Becoming a Molina

By Brooke L.

When you see Olivia with her family, you might not know that she lived in ten other houses before she landed where she is now. At the young age of 3, Olivia's life changed drastically. She was adopted because the family she had then was very rough. Nine years later, Olivia feels like she has been with her family forever.

Sitting in the back corner of the English room, Olivia was asked several questions about her adoption story. Wearing an overall dress and a white long sleeve shirt, she wrote all her answers down on paper because she lost her voice. As she got asked questions, she gave a lot of thought to some, but always gave a great amount of detail. To some people, their adoption story might be embarrassing or personal, but Olivia freely shared her adventure.

Olivia said, “Everything is fine now because we are Christian.”

When she was little, her birth parents did not take much care of her and her brother. She went through little supervision. The court finally got involved and helped them get adopted. After going to ten different houses, Olivia and Jacob found Mr. and Mrs. Molina. They live with them now and feel totally comfortable. Their dad teaches at RCMS, where both kids go to school. Their mother is also a teacher and teaches in Banning.

Olivia and Jacob still get to see their birth parents once or twice a year. Being adopted doesn't make Olivia any different from the rest of us, but it makes her unique and special.