Keri deGuzman isn’t someone who typically enters contests. But when the Paradise Valley mom learned that RAISING ARIZONA KIDS was conducting a contest to choose a cover mom for our May 2009 issue, she decided to participate.
Ever since she and her husband Brian adopted their Ethiopia-born daughter Jesmina (now 4) and son Musse (now 3), Keri has taken advantage of any opportunity she can find to spread a positive message about international adoption. So she wrote the required essay, attached a photo, sent off her email and promptly forgot about it.
We got more than 130 entries in our cover mom contest that year. Every person who judged the contest put Keri’s entry on their “top three” list. She was the obvious choice.
I don’t typically go along on photo shoots but I was curious to meet this family. Little did I realize, as I drove to McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park on that warm March morning, that my decision to be there would lead me into an experience I could never have imagined.
As photographer Daniel Friedman and Art Director Michèlle-Renée Adams were setting up, I took advantage of the moment to strike up a conversation with Keri. I found her captivating. She was spilling over with happiness, boundlessly enthusiastic about being a mom, completely open about her experience and passionately articulate about the plight of orphaned children in Ethiopia.
After the photo session, Brian took advantage of the break in his typical routine as a cardiac surgeon at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center to play in the sand with Jesmina and Musse. Keri and I resumed our conversation.
Before we left the park, Keri told me that she and Brian had decided to adopt two more children from Ethiopia. I must have said something about wishing I could visit Africa some day, or what an amazing experience it would be to see them welcome these two new children into their family.
“Why don’t you come with us?” Keri said. I could tell she really meant it. And I really meant it when I said yes.
I’ve often wondered what Brian thought when Keri told him she’d invited a complete stranger to travel nearly 9,000 miles with them, spend eight days with them in a third-world country and witness the first few intimate moments and days they would spend welcoming these two new children into their lives.
If they had second thoughts, I never saw it. From that moment on the playground, this couple welcomed me wholeheartedly into their family and their journey. Now I know why, of course. They share a single focus when it comes to Ethiopia: We will do whatever we can do to help more people understand. That determination allows no room for judgment or superficiality.
My husband never flinched when I told him I was going to Ethiopia—not even when I told him what the plane ticket would cost. My two grown sons, who live and work in Washington, D.C., were equally supportive and excited for me.
So, for the next 14 months I worked to educate myself on all things Ethiopia. I got the requisite shots and learned about the challenges and politics of international adoption. Keri included me on every update—every hurdle crossed, every new delay encountered.
Finally, on June 28, at 6:30 in the morning, I got the call.
“Pack your bags!” Keri said.
The babies were waiting.
On Christmas Day one year ago, a tiny, undernourished infant, only a few weeks old, came into the Children’s Cross Connection orphanage in Soddo, Ethiopia.
She was near starvation and suffering from a respiratory infection that made breathing difficult. The orphanage director, Stephne Bowers, took the baby home with her. She held her, fed her a nutrient-rich formula, gave her medication. She even built a makeshift tent over her stove so she could funnel steam over the child to help clear her congestion. That child was Tesfanesh Brian deGuzman. How different her Christmas will be this year.
Read “An Ethiopia Adoption Story.”
