Serendipity? Fate? Match meant to be; grant aids adoption

Homepage

Related Photos

December 16, 2006

Memorial grant helping adoption

By Courtney Anderson The Sharon Herald Sat Dec 16, 2006, 10:32 PM EST

MERCER COUNTY — There he goes now, here he starts.

This paraphrase of John Barlow’s lyrics for Bob Weir’s “Cassidy” is a fitting description of how the connection between Michael W. Murphy and Jordan Daniel Fors began.

Murphy died April 16, 2004, and his fiancee Diane Daffin set up a foundation to do good work in his name.

This year, one of the recipients of a grant from that foundation is Christine Fors. The Grove City woman is adopting a boy, whom she has named Jordan, from China and hopes to have him home by his 3rd birthday on April 17.

The realization that Jordan was born the day after Murphy died struck both Ms. Fors and Ms. Daffin.

“Serendipity,” Ms. Fors called it.

“I just think that things happen for a reason,” she said. “The people you meet come into your life at the time they’re supposed to.”

Ms. Daffin said it was amazing. Jordan also shares a birthday with her late father, Pete Daffin.

And she said one of the last things she and Murphy talked about was the new buds on a plant and how they represented new life.

“Maybe (Jordan)’s that new life,” said Ms. Daffin, adding that she knows who his guardian angel will be.

Ms. Daffin was on vacation when she got the call that Murphy had passed away, she said. He had an unknown heart condition and suffered an allergic reaction to some medication.

Murphy graduated from Sharon High School in 1974 and worked with Diane at Daffin’s Candies.

Though his death was a tragedy, Ms. Daffin said she wanted to do something positive in his memory.

Each year in August the foundation holds the Shamrock Scramble golf outing to raise funds; this year the foundation gave $4,000 in grants to local causes.

Ms. Fors was given $1,000 to put toward the cost of adopting Jordan, which is about $12,000.

A single mother by choice, Ms. Fors has two daughters she adopted from China. Jocelyn, 6, and Jaedyn, 3, are excited about their new little brother, Ms. Fors said.

She found Jordan through the Phillip Hayden Foundation, a Christian facility outside Beijing that takes care of children with special needs in need of families.

A friend was adopting a child from there and Ms. Fors said she got on its Web site because she was curious about where he was going to come from.

“I just fell in love with this little guy named Daniel,” she said. She considered adopting him in summer 2005, but the time wasn’t right.

When Ms. Fors decided to look into adoption again, she was surprised to find out that the boy she’d wanted before was still available.

“It’s like it was meant to be,” she said, noting that the agency had just gotten his file back the day she called. “He’s supposed to be my little boy.”

Ms. Fors teaches Spanish and French at Grove City High School and her girls go to Chinese school one day a month.

She wants her children to keep up with their heritage and language, Ms. Fors said, and there’s a support group of people from the area who’ve adopted children from China.

Ms. Fors lives with her mother Christina and has strong family support, which she will likely need when there are two 3-year-olds in the house.

“They all think I’m crazy at this point,” Ms. Fors said, laughing.

Other grant recipients included Mercer County Head Start, the Parents for Special Needs Children Foundation and the Paige Viscuso Fund of the Caring Community Fund which assists in paying for her muscular dystrophy treatments.

Text Only

Local News

Mother leads charge for son’s autism therapy

Gov. Tom Corbett’s budget cuts are preventing children with autism from getting the help they need.
Continued ...
35 minutes
Victim describes armed robbery at her home

Charges were held to court Friday against a Sharon teen charged as an adult in an October armed robbery.
Continued ...
14 hours
Overheated motor starts small fire at gas well

Jamestown volunteer firefighters put out an accidental natural gas well equipment fire Friday morning in Greene Township that started when a pump motor overheated.
Continued ...
16 hours

Sports

Sharpsville junior McKenzie Popatak poses after scoring her 1,000th career point following Saturday's game against Erie East.

Roundup: Popatak hits 1,000; Hickory, Farrell, Sharon boys win 6-AAA contests

ä Hickory 64, Franklin 52 — At “The Castle” in Franklin, the Knights (9-3, 15-3) led 28-21 at halftime, but coach Nick Cannone’s Hornets (11-2, 13-5) came storming back and outscored the hosts 24-9 in the 3rd quarter and 19-15 in the 4th to win a key Region 6-AAA clash.
Vinnie Mastrian rifled in a career-high 28 points to lead Hickory while Matt Votino scored 22.
Continued ...
5 minutes 1 Photo
Roundup: WM, Sharpsville, Lakeview grab region wins

When in doubt, defer to Dogan.
West Middlesex High junior point guard Matt Dogan dominated the 2nd half of Friday night’s District 10 Region 1-A contest with visiting VisionQuest.
Dogan deposited 18 of his game-high 27 points after intermission, converting 12 of 16 free-throw attempts, leading the Big Reds to their 9th consecutive conquest, 56-41.
Continued ...
22 hours 1 Photo
Greenville's Zahniser headed to St. Francis

Nico Zahniser believes four years of scholastic football prepared him for the next level — and learning how to win and lose was only part of the process.
The Greenville High senior committed to St. Francis University of Loretto earlier this week, where he hopes to become part of a Red Flash resurgence under coach Chris Villarrrial.
Continued ...
23 hours 1 Photo

Community News Network