International Adoption Poster Child - Mindra

Finally after 8 years of asking, nagging and trying to convince Jerry that we should adopt a little girl, he finally agreed, I was so excited. I had decided to work through HOLT Children's Services since I didn't know of any other adoption agencies and so we began. We decided on a special needs child and would preview the HOLT HI families magazine every other month when it arrived, looking through the special needs kids pictures and short bios in search of our little girl. And, once we found some little girls we were interested in we had to send in our request to be considered. October 31, 1996 Jerry was home for lunch when he received a phone call telling us we had been chosen for a little girl from Romania named Gabor. Her name was actually Mindra Gabor and she was a petite little Gypsy, we announced our good fortune to the family on Thanksgiving that year. The first of many scowls and why's were forthcoming. We were sent some great medical information on her and I took it to a pediatrician and then a psychiatrist for input. The psychiatrist said he thought she was mentally retarded, the pediatrician thought probably just failure to thrive. Jerry wasn't worried at all stating his gut feeling was she was fine and not to worry. We made the decision that Jerry would travel to Romania alone and I would stay home with the boys, and in July 1998 he left to go get our little girl. After a few days of not hearing from him I began to get worried and contacted the agency who in turn contacted their contacts in Romania. The first few days with Mindra had been eventful for Jerry, Mindra had contracted food poisoning and ended up in a Romanian hospital for a couple of days. In Romania men did not care for children so Jerry staying at the hospital with Mindra was a little unusual but I think they were pretty impressed by it. After she was released from the hospital her and daddy stayed at a hotel where Mindra was not quite content. She wanted to go, go, go and daddy didn't know where to take her but they frequented a park nearby and she made friends with the hotel staff. When I spoke with Jerry after the agency contacted him, his first words were "oh Kathy, she is so sweet, she should be the poster child for International adoption." Mindra or Mindy as she quickly became known and her daddy arrived at the Denver Airport July 17, 1998 to be greeted by her Grandma Alice, Uncle Dan, Aunt Therese and cousins Alyssa and Eric and her very excited mom and brothers who adored their little sister and actually still do. She really was a sweetheart and her brother Joey loved her beyond measure, she had been home 10 months when Joey had become sick and a year when we headed to Disney World for Make a Wish. She still remembers Joey and writes poems for him. Mindy loves to dance well actually she loves to wiggle, swing, flip, well move, she never stps moving she dances when she does dishes or on her way to her room. And she is a beautiful dancer, lyrical ballet, jazz and tap. She is also a really good student and although she is not as sweet as when she first came home shw is still sweet (most of the time). Mindy is currently a Junior in high school and this year will compete in dance competetion and travel to Washington D.C for a school trip. Mindy is hoping to become a dentist after high school and is working hard toward that goal.