.
We had some things happen during my daughter's teenage years, which almost destroyed our family. In 1997, we learned our daughter had been kidnapped by the El Salvadorian military; her name changed, and declared an orphan prior to our family adopting her. Gina had been the 22nd child to be "found", out of 2,000 children who had their identities changed by the government of El Salvador.
Gina was the first child found who was a US citizen...and that made it newsworthy. 60 Minutes did a full segment on us. Steve Kroft, a 60 Minutes correspondent, flew in from New York to interview us in our home. Good Housekeeping magazine did a 4-page story in their November 1997 issue. Almost every major paper in the country ran an article about what happened. I have a box gathering dust in the basement that contains nearly a foot-high pile of newspapers in which an article appeared about our family.
Perhaps if you win the lottery, and that's how you achieve your 15-minutes of fame...it might be worth it. Trust me, the way we achieved our 15 minutes...I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
The years leading up to this discovery about Gina's past, were the most difficult years of our lives. When we adopted Gina, it was during the El Salvadorian civil war. That bloodbath had left over 54,000 dead, and had made thousands orphans. When we flew to El Salvador, the government had changed Gina's past...but they forgot one thing...they couldn't erase bits and pieces of a 6-year old girl's memory!
So it began...her new life in America, and our desire to have a daughter, had been built on one huge lie. Just as splinter will fester under the skin if not removed, our life would one day burst apart at the seams.
In the days leading up to this Easter, I spent a great deal of time talking about pain and suffering. I spoke of how Christ suffered on the cross, and how it presented an ideal example of how we are to deal with all the terrible things we will encounter.
We cannot escape pain, but with God's grace, we can overcome it.
Along with Christ conquering death, Easter offers us a new beginning. Whatever baggage you have been carrying around, it is time to turn it over to God. Set those bags down, and walk away unburdened.
I mailed my "book" to each of my kids in May of 2009, that Christmas everyone came back home...the first time we had all been together under one roof in over 15 years! The kids threw Stephanie and me a surprise 40th wedding anniversary party.
God granted my family a miracle.
In summary, I would like to leave you with this...
•1.) Tell the people in your life that you love them...and tell them often!
•2.) Stay in faith and never give up on someone, or a situation. God can fix anything!
In the final chapter of my book, I wrote this to my family...
Dear Stephanie, Steven, Michael, Gina, and David,
If I have said anything to hurt you over the years, I ask for your forgiveness. If I have done something, which has caused you pain, I ask you to forgive me. If I have caused you injury, I hope God gives you the strength to overcome it.
Our faith gives us the Easter season. The forty days prior to Easter is a time for us to right our wrongs, cleanse our souls, and renew our faith. Easter Sunday gives us the opportunity for a new beginning.
In whatever time we have left together, let's use this time wisely. May our lives give glory to God. May others see the goodness of God in us. May we take steps to insure the faith we have in our hearts, is passed along to our children, and grandchildren.
Love,
Tom/Dad
And we have come to know and to believethe love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him. John 4:16
Michael, me, Stephanie, Steven, Gina, and David in front.
The end.
Thank you to all of you who joined me on this Lenten journey.
Editors note: Here is a link for those of you who might be interested in additional information regarding the adoption of our daughter, Gina...
Information about Gina's story
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