The adoption highlight of 2019 for me was the moment  children received their names.

I always have a Christmas or New Year’s surprise adoption in my law practice.

This year, a week before Christmas, birth parents texted my clients, Dana and Michael, “Would you like to  adopt our baby girl? We gave birth to her in an Arizona hospital and need to find her a home.”

The next day, Dana and Michael’s pediatrician gave them a thumbs-up review of the baby’s medical records, miraculously setting the adoption into motion.

“When are you flying to pick her up?” I inquired.

Michael responded, “We are planners so we want an extra day to get everything in order here before we travel to Tucson.”

“You can forget about clockwork organization from now on,” I joked. “You are parents now!”

Late in the evening two days later, they met the baby and joyously emailed me, “We are with Lillian Rose in the hospital and she is doing very well!”

My eyes filled with tears as the dreamed-of theoretical infant became their daughter. Dana and Michael did not have the typical nine months to paint a nursery, purchase a layette, or choose a name, but within minutes of holding the precious infant, they became her parents.

My eyes filled with tears as the dreamed-of theoretical infant became their daughter.

The assisted reproduction highlight of 2019 for me was compassionate ova and sperm donations and gestational surrogacies in which relatives and friends heroically volunteered to help those they love become parents.

At the onset of the rigorous screening process, a prospective gestational carrier completes an application, which asks, “Briefly explain your understanding of what being a gestational carrier will entail.”

One recent applicant, the intended mother’s cousin, wrote, “My cousin’s egg will be fertilized by her husband’s sperm through IVF and I will ‘host’ and carry the embryo.”

She went on to the next question, “Which of your qualities would you consider most important for the intended parents to know about?”

Her beautiful answer was, “I love my kids, and I want my cousin and her husband to have their own kids to love just as much as I do.”

The compassion and altruism in the response lingers as a highlight of the year.