FOR MY MOM - PARA MINHA MÃE!

Today I thank you MOM for risking and going through all the ups and downs of life with me and Leandro!  I thank you for choosing to love someone who couldn’t love back. Thank you for showing me what love is; thank you for giving me life, a rebirth and a chance to be the man I am today. Without you I know I would have perished in a hopeless state of loneliness and abandonment! Thank you and I love you!

THE REBIRTH

A lonely and needy child, whose innocence has faded away because of years of neglect, rambles the streets with his little nephew. Destination, unknown to him but he has tried to make this trip many times; aimlessly wandering off hoping for to fulfill a longing only God understood.

FEBEM, at that time a jail and orphanage for those minor deviants, child runaways and murders alike, made a child cringe at the thought of being caught on the streets of Brazil. There the two, Daniel and Leandro, wound up. Surviving by grace and fighting their way through day-to-day and at times regretting ever having run off but knowing there was no going back.

Thousands and thousands of miles away in Fairview Park, Ohio, USA a young woman longed for a child to love and cherish. A home, heart and arms ready to embrace little ones in need of a loving hug. Nancy Cameron, rest in peace, from Limiar was in the business of helping some of the millions of Brazilian children on the streets to find a loving mom and dad.

Susan, the young mother, knew at the moment she saw those big black eyes and Leandro’s chubby cheeks that they were the ones that she would love and care for. By grace the two runaways found their way to Limiar (http://www.limiar.org/) awaiting adoption papers to come through. Bike riding, football playing and real food on the table was already a blessings for the children at Limiar all awaiting for that mother or father who would rescue them and show them what a family was.

Susan and James finally got the call and were approved to go get their children in São Paulo. Daniel and Leandro lived happily what millions of children all over the world had never and will never experience – family. Some mothers become mothers by chance; others plan year after year for that long awaited child., yet other do the most incredible miracle of all – they choose to become a mother to a perfect stranger who never really knows why or how to love. They risk, they experience coldness, they are forgotten and some even worse by their adopted child. You, mom, embraced me like I had never before been embraced; you gave me safety and taught me; you dreamed with me and helped me dream – thank you!


Today I thank you MOM for risking and going through all the ups and downs of life with me and Leandro!  I thank you for choosing to love someone who couldn’t love back. Thank you for showing me what love is; thank you for giving me life, a rebirth and a chance to be the man I am today. Without you I know I would have perished in a hopeless state of loneliness and abandonment! Thank you and I love you!