Leonardo Avila got a big surprise on Sept. 21 when he stood on a pitcher’s mound at a baseball field in Alabaster, Alabama. Something very special was about to happen after he was guided to the pitching mound and told to close his eyes.
When he was told to open them again and turn around, his eyes were met by his 8-year-old stepdaughter, Alessandra, standing at home plate. And she was holding a big sign that read: “Papi, you are my forever home. Will you adopt me?”
Well, that was quite a shock to Leonardo. But in a very good way.
Says Leonardo: “To know that was her decision that she wasn’t pressured, that it was something that she wanted, my emotions came over me. To know I made this type of impact to her life that she wants my last name, it was an amazing moment and definitely something I’m going to cherish for the rest of my life.”
Leonardo married Angela, who is Alessandra’s mom, back in 2012. He has been in the young girl’s life ever since she was a baby. Angela and Alessandra worked together to surprise Leonardo with the big question. They believed a baseball field would be the perfect place for it, so the young girl wore a nice dress and baseball cleats for the occasion. So how did Leonardo react?
Says the father: “I told her, ‘I absolutely 100 percent will [adopt you]. I told her I care about her and she means the world to me. I hope I could keep showing her an example of what a good father is and later on down the road, what a good husband is supposed to be.”
Shelby county adoption proposalGRAB THE TISSUES: An 8 year old Shelby county girl asked her, then, step-dad, to officially adopt her. The way she asked is still leaving me teary eyed. https://www.cbs42.com/top-video/shelby-county-adoption-proposal-goes-viral_20190116043351/1705070306
Posted by Hillary Simon CBS42 on Tuesday, 15 January 2019
And earlier this year, Alessandra took Leonardo’s last name.
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