Stocking Story by Marlene

When people ask me why my family and I give to Children's Home Society & Family Services, the answer is quite simple. "Well, it's where I came from years ago." I was adopted through Children's Home Society of Minnesota in the late 1930s.

Mother brought my father to the orphanage to meet this baby girl and hopefully get the adoption process underway. Magic happened when he walked through the nursery, not knowing which child they were adopting. When he passed by my crib, I stood up and held my arms out to him. He knew right then that I was to be their baby.

My mother continued her involvement with CHSM throughout my childhood. In fact, I remember visiting the orphanage with mother and my brothers to deliver clothing, fruit and gifts for the children at Christmas. To this day I support the work of CHSFS because I know that CHSFS helps children, just like me, find their forever families.

Stocking Story by Nell

I lived at the orphanage until I was adopted at age six. My memories of the orphanage are very enjoyable. Everyone was very kind. Even when I wet myself, which was a problem I had.

A favorite memory of mine is one particular Christmas at the orphanage. We would each get one present and that year I got a pair of ruffled underpants. Right away I went to try them on and I loved them so much I wanted to show everyone else, but of course I couldn't do that! Oh, how I loved those ruffled underpants!

When I was adopted by Ted and Agnes Hansen, a staff person at the orphanage handed my new father some newspapers for the car seat in case I wet myself. I remember my dad put his arm around me and said, "Well, we aren't even going to worry about that, are we!" Right then, in my heart, I knew that I was where I belonged.

Stocking Story by Diane

I was adopted from Children's Home Society of Minnesota in 1938. I don't have many memories of the orphanage since I was so young. However, I do remember going back to the orphanage for a visit with my mother when I was three or four years old.

The staff had asked my mother to come talk to prospective adoptive parents to encourage them to adopt. I was literally placed on a pedestal so the people could see me while my mother sang my praises and told the group how wonderful adoption was. I sure hope it helped some children find homes!

Stocking Story by Peter

Our family has been touched for 62 of the 120 year history of CHSFS. I've seen firsthand the benefit of their work - directly with my family and in three other countries I've visited. I am fortunate to be an adopted person and a grandparent of an adopted child.

CHSFS' good work provided me, my sister and my granddaughter with security, opportunity, permanency and a loving family. I am proud to be part of the CHSFS family.

Stocking Story by Meg

I was adopted from Children's Home Society of Minnesota, along with my sister, in 1936 when I was two. I spent 10 months there but was too young to have clear memories of the orphanage.

When I was 27 I learned that I had a living birthmother and four other full siblings who had also been in the orphanage. Ten years later I met them. They were all older and were able to share with me their memories of the orphanage. One sister described it as the place where "her life began" because it was clean, the food was good and the children were well cared for.

Once I had met these siblings I wanted to get more information about why we were all taken there. I returned to CHSM, for the first time, to get the story of what happened. I needed to resolve the issues of being a member of two families - one genetic and one adopted and both vitally important in my life.

After that I got more involved with CHSM, serving as a volunteer speaking at post-adoption workshops, telling my story and hopefully bringing insight to others who were seeking to connect with their birth families. My volunteer experience was so rewarding that, in 1981, I joined the Post-Adoption staff and served this department for 19 years.

CHSM has a very special place in my heart as a bond to my history, which has directed me into my future.

Stocking Story by Kim

A favorite Children's Home Society memory of mine is when we first started the adoption process for our first child in the 1960s. My wife and I worked with Maury Lefkowitz. He was assigned to us as our case-worker and he was very straightforward. He made sure we were well-informed about adoption and knew what to expect.

During one of our visits with Maury, he looked at me and said he wasn't going to let this adoption go through unless I lost twenty pounds. And he wasn't kidding. So I went home and did what I needed to do to lose the weight. Of course, I put it back on after the adoption.

Luckily Maury didn't bring up my weight when we adopted two more children. Thank goodness, because we've been blessed with three beautiful children and now six grandchildren! We couldn't have done it without Maury.

Stocking Story by MJ

As a toddler, Mom used to read me the story of "Margie and the Family that Grew," about a little girl who was adopted; she wanted me to feel that I was special, because they chose me. My parents loved me with all their hearts, as I did them.

On many occasions, Mom asked if I was curious to learn about my birthmother, but I usually shrugged it off, because I didn't want to hurt her feelings. Some years later, the question was posed again, only this time, I said yes.

Nineteen years later, after seeing the movie Secrets and Lies, where a British girl set out on a quest to find her birthmother, I decided it was the right time to seriously pursue a search. I contacted CHSM Post-Adoption Services to get professional assistance. Once I made the decision to go forward with this emotional journey, I composed a long letter about myself and submitted it to CHSM.

One week before Mother's Day 1997, I received the long-awaited phone call; CHSM had located my birthmother, and I heard her spirited voice for the first time in my adult life.

During our two-hour phone conversation, I learned her interests were similar to mine, like theatre, movies and the arts; she was very outgoing, with the same lilt in her voice; our sense of humor clicked, too. It was truly amazing.

I decided to make the trip to California to celebrate her 70th birthday, and we have remained friends to this day.

When I did tell Mom about the trip to California, she said, "You don't divide love, you multiply it," which was a beautiful expression of love and acceptance.

Knowing that Mom supported this special connection - and I had the opportunity to convince her and Dad that my search was meant to find the missing piece of my puzzle, to make me whole, and to get a better understanding of my birthmother's circumstances - I am able to reach out across the miles, to maintain the Minnesota-California connection, while cherishing the beloved memory of my parents.

Stocking Story by Teresa & RJ

In December of 1997, our birth daughter Gracie was born. About one year later, we started the adoption process through CHSFS. For various reasons we decided to adopt a Korean daughter and in January of 2000 we brought Clare home from Seoul. At that point in time we thought our family was complete.

However, early in 2007 we viewed the articles on Waiting International Children on the CHSFS Web site and immediately fell in love with a little 2-year-old girl in Ethiopia who had a very difficult start in life. There was no question, we needed her and we hoped she needed us. Six months later the four of us traveled to Addis Ababa to pick up our daughter Aster!

All three of our children have brought such joy to our lives and blessed us many times over. We hope that we are raising children who will take our efforts even further as they grow and will someday see a world with much less poverty and much more peace.

As ardent supporters of adoption, we've become very involved with various fundraising efforts at CHSFS because we truly believe that adoption should never be viewed as a second choice, but rather as a wonderful way to build a family.

Our lives have been enriched through the celebrations and greater awareness of different cultures and values. We have truly become a global family.

Stocking Story by Nell

In the 1980s, I found out I have glaucoma. The doctor asked me about my family's medical history. I told him I was adopted and didn't know about it. He asked me if I'd ever thought about opening the files from the orphanage.

That sounded like a good idea, so I contacted CHSM and worked with a very nice case-worker. She found out that I had seven biological sisters! I met all of them over the next few months and we all looked alike! Even my children looked like their children. After that, I spent many happy summers and Christmases with my sisters.