excerpt:
Like a small child on a Christmas morning trying to catch a glimpse of Santa Claus, a pair of eyes peeks around the corner. With the coast clear, a second set of eyes peeks out.
Those eyes -- belonging to 4-year-old Bartek and his 7-year-old sister, Angelika -- have seen things we would not even want to imagine, and yet they are full of hopes and dreams.
When it's time to start a family, there are many choices. You can seek to give birth to one -- or even eight at a time, like the Octomom. Or you can bring into your home a child who desperately needs a family.
For us, the choice was clear: We wanted to adopt.
''Older'' kids like Bartek and Angelika face a rough road when it comes to adoption. A lot of would-be parents prefer to adopt babies who haven't yet experienced their first smile, their first word, their first step. Parents want to experience those Kodak moments for themselves, not be told about them.
We didn't care that the children were older. And even if we had, when a child looks into your eyes with a big smile, it's no longer about your needs and wants but only about theirs.
