Family Stories

Ruben Illescas and Heidi Hayes

Every year I thought, this would be the year we would have a child and every Christmas would pass without one. In January 2005, my husband and I attended an informational meeting at Cradle of Hope. We had already made our decision to adopt even before we attended the meeting. We made the decision based on the simple question:  Did we want to be pregnant or did we want to be parents? 

Deciding which country to adopt from took more time. We first evaluated our extended family needs and openness to adoption.  From there we decided to adopt a Hispanic child and began to research the countries. Guatemala has a turnkey system, with thousands of babies being adopted each year. We chose Cradle of Hope based on word of mouth recommendations, proximity to our home and experience in the country.

We started the paperwork with a lot of enthusiasm. It felt so good to be doing something that would have definite results. Along the way, we hit a few snags such as multiple trips for fingerprints, a notary who wasn’t notarizing in accordance with county regulations, my husband’s naturalization, etc. It was wonderful to be able to have our case worker, Laurie, who served to both guide us and listen to our woes.   

Eleven months after signing the contract with Cradle of Hope, we flew to Guatemala to pick up our son, Xavier. We were surprised to have him greet us at the airport with the adoption coordinator. From that point on he was ours, our Christmas baby. We thoroughly enjoyed Guatemala and recommend trying a variety of the wonderful restaurants and a visit to the artisan shops near the airport for mementos to take home. 

We had a good adoption experience with Cradle of Hope and look forward to starting the process with them again in May to bring home a little sister for Xavier.