Millville woman's agonizing wait for adoption ends with happy homecoming

By EDWARD VAN EMBDEN Staff Writer

Published: Saturday, March 22, 2008

MILLVILLE - There's a light-up Valentine's Day heart still hanging in the window facing the street.

On the threshold to the dining room, standing out against the country home decor, is a Christmas tree with recently opened presents underneath.

Tommi Lynn Sawyer's goal when she boarded a flight back to the United States in October without her legally adopted daughter was to get Anabelle home before Christmas.

She couldn't, and for five months the decorations stayed up.

After all that time, it was a simple e-mail upholding visa approvals by the State Department, sent by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, that brought Sawyer's child home Wednesday.

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