SEABROOK - Melanie and Bill Lamprey and their sons will have a perfect Christmas this year, not because of the gifts under the tree in their Collins Street home, but simply because they have each other.

"We're all set," Melanie Lamprey said Wednesday as she watched her sons play on their living room carpet. "We're good. We have everything we need."

On Wednesday, along with five other Rockingham County families, the Lampreys finalized the adoption of their 1-year old son, Jason Timothy Sohn Lamprey, at the Open Christmas Adoption Ceremony, held by County Register of Probate Andrew Christie. It was the best kind of gift the family could receive.

It was also the second time they'd gone through the formality, and the first time was equally as wonderful. It was November 2004, when then-1-year-old Andrew James Lee officially became a Lamprey.

But the need for legalities notwithstanding, Andrew - like Jason - had been loved when he was little more than a name written on a Post-it note, written during a telephone call from the adoption agency.

"It is possible to bond with a Post-it note," Bill Lamprey said with a smile.

"I carried it everywhere," Melanie continued. "It was all we had until we got his picture. Then we carried his picture. I knew the minute I saw his face we were meant to be together. I felt the same way when I got Jason's picture."

Getting to this Christmas wasn't easy and certainly far from painless, but Melanie Lamprey firmly believes that from the start fate stepped in to lead her and her husband to Andrew and Jason.

Melanie, a chemist, and Bill, a certified public accountant, married eight years ago while in their 30s. To each, marriage meant children, but Mother Nature didn't make things easy. Rounds of tests and fertility treatments only led to heartache. When Melanie lost her "miracle baby" late in her pregnancy, the devastation was profound for both of them.

"It was the worst thing I've ever gone through in by life, but it got me to this point," Melanie Lamprey said with tears of both joy and sadness choking her voice. "Every step of the way was filled with disappointment. It was so hard, but I'd take that journey again in a minute because I know it led me here. I was meant to be with these boys."

Adoption as an option

Adoption was always on the Lampreys list of possibilities. After the miscarriage, they decided to leave fertility treatments behind them and move toward adoption, for it was something Bill Lamprey knew and appreciated.

"My father was adopted, and I could see how close he was with my grandfather," said Bill Lamprey, who grew up in Amesbury as one of seven children. "I was very close to my grandfather, too. I knew bonding with an adopted child was as natural as bonding with a biological child."

According to Tim Lamprey, Bill Lamprey's older brother and owner of Salisbury's Harbor Garden Center, adoption is a treasured part of their family's history.

"Because of my father, our family was always aware and supportive of adoption," Tim Lamprey said yesterday. "OK, so the kids don't have blue eyes like the rest of the Lampreys. Who cares? These are great kids, and they're loved just like anybody else's kids. That's all that really matters. They're a family, and family has always been important to us."

Bill and Melanie Lamprey feel their luck started to change when they began working with Wide Horizons For Children. Offering adoption service from 11 foreign countries and the United States, Wide Horizons is a full service adoption service, Melanie Lamprey said, with offices in Waltham, Bedford, N.H. and in other New England states.

"What makes adoption successful is when an adoption service holds your hand every step of the way," Melanie said, "and that's what this agency does."

Choosing from where their children will come was not a difficult decision for the couple. Again, Melanie said, fate seemed to step in decades before to point them toward their sons.

"I was in the miliary from 1983 to 1987," Bill Lamprey said. "From 1984 to 1985 I was stationed in Kun Son, South Korea."

A base with only about 2,000 people and far from a big city, initially he was not thrilled with duty at Kun Son. That changed.

"The people there were wonderful, and they have a terrific culture," Bill Lamprey said. "The Korean people were very friendly."

From Korea, with love

With a personal affinity for the culture and people, South Korea was the fateful choice that once again led them to their sons.

Waiting at the airport in April 2004 for Andrew to arrive was like being in the delivery room, Melanie said. It was joyful but not painless. So many disappointments led her to be fearful something would go wrong, like Andrew not being on the plane. But he was.

"An older Korean gentleman traveled with Andrew to bring him to us," Bill Lamprey said. "He was carrying him in a (front baby carrier). He unsnapped it, put Andrew in Melanie's arms and told him 'Omma.' That means mother in Korean."

"Andrew reached up and touched my face," Melanie recalled. "He knew. He knew we were meant to be together. You think it's random, but it's not. They were meant to be with us. I believe that. It was the same with Jason. He snuggled right in."

The Lampreys plan to keep the boys close to their native culture. There are books and pictures of their homeland and Melanie even cooks Korean food occasionally. She sends pictures and a letter each year to Korea to be kept in a folder for the boys' birth mothers so they can know their biological children are loved and in a good home.

What happens the first time Andrew asks about his biological parents?

"I'll tell him we're his mother and father," Melanie said smiling. "Then I'll tell him of his birth mother in Korea. She'll always be respected in this house. She'll always be loved in this family."

READERS BOX

Wide Horizons For Children - www.whfc.org

Services provided by Wide Horizons For Children include: adoption and post adoption services as well as world-wide humanitarian aid to children.

More information can be found on their Web site at www.whfc.org, or at their local offices at:

* Massachusetts, 38 Edge Hill Road, Waltham, 02451, 781-894-5330

* New Hampshire, 116 South River Road, Building D, Unit 2, Bedford, N.H 03110, 603-792-2030