Not without my son, Lebanon style

It's been a happy ending for at least one American woman in Lebanon despite bombings and chaos that sent thousands of other foreigners fleeing by land, air and sea.

After a nine-day ordeal, Laura Gabriel, a 38-year-old woman who has been in Beirut for three months trying to adopt a Lebanese child, is evacuating too, but she will be taking with her something very precious: her baby.

"We're waiting to hear what exactly our evacuation plans are. But 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 told The Associated Press in an interview at her hotel north of Beirut on Thursday.

Gabriel, from Salem, New Hampshire, arrived in Lebanon in late April after she and her husband, both Americans of Lebanese origin, decided to adopt a Lebanese child.

Their names were on the lists of several orphanages in Lebanon, and the phone call came in May: A baby boy had been left 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," Gabriel said.

They named the child Maroun, after St. Maron, the 5th century Christian hermit revered by Maronite Christians. Both Gabriel and her husband are Maronites, members of an Eastern Catholic Church with roots in Lebanon and Syria.

The orphanage gave the baby to the Gabriels, and then began the paperwork to register him with the religious and civil authorities _ an intricate, long and slow process.

'Totally shocked that Israelis hit airport'

She was only "one or two signatures away" from finishing when the Israeli air strikes against Lebanon began June 12, effectively 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 (Israelis) hit the airport ... I was watching it on TV but I don't think it registered at all. I couldn't believe that it was happening," she said, stealing sidelong glances at Maroun as he played happily in the lap of Gabriel's mother. "It's so out of my realm of experience that I think I was just dumbfounded."

When foreigners started evacuating their citizens, she called the US 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 are were 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 Gabriel and the baby out of Lebanon. While they worked there, she was on the case with Lebanese officials

'It has been a nightmare'

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 few meters (yards) from the hotel where she's 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 and irrevocable custody of the child.

At 11:55 p.m. local time 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," said the blonde, petite woman. "I'm so grateful to everyone who literally worked night and day to get me out of here."

Gabriel said she plans to adopt other Lebanese children as brothers and sisters for Maroun.

But for now, all she can think about is getting to home. She is scheduled to leave on a US military helicopter evacuating Americans with humanitarian and medical cases Friday morning.

"I don't care how I get there. I'd swim if I had to," she said.