#fromjerztome

Sib-stravaganza!

We had a ball!

I AM!

After more than 47 years, I finally got a copy of my original birth certificate!  Thanks to the New Jersey Coalition for Adoption Reform and Education’s(NJCARE) 34 years of lobbying to pass the birth-records bill, adoptees, like me, have been able to receive a copy of their original birth certificate since January 2017.  

Once I ripped open the envelope, I carefully studied devoured the information captured on each line.  Today I learned so many things about myself that most people take for granted; pieces of the puzzle that I have been looking to connect for years.

The time I was born - 8:32 p.m!

How much I weighed - a chunky 8 lbs and 1 oz!

My original name at birth! I shared it on this old post.

The name of the hospital and the doctor who delivered me!  

Many adoptees desire to gain a deeper understanding of their roots, some need crucial information about their medical history or just want to connect to a part of themselves that has remained a mystery for most of their lives - knowledge of self is a birth rite.  

FACTS: Source: After Years Apart, Adoptees and Birth Families are Together Again [New Jersey Monthly, October 2017]

1. According to a 2001 academic report by University of Baltimore School of Law professor Elizabeth J. Samuels, the paperwork birth parents signed did not promise them anonymity, and adoption records were sealed to protect adoptive families from birth parents, not to protect birth parents from adult adoptees.

2. The American Adoption Congress reports that, in eight states where a total of 44,000 records were requested, less than 2 percent of birth parents—only 757—asked to have their names removed from records.

2b. The bill included a 30-month waiting period, which allowed birth parents time to ask the state to redact their names if they wished.

3. By August 2017, more than 3,500 birth certificates had been mailed to  adoptees anxiously awaiting to learn more about themselves.

SibsGiving Was Awesome!

The Sibs and I had an amazing time in Texas.  When they say they do it bigger in Texas, they are telling the truth.  We were greeted with bigger smiles, bigger hugs and great energy by our new family!

PHOTO: A night on the town.

PHOTO: We got to meet our Sibs, Sibs, now we are all Sibs!

MEET THE SIBS!

Thankful : National Adoption Awareness Month : THE SIBS

Amazing how life can change in the blink of an eye!  Especially when you are open to the possibilities.  I mean, you think life is one way, then BOOM, it changes!

That’s what happened to me on August 10th. While driving to work, I did my normal routine of praying and asking The Ancestors to give me yet another amazing day filled with blessings, fun and abundance. I really didn’t think too much of it. Then just like that, what happened next changed my entire life for the awesome!

Let me start from the beginning.  While perusing Facebook, I found a direct message from a ‘stranger’ asking me to check my 23andMe.com account because their tests results said I was their…DIG THIS…SISTER!

Yep, that was my face. I was sitting at my desk and sorta looked around to see if anyone was looking at me.  I’m not sure if I gasped or made any other sound but I was certainly semi-shocked.  To ensure I wasn’t bugging or being punked; I immediately called my sister and ran it by her, just to be sure.

After a bit of sleuthing, we confirmed that indeed, I had been “found” by my new siblings…with an “s”!   You heard me right!  I had not ONE but TWO new siblings - twins to be exact! How cool was that?!  There was no denying because in addition to the DNA results, they actually looked a lot like my family members.  

PHOTO: Shannon & Shawn

PHOTO: This was our first “SIBS” photo together! (Look at those teeth and cheeks!)

That night we Skyped until the wee hours of the morning and have all been inseparable ever since, affectionately dubbing ourselves, “THE SIBS”! In early October, a few of my closest family and friends, came from far and wide, for a “MEET THE SIBS” party, to share in our excitement.  

Check us out.

Cute, right?!

PHOTO: We even had matching “line” shirts (in birth order)

PHOTO: Look! ...just like sisters, already having a group “primp session” in the mirror!

PHOTO: JerZ was D-Double-E-P!

PHOTO: My Sorors/Linesisters/friends came to share in the love!

PHOTO: Even my honorary sibling, Chers (#9), stopped them in the airport to wish them well!

Though this is just the beginning, we are all excited to see what awesomeness life has in store for us. Just in this iteration - we have more people to love!

What a wonderful way to start the season of giving thanks and to close out National Adoption Month!  We are heading to spend our first “SibsGiving” together! Cheers to love, peace, abundance, health and wealth for all of “THE SIBS”!  

Was a pleasure to share my story of adoption with Harold Fisher on WHUR-FM’s The Daily Drum.

Photo: DC Superior Court Magistrate Judge Tara Fentress, C.T. Wilson, Maryland State Delegate (D) Charles County & Former Foster Care Youth, Moi, Host, Harold Fisher

Cheers to adoption!

Click here to learn more about Washington, DC’s 31st Annual Adoption Day, November 18.

Click HERE to learn more about adoption nationwide.