PHighter Tess: A Special Visit

My Official Day of Adoption

Dear readers,

As part of our trip of a lifetime, Terry and I took a meaningful and emotional flight to the country of my origin, the Philippines. It had been 35 years since I last set foot there, and as we landed, I was overwhelmed with emotion and found myself moved to tears.

I will share more about the amazing experiences we had during our holiday in the Philippines in a later blog, but one visit in particular stood out as especially profound: returning to the orphanage, Concordia Children's Services. Here's my story....

35 Years Later, I Stand Outside Concordia

After 35 years of life through love, loss, challenge and growth I returned to where my story began: The Philippines.

In 1990, I entered this world as a fragile baby, left outside a hospital in Manila. I was left without a family, but not without a name, Maritess. After early surgeries I was taken to Concordia orphanage where my first chapter quietly unfolded. I was fostered, then adopted by my incredible parents, Val and Chris Dunn, who gave me something I had not yet known was possible, unconditional love, safety and belonging.

Coming back felt like something I cannot fully put into words. A homecoming of the heart. A meeting between who I was and who I have become.

We walked through the Philippines, my country of origin and I saw it with new eyes. Not as a place of absence, but of deep beauty, life and connection.

We returned to Concordia, the place where my story nearly paused, but instead continued. As I stood there as the woman I had become, looking back at the beginning of it all, I saw how much it has grown and how many more children are now held, loved and cared for within its walls. We played with the babies and children, laughed with them, held them and felt their light.

We even stayed at the Edsa Shangri La, the hotel my dad helped build as a construction manager. It was his work that first brought my parents to the Philippines and unknowingly brought them to me. Life has a strange and beautiful way of completing circles we never saw coming.

To Concordia, thank you for welcoming my husband and me with such warmth. And to MaJin, thank you for your kindness and the most delicious food shared with so much love. It is a place that holds something rare. True care and love for every child who passes through it.

The Philippines left me in awe. The people. The culture. The history. There is a heartbeat there that I felt deeply in my soul. Being surrounded by fellow Filipinos, learning more of where I come from, it felt like remembering something I did not know I had forgotten.

People often ask why I do not search for my biological family. The truth is simple and it is whole. I already have my family. Yes I was abandoned. But I was never unloved.

I was carried into the arms of the people who were meant to find me and they gave me a life beyond anything I could have imagined.

And this journey, it did something I did not expect. It healed parts of me that I did not even know were still hurting.

I felt it all and beside the love of my life, who walked this journey with me and met the Philippines through my eyes and his own.

That little girl, the fragile baby in a Manila hospital is now a woman standing in gratitude, peace and love.

And she finally made the return.