The author with her birth certificate
This speech was delivered by the author at the Toastmasters Gavel Club for grades 10 to 12 in December 2021. First published in YOU.com.ph
My speech for today is titled, A Christmas Wish Come True. You all may be curious why my title is A Christmas Wish Come True, and what my wish was. Well, I won’t keep you curious any longer.
I am adopted! No, this isn’t some 2013 joke. Yes! I am actually adopted and I’m proud of it. Why? … because I am chosen. Therefore, I feel blessed, and I feel special.
You may be wondering, how am I comfortable with the topic of adoption? Well back when I was three years old, I was staring at the tarpaulin of my first birthday photo. Looking at the photos I noticed that my cousin wasn’t there. So I asked my Mom: “Ma, where is my cousin?” My Mom blurted out, “Oh, she might still be in Tita’s tummy.” The next question I asked her was, “Ma did I come from your tummy?” Mom was taken aback by my question. She kept quiet for a while, then she said, “No, you did not come from my tummy…but you came from my heart.” She said this with a smile, her hands shaped into a heart, close to her chest.
As a three-year-old toddler, I was trying to process this revelation. I asked Mom, “So I came home here, in this house?” Mom was quick to answer, “Yes! So we can become a family!” Then Mom and I were jumping on the mattress, cheering, “Yay! We’re a family!” Then we hugged each other tightly. Later on, my Mom pellucidly explained that I came from the tummy of my biological mother. My biological father is the younger brother of my adoptive dad, so I retained the same surname.
The author and her adoptive parents show off her birth certificate. (Photo from author)
Before I turned seven, Dad and Mom petitioned the court for my legal adoption. Even with the consent of my biological parents, the legal adoption became a long and arduous process. I had to tag along with my adoptive parents to meetings with our lawyer and attend court hearings. However, certain circumstances caused the adoption case to drag on for years.
It became my long-time, ardent wish for my legal adoption to be approved. In Sunday School, this was the prayer request I would write down in the journals I submitted week after week. When people would ask me how they could pray for me, I would tell them always that this wish was my request.
Several Christmases had passed, and I wondered, when would this wish ever come true? When would God ever grant my prayer, and the unceasing prayers of my adoptive parents, as well as church friends who would intercede for us? Finally, after eight long years, and three different judges assigned to our case, God granted my wish. We received the court decision on the approval of my legal adoption by mid-November this year, 2021. It was a time of rejoicing for this early Christmas gift from God! The Dad and Mom that I have lived with for the past 15 years are now my lawful parents!
Making this Christmas wish come true did not come easy. It took a lot of prayers and heart preparation for me and my adoptive parents. It was pellucid to me now that God purposely made us wait for His timing. When we doubted and felt frustrated, God taught us to just trust in Him because He is the ultimate Judge of our case. When we got impatient, God taught us to wait on Him expectantly. Indeed, great is the faithfulness of God in my life.
Christmas 2021 will be a precious one for me because it marks a special season when God made my long-time wish come true. I am Veronica Alvia Larona. I am adopted—I am chosen, I am blessed, I am special.
