This Makes My Hear So Happy It Is Bursting

Andrea came into our lives and hearts when she was an exchange student when Cassie and Emmy were in high school.  The girls did everything together.  Cassie and Emmy stayed in Brazil for a month the summer between their junior and senior year.  She is another daughter to us.Then Andrea's younger sister, Macia, came to be our exchange student the next year.  The language barrier was a little challenging but we did it.  The entire family came from Brazil one winter to visit.  It snowed and they were amazed!  We have kept in touch with her all these years.  Sometimes when she is on a business trip in the US, if possible, she would extend her trip and spends a little time in OH.  We love to Skype and FaceTime.  We have met her husband, checked out her apartment, viewed her amazing works of art...it is like she is just on vacation in Brazil.  I remember when she Skyped with us and we met Davi.  Such a sweetie.  She had been teaching him some English so he could speak to us.  I was thrilled...Davi, not so much.  Around the end of Oct, we got a call saying she had some amazing news!  Guess the rest is history.   The story follows.  Some of the English might be a little awkward. She is so cute!  I can just hear her laughing.  She even said that she actually had to Google some words for the translation. 

As Clarice Lispector said: "She believed in an angel, and because he believed, they existed." And so we began our story, believing. Believing that we have been "chosen" to each other and that we will be like this, together, forever. 

Our first meeting was on October 7, 2015 (and see... in commemoration of our first year together I received the invitation to participate in this edition of VOS Magazine). I will never forget this day. Your dad and I went to the orphanage institution full of love to share. There were many questions, but we were sure that you had been "chosen" for both of us. We received the call from the social worker the previous week stating that you had been "bound" to our name in the National Registry of Adoption. What I asked for most at that moment was that you accept us as we are, for our love would certainly be built and quite possibly would not happen "at first glance." I was totally wrong, for as soon as I saw you I was shocked!... Your posture, sitting there on that bench in the courtyard, with a low head and red outfit ... I will keep this memory for a lifetime. I cannot imagine what was going on in your head, for you were only three years and seven months old, so alive, so mature. 

From that moment my life changed. My heart did not fit in my chest. I felt myself as a mother, and every day that passed I only dreamed of the day that we could have you with us forever. There were many experiences lived in the visits and little by little you were donating yourself to us, affectionately, without asking for anything in return. In December you came to live with us and finally on May 25, 2016, on National Adoption day our process was finalized. 

How I waited for this moment! I think since "always" I have wanted to be a mother. I was born that way. Since the dolls, then my brother and sister, and when I got married, that got stronger! But God wanted me to wait another ten years for this. I waited. And I dreamed and dreamed. When it got closer, I was getting silly, crying about everything, thrilling me with every video, every message, every word. But more than being a MOTHER, it means a lot being the mother of DAVI. Mother of "my" Davi. I think that only those who have known him understand what that means. And you Davi, fulfill me in every minute of my day. Many people ask me when you started calling me “mom”. I also thought it would be the most important day of my life. To tell you the truth, I do not even remember. But I will never forget the first time you asked me if I was HAPPY. That simple. After only a few weeks living with us you already expressed this feeling: "Davi is happy, Mommy!". All I ever wanted for my children was this: the so called "happiness". 

Today it would be very difficult to report in a few lines everything we have already built in such a short time of coexistence. I cannot thank you enough and reflect on how much I must have deserved this (re) encounter. Many tell me that "Davi was very blessed to have us as his parents," but I always explain that: "The essence of adoption is a very intense exchange. What Davi did for our lives no one could ever have done." 

I conclude with an excerpt from a diary where I record our most striking moments: 

"My little Davi, I did not give you your expressive and drawn eyes, but I hope to teach you to see the best the world has to offer through them. I did not give you your heart as a present, but it was next to me with your hand in the chest, that you realized for the first time that it pulsates. I will never forget your smile and eyes shining when you felt my heart too. I did not give you your little toenails with gnawed fingernails, but they already fondle me without even asking. It is an endless acceptance and bestowal. I did not give you your physical body but I hope to give you all the support so that its spiritual body comes to fulfill what it came to do in this world. May we walk together in a path of great peace and complicity. May we help each other so that we can be better tomorrow, ALWAYS. You make me just that, better EVERY DAY." 

PROFILE: 

Andréa Studart Rôla Sumar was born in Fortaleza in 78. She lived abroad for six years where she learned to love the arts, but is especially fascinated by watercolors. She loves learning languages, interacting with people and traveling. Graduated in business management, General Manager of the Hotel Holiday Inn Fortaleza. Volunteer of Rede Adotiva, a Support Group for Adoption of Ceará. Her happiest role is to be the "Mother of Davi," now Studart Rôla Sumar, and Luke, an adorable shih-tzu.

VOS is a Brazilian magazine.  Look how many she has wrapped up under the tree!  Love it!  I have to see if I can get a copy of one.  And look at the Christmas tree ornament...families first Christmas together.  Love it!

The article is several pages long and the photos are amazing!  I must give all the credit to the photographer, @IGORDMELO.

Look and all the love in these pictures!

She is such a great mom.

And he is so in love with her.

Look at that sweet little face.  I could just hug him to death.  Maybe one day I will.

Both of them have a definite twinkle in their eyes.

I am proud to consider Andrea and her family part of our family.  And I love that she wanted to wait until my birthday to tell me the good news.   Can't wait to hug their necks!