A Little Sister at Last

Janet and Jeff Meyer of Roy, Utah, already had five boys, ranging in age from 10 to 23. Still, they were thinking of adopting another child, perhaps from a foreign country. "We knew we had a good home to share," says Janet, 44, a special education teacher (Jeff is a high school assistant principal). "And I felt like I had as much energy as I did when I was twenty."

Although she'd had access to the Internet for a couple of years, Janet didn't realize that some adoption agencies were online, complete with pictures of available children. In January of 1998, she saw something about online agencies on TV. "I went right to the computer and spent hours and hours that month just looking at those cute faces."

Janet and Jeff particularly liked the Wasatch International Adoptions agency, based in Utah. So they went ahead and started to fill out paperwork. In April, Janet saw a picture of a 16-month-old girl in Moldova (a former Soviet republic) that had just been posted on the site. "Both Jeff and I knew she was the one for us. Somehow, it just felt right."

Janet flew to the Moldovan orphanage to meet the baby in June, and made a second trip in July to bring the child home. "She seemed to remember me from that first trip and clung to me right away," says Janet. "We named her Jamie Michaela."

Having already had five sons, Janet certainly didn't expect a baby shower when she came home. But she got three -- one from her mother, one from the other teachers at school, and one from her neighbors. "They gave us all the little-girl things we could possibly need," says Janet.

Today, Jamie is doted on by her five big brothers. "Just think how our lives changed in only six months," says Janet. "It makes you realize the other side of the world isn't so far away after all."

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