American mom, her Lebanese baby evacuated

Sat Jul 22, 10:40 AM ET

BEIRUT, Lebanon - It was a happy ending for at least one American woman trying to flee the bombardment of Lebanon. After a 10-day ordeal, Laura Gabriel left Friday with something very precious: her newly adopted baby.

"Just knowing that I will finally be going home with him, to have this nightmare end and have him meet his new family, I feel incredibly lucky," she said at a hotel north of Beirut as she awaited evacuation.

Gabriel, of Salem, N.H., was among thousands of Americans rescued by U.S. warships well into the second week of Israel's offensive.

She had arrived in Lebanon in April to adopt a child. Both Gabriel and her husband are of Lebanese descent, and their names were on the lists of several orphanages in Lebanon.

Eventually they received a phone call: A baby boy had been abandoned on the steps of an orphanage in the eastern city of Zahle.

"That was just the happiest, happiest day of my life. He was everything that I had hoped for," said Gabriel, 38.

The orphanage gave the baby to Gabriel, and then began the paperwork to register him with the religious and civil authorities - an intricate, time-consuming process.

She was only "one or two signatures away" from finishing when Israeli airstrikes against Lebanon began June 12, paralyzing the country and ending any hope for a quick end to Gabriel's wait.

"I was totally shocked when I found out that they hit the airport. I couldn't believe that it was happening," she said, stealing sidelong glances at her baby, Maroun, playing happily in the lap of Gabriel's mother.

When foreigners started evacuating their citizens, she called the U.S. Embassy to find out if she could get on board, only to be told that she had two options: Leave the baby and evacuate, or stay with him until his papers were in order.

"To me, that was not an option. It's an insult to motherhood," said Gabriel, tears welling in her eyes.

That's when Gabriel's husband back in the States began contacting elected officials in New Hampshire and rallying a campaign to get his wife and the baby out of Lebanon. While they worked there, she was on the case with Lebanese officials.

But the country had effectively shut down due to the bombings. On Saturday, an Israeli helicopter fired two missiles at the port of Jounieh, only yards from the hotel where she was staying with her mother and her father-in-law.

"I was right there, feeding the baby dinner, when I saw a small flash and heard the bombs drop," she said. "I ripped the baby out of his carriage and literally jumped over that hedge and started running."

The breakthrough came Wednesday, when she finally got a court decree giving her final custody of the child, a chubby baby with a mop of dark curly hair.

Around midnight Thursday, she received a call from the Department of Homeland Security, delivering the news that her son was going to be granted humanitarian parole, allowing him to leave Lebanon.

"I can't begin to describe my relief. It has been a nightmare and I am just so, so tired," Gabriel said. "I'm so grateful to everyone who literally worked night and day to get me out of here."

In the States, the child will be registered with the name Logan Edward Maroun Gabriel - Logan for the Boston airport where they will arrive, and Maroun, after St. Maron, the 5th century Christian hermit.

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