Ten-year-old Lorelei Hall could not contain her emotions, as she realized her dream of becoming a big sister was coming true.
As Judge Adolfo E. Cordova Jr., of the 197th state District Court, announced that toddler Garnet would officially become her sister, Lorelei wiped the tears from her eyes and hugged her mother, Jamie.
“She gets emotional,” Jamie later said.
Garnet, who will soon be 2 years old, was one of seven children Tuesday who were officially adopted by three families. An adoption ceremony was held in Cordova’s courtroom, where the families gathered to welcome home their new children.
“We are so blessed. We just had our prayers answered,” Jamie said outside the courtroom, holding Garnet, who the family calls “Gigi” in her arms, as the child ate a cookie.
Jamie said she and her husband had wanted a larger family, but they struggle with fertility issues. The couple already had two children, Lorelei and her brother, Theron, 14.
“The two are amazing and we just wanted more blessings and more joy, and she is that,” Jaime said.
Garnet was 2 months old when she came to the Halls, and she has been with them ever since her Tuesday adoption.
“I’m excited. I’ve wanted another sibling,” Lorelei said, as she tried not cry. She said it makes her feel “really happy,” when Garnet calls her sis.
“We are excited to wrap up the process,” said Alex Hall, the proud father of the children. “We always wanted a period and the end of the family, and she is the exclamation point.”
Although Theron joked around saying that having one younger sister “was enough,” he added, “It’s okay. It’s always been kind of ours. It’s just a name change today.”
“We’ve known for a long that she was again, the answer to prayers, and absolutely just part of the family from day one. There was just something special about what they placed her in the household,” Jamie said. “The big kids, you know they joke, and they kid, but this is definitely something that we have all wanted for two years and so now it is finally here.”
The three families were called to the appear before Cordova where expressed the importance of becoming a parent to new children.
“Adoption days are really special days because we get to recognize people who are going to take people into their home with their eyes open about the good and the bad that come with the raising of children,” Cordova said. “There’s a whole lot of work that goes into raising kids. It’s a huge reward, but there’s a lot of work that goes with it.”
Little Garnet was held in the arms of her father Alex during a portion of the ceremony. She laid her head on his shoulder, with her brother Theron standing by.
“There’s nothing more giving, in my opinion, than bringing someone into your home and making them part of your family,” Cordova said.
November is National Adoption Month, and in the state of Texas, close to 330 children are to be adopted in the month, said Alexandra Hernandez, adoption supervisor, for child protective services in the Rio Grande Valley.
“We are celebrating the birth of three new families,” Hernandez said.
MaryAnne Denner, director and chief juvenile probation officer at Hidalgo County Juvenile Probation, was a guest speaker and described her experience as being an adoptee.
Denner said she was born in November, and at the time when interracial adoptions were not legal. There was a law on the books in the state of Texas that stated anyone who was one-fourth African American could not be adopted, she said.
“My parents didn’t care. They wanted a baby, so they drove up to Pilot Point Texas, and picked me up and brought me home,” Denner said. “They were part, along with another family, of changing that law in Texas where interracial adoptions could happen.
“I couldn’t ask for a better life. My parents did a lot for me. They lost a lot of friends doing what they did, but you know what they wanted me so bad, they wanted a baby, and they didn’t care. You all are doing something that is so special, and your kids are going to realize it when they get older too, that you wanted them so bad. My mother use to always tell people she wasn’t expected she was selected,” Denner said. Her sister was also adopted.
“You opening up your homes is just a beautiful thing. An adoption is something that you cannot just imagine,” Denner said. “You all are blessed. Your kids are blessed, and you are a blessing too.”
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