At First a Dream: an Adoption Journey

A solitary figure stands stoop-shouldered at the entrance to a closed China Air terminal at JFK, and he feels a creeping vulnerability that is foreign to him at age fifty-three. Peering through the rain and fog at the ghostly glow of streetlights on deserted airport roads, he wonders what in heaven's name he is doing there alone in the middle of the night six thousand dollars strapped to his leg and agonizingly unsure he'll be able to get to Cambodia in time. At First A Dream chronicles the frustrating, emotional roller coaster that led Jan and Jim Pacenka to pursue an adoption, all the way to Phnom Penh. The book highlights key events leading to their life-altering decision, and captures the drama of Jim's five-day intercontinental steeplechase to Cambodia, a Murphy's Law scramble to beat an adoption moratorium stopwatch triggered by the U. S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. At First A Dream is a story about a journey, both figurative and literal-a journey embraced by a man and a woman wanting to share their lives with a child of the universe. It is a story of love, courage, and above all else, perseverance.