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It’s a special Thanksgiving for three families adopting children

By CHRIS MORELLI

cmorelli@lockhaven.com

BELLEFONTE — On a snowy Thursday afternoon at the Centre County Courthouse, three families arrived at the historic building looking to take the final step in the adoption process.

Three completely different families.

Three completely different backgrounds.

However, all three had the same goal – to make their families complete. The roads were long and winding. But in the end, all paths led to the same place.

Centre County President Judge Pamela A. Ruest presided over the proceedings. Before the process was finalized, however, she had some things to say to the families.

“It’s a very exciting time for these families,” Ruest said from the bench. “It’s also very exciting that it happens right before Thanksgiving. It’s an important time when families get together. As judges, we send people to jail, we do divorces and then we get to do this, which is the highlight of my year. Doing adoptions is always the highlight … I look forward to this for months.”

Ruest’s statement makes perfect sense. After all, the courthouse is typically a place where families’ lives take a turn for the worse. Divorces, trials and sentencings take place every single day.

But on this afternoon, families’ lives were changing for the better.

The Attorney

Attorney Denise M. Bierly is from Bierly and Rabuck law firm in State College. For the past 25 years, Bierly has focused on family formation and has assisted with more than 2,000 adoption and assisted reproduction matters.

Bierly’s resume is impressive. She is a past president of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. The Academy is comprised of more than 340 lawyers throughout the United States and Canada, and around the world, who devote their practices to adoption and assisted reproductive technology law. As Fellows of the Academy, its members are involved in promoting their field of law practice by advocating the competent and ethical handling of all types of family building cases.

Just a week before Thanksgiving, Bierly oversaw the process as three families became whole.

“This day is always a beautiful day because it’s tied to Thanksgiving,” Bierly said following the adoptions. “But along with all the great joy and hopes and dreams of these families, is pain and grief that the birth family has gone through to make a tough decision to make an adoption plan. In every one of these cases, the challenge is to put the child’s needs in front of your own.”

That being said, Bierly couldn’t help but smile when asked about the families who made their adoptions complete on this day.

“Adoption is something to be celebrated because it’s an opportunity for children,” Bierly said. “All of the social science research is really strong on how much children need stability.”

In addition to the adoptions taking place shortly before Thanksgiving, November is National Adoption Month.

“The common thing that all these families have is love,” Bierly said.

Three adoptions. Three families finally complete. Here are their stories:

The Smedleys

For Rick and Traci Smedley, one of the hardest parts of the adoption process was the drive to Bellefonte. See, they were traveling from Titusville, Pa. On this day, Mother Nature decided to dump close to a foot of snow on central Pennsylvania in a rare November snowstorm.

The family arrived safe and sound at the courthouse to finalize their fifth adoption. Laney Rebecca, 14, would officially become a Smedley on this day.

“We just believe it’s orchestrated by God,” said Traci Smedley. “We truly believe that He brought it to pass that we would find our daughter’s best friend from China. She was already in the states for five years, but she needed a new home. And that home is us.”

Bierly said the Smedleys truly stepped up and effectively may have saved Laney’s life.

“She had been placed with a family in California. It was an unsafe placement for her because there was a sibling in the family who was violent with mental health issues. They were able to find a really good secondary placement for her. She was tearful because this was like a miracle to her. She felt trapped in an unsafe situation and all the adults did the right thing for her,” Bierly said.

Make no mistake about it; the Smedleys are a special family. Laney is the fifth child they’ve adopted from China. Laney joins Sarah (15), Lizzy (15), Yili (14) and Sam (12) in the Smedley family.

Laney has lived a challenging life. She is in a wheelchair and has Cerebral Palsy.

“She has been struggling with that and obviously needs a wheelchair for her mobility,” Bierly said.

The disability did not deter the Smedleys from adopting Laney. Traci said that she and her husband believe that adopting children is part of the reason they were put here.

“I feel that God put that desire in our minds and hearts. He brought us the exact children we were meant to adopt and made us into a family,” Smedley said.

After the Smedleys adopted their fourth child, they never expected to adopt again – but plans changed.

“We got a phone call. We didn’t even know where she was … they said she needed a new home. They asked if we would adopt her and we did joyfully,” Traci said.

As they sat in the courtroom awaiting the arrival of Judge Ruest, Traci helped Laney complete her special outfit, helping her change into purple heels, which matched her dress.

Traci was overcome with emotion when speaking about finalizing the process.

“I wish I was better at expressing it. I don’t know how to put it into words,” she said. “Just how much this means to our family. We’ve come together and we truly are family.”

The Blooms

Emily and Thomas Bloom of Centre Hall were at the courthouse to finalize the adoption of their son, Brett.

Brett, 2, ran around the courtroom before, during and after the adoption process much to the delight of those in attendance. It was pretty clear from the start that Brett wasn’t going to sit still during the process. All of his running and energy didn’t seem to bother Judge Ruest, the court reporter or the families.

“He doesn’t sit still long,” Emily Bloom said. “This is a pretty special day. We feel pretty lucky to have to this little guy. It’s exciting to be able to adopt him … especially during National Adoption Month.”

Emily said that the special day was made even more significant because it was occurring just before the holidays.

“Absolutely, it adds a whole new element to it,” she said.

Unlike the Smedleys, Emily and Thomas are first-time parents. Brett turned 2 just a few days before the adoption was finalized. The “terrible twos” arrived on schedule, Emily said.

“Having a 2-year-old has been crazy and we jumped right in. We get a lot of exercise,” Emily said with a smile.

Needless to say, life has changed for the young couple.

Completely and totally changed, Emily said, but in a good way, of course.

With Thanksgiving here, Emily said that the family is really looking forward to their first Christmas with Brett.

“I can’t imagine what Christmas will be like, having a new child,” she said.

As Brett did laps around the court’s tables and chairs, Emily couldn’t help but smile at her rambunctious son.

“Our little guy isn’t interested and he doesn’t understand the significance. Hopefully, we’ll be able to teach him in the future how exciting this day was,” she said.

She said that when they began the adoption journey, they didn’t know what the process would be like. But the long and winding road led the Blooms to Brett. In the end, they couldn’t be happier.

“I think it’s especially exciting to adopt a child this age,” Emily said. “We can see him grow.”

The Ulmers

Andrew and Bennett Ulmer of Bellefonte were at the courthouse to finalize the adoption of their infant daughter, Taylor Anne.

The process, they said, had its share of stressful moments. But in the end, it was truly worthwhile.

“We have been working on this for almost four years now. It’s been a very long road to get here, but it’s been worth every minute,” Bennett Ulmer said.

As the process entered its final hours, the Ulmers said there were mixed emotions. However, celebrating was definitely on the agenda.

“I feel like relief has set in now that we’ve been at home with her for 2 1/2 months,” Andrew said, “but there’s definitely a sense of celebration.”

Taylor was born on July 31 in Tulsa, Okla.

“We were there for delivery with the birth mom, who we have a great relationship with. She’s really just a wonderful person,” Bennett said. “We’ve just settled in with her since then.”

The Ulmers had an entourage in the courtroom to watch the process and pose for photos after things became official.

“We’ve had an army of people behind us. Our family is here, our attorney, Denise Bierly in State College and her entire team, they’ve been a huge support to us. They’ve been wonderful,” Bennett said.

In addition to working with Bierly, the Ulmers worked with A Baby Step Adoption in Reading, Pa. Going through the adoption process and then making everything official has been trying, at times, Bennett said.

“It’s made me a lot more patient,” he said smiling while holding his daughter. “This feels great.”

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