This man pictured above became my grandfather. His name was John Crater and he was a widower. His wife died in 1911. They had been married 13 years. One child was born to them and died.
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On October 13, 1920 he picked up the newspaper and read the following headline:
"Little John will bring joy to some childless woman."
The article spoke about a little boy named John who was available for adoption.
Little John was my father.
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Let me tell you the story...
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My immigrant Swedish grandmother, Olga, became a single mother in January of 1918. The father of her child may not have known of her pregnancy; he was from France and when the U.S. joined the war effort in the spring of 1917, he left the country because he did not want to be drafted.
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Olga tried for about 2 years to work and raise my father. At one point she boarded him in a foster home and the agency finally convinced her to place him for adoption. She agreed and the following ad was placed in the New York Daily News. It states that the mother was surrending the child for adoption.
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The man John, who became my grandfather, read the ad and wanted to "little John" to become his son. He told a neighbor that he wanted to adopt little John. The neighbor told him that he thought it was likely impossible for a single man his age to adopt this child. He responded that he would contact the child's mother and "if she was any kind of a woman he would marry her and they could raise the child together."
Seriously.
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John Crater made contact with Olga and made a proposition of marriage. At the time he did so, little John was with a young couple for the weekend who were interested in adopting him. When they brought him back to Olga she told them that she was going to get married and that she could, therefore, keep her son! Imagine her joy!
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John Crater arranged to meet Olga. He lived in New Jersey and she lived in Manhattan. There was some confusion about the train schedules apparently, and he arrived on a different train. She had left and went back to her house, likely wondering if he had stood her up. He arrived and she wasn't there to meet him. Perhaps he wondered if she had cold feet. However, he went to her house and they met and on October 29th, 1920 they married at the city hall in Brooklyn, New York! 16 days after the picture in the paper!
Here is the headline John Crater read.
This is a copy of the article with a picture of my dad as a 2 year old.
I love his little outfit and his wide smile.
Here is a picture of my dad shortly before he died in 1975.
Notice the wide smile.
He was a loving and wonderful father!
And this is the first family picture taken shortly after John and Olga married.
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Adoption is a wonderful thing for many many reasons. And it doesn't affect only the adoptee and that generation; John Crater, who adopted my father, became my grandfather and, therefore, gave ME (and my siblings) his last name too.
With the single act of his choosing to love and adopt my father, he, in some way, also choose me.
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I often think about John Crater's choice to adopt my father. He didn't know if little John was a good little boy or a smart little boy or anything like that. He just wanted to love him as a father and raise him. God is just the same with me! God choose to love me (and you) and he doesn't require that first we be good, or smart, or talented... he just CHOOSES to love us!
Like a father loves his children.
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Feel free to stop by my daily blog too;
This man pictured above became my grandfather. His name was John Crater and he was a widower. His wife died in 1911. They had been married 13 years. One child was born to them and died. 
Here is the headline John Crater read.
This is a copy of the article with a picture of my dad as a 2 year old. 
I love his little outfit and his wide smile.
Here is a picture of my dad shortly before he died in 1975.
And this is the first family picture taken shortly after John and Olga married.
Happy 93rd birthday to my mom!
My sweet Auntie, on the left, celebrated her 90th birthday. On the right is my mom, who is just 2 years older. 
The church Aunt Bea attends surprised her with a party. 
Along with a photo birthday cake was a nice picture display.
The evening before the surprise party our immediate family
I had provided some pictures to the church of Aunt Bea and I thought I'd put some of them here too!
Aunt Bea and Uncle Stan
Bea and Stan, the early years. 
A beautiful wedding picture.
Weren't they fun to see?
This picture (above) was taken on the day John and Mildred met. Mildred's friend sort of set up Mildred to meet her boyfriend's friend ... and I guess she was a good match-maker! 
Isn't this picture a riot? My dad was pretty strong, and my mom was petite and lightweight. I wonder who took this picture?
This picture speaks for itself - he is washing her hair! How romantic! Go figure...
On the farm where my dad lived was this neat little log structure - I think he may have built it with his dad. I think it's very interesting. 
I have always loved my Dad's wide grin. From ear to ear - and if you look at the little picture of him that was in the newspaper back in 1920, he was smiling just the same way. 
This must be an earlier picture of Dad - probably before he met my mom as he was quite slim in this picture. Don't you love how high he had his pants at his waist? Remember - someday people will look at pictures of the boys of our days and remark at how LOW they wore their pants! 