We met at church while attending the same college and quickly discovered we shared a passion for studying and discussing the Bible. Through mutual interests and friends, in just a few months we become very good friends—even “best” friends.
We married less than 14 months after we met. Within three months after being married, we decided to let God “plan and grow our family according to His timing”--and He did, however He didn't use my womb!
Friday, December 01, 2006
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Why Russia?
A rather smart-alek answer is, “Because that's where our daughters were!”
A shorter, but equally smart-alek, answer is, “Why not?”
And, the long answer is, there are literally thousands of orphans in the vast lands of the former Soviet Union. This is due in part to the on-going economic struggles since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and partly due to the lingering mind-set that the “state” is responsible and/or better suited to care for the children—remnants of Communist propaganda.
These children are turned out of the orphanages as young as 16, but most definitely when they turn 18. Many of the children turn to crime since they are ill-prepared to earn a living, and ill-equipped to transition from institutional living. A large number of the children turn to drug and alcohol abuse—if they haven't already embraced that prior to or during their life in the orphanage—many of the girls turn to prostitution. Sadly, the suicide rate of former orphans has been quoted to be 10%.
One significant factor in our decision to adopt from Russia was a new family who came to our church in the fall of 1999. We became acquainted with them and found that they were in the process of adopting a brother and sister from Far East Russia. They were going through a small local adoption agency that was run by a couple who had served for several years as medical missionaries in Russia—they personally had an exceptional reputation and their agency had an excellent track record. SIDENOTE: Due to increased “red tape” in their particular region of Russia, sadly we were not able to use their agency to adopt our two daughters. Still, they continued to encourage and guide us when we had to change agencies.
A shorter, but equally smart-alek, answer is, “Why not?”
And, the long answer is, there are literally thousands of orphans in the vast lands of the former Soviet Union. This is due in part to the on-going economic struggles since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and partly due to the lingering mind-set that the “state” is responsible and/or better suited to care for the children—remnants of Communist propaganda.
These children are turned out of the orphanages as young as 16, but most definitely when they turn 18. Many of the children turn to crime since they are ill-prepared to earn a living, and ill-equipped to transition from institutional living. A large number of the children turn to drug and alcohol abuse—if they haven't already embraced that prior to or during their life in the orphanage—many of the girls turn to prostitution. Sadly, the suicide rate of former orphans has been quoted to be 10%.
One significant factor in our decision to adopt from Russia was a new family who came to our church in the fall of 1999. We became acquainted with them and found that they were in the process of adopting a brother and sister from Far East Russia. They were going through a small local adoption agency that was run by a couple who had served for several years as medical missionaries in Russia—they personally had an exceptional reputation and their agency had an excellent track record. SIDENOTE: Due to increased “red tape” in their particular region of Russia, sadly we were not able to use their agency to adopt our two daughters. Still, they continued to encourage and guide us when we had to change agencies.
Welcome
Through this blog I plan to share our adoption story! I've told the story countless times--I never get tired of sharing what God has done--but to my surprise, many people are still asking to hear the story.
I hope to organize the posts in such a way that you won't have to "wade through the WHOLE story" if you're looking for a particular facet of our journey. So, please be patient with me as I post the various "chapters".
I hope to organize the posts in such a way that you won't have to "wade through the WHOLE story" if you're looking for a particular facet of our journey. So, please be patient with me as I post the various "chapters".
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Thursday, June 01, 2006
"Locks of Love"
Through the example of other girls in our church and home school community, both of our girls decided to grow their hair as long as they could so that they could donate it to "Locks of Love".
This was a huge deal to them because not only had neither of them been given the opportunity to enjoy long hair because of the serious hygiene challenges in an orphanage/impoverished environment, it was a personal goal they could set and accomplish that would benefit someone in need--a feeling they knew all too well.
For John and I, it provided us opportunities to encourage our girls to 'wear' and appreciate their femininity (older orphan girls often become 'tough' and boyish), appreciate the physical beauty God had created in them (something neither had been told or believed prior to being adopted), and the opportunity to illustrate/live self-sacrifice for the benefit of others.
What fun we girls (including a dear family friend who is fondly referred to as "Auntie") had when we went to the salon to donate their hair! I'm thankful for the 'special' treatment this particular salon gives (FREE) their clients who are donating their hair--our girls really did get 'the works' and were pampered beyond their dreams!
Here's a shot of Nina getting her hair washed while Olga and I watch.
Nina really enjoyed the special care and attention her stylist gave her!
Nina sporting her new 'do', and the hair she donated.
Olga's turn--look at all that hair!
Olga loved having her hair long, but was excited to get a new 'do'
Here she is with her donation.
Our beautiful girls with their new 'do's'!
This was a huge deal to them because not only had neither of them been given the opportunity to enjoy long hair because of the serious hygiene challenges in an orphanage/impoverished environment, it was a personal goal they could set and accomplish that would benefit someone in need--a feeling they knew all too well.
For John and I, it provided us opportunities to encourage our girls to 'wear' and appreciate their femininity (older orphan girls often become 'tough' and boyish), appreciate the physical beauty God had created in them (something neither had been told or believed prior to being adopted), and the opportunity to illustrate/live self-sacrifice for the benefit of others.
What fun we girls (including a dear family friend who is fondly referred to as "Auntie") had when we went to the salon to donate their hair! I'm thankful for the 'special' treatment this particular salon gives (FREE) their clients who are donating their hair--our girls really did get 'the works' and were pampered beyond their dreams!
Here's a shot of Nina getting her hair washed while Olga and I watch.
Nina really enjoyed the special care and attention her stylist gave her!
Nina sporting her new 'do', and the hair she donated.
Olga's turn--look at all that hair!
Olga loved having her hair long, but was excited to get a new 'do'
Here she is with her donation.
Our beautiful girls with their new 'do's'!
Monday, January 30, 2006
Bar Mitzvah - 2006
A friend of John's invited us to his son's Bar Mitzvah--complete with synagogue services, brunch, dinner, entertainment, and dancing!I sewed each the girls a 'special' dress just for the occasion and gave them each an 'up do'--what night to remember!
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Sisters ~ Fall 2005
During the 2005/06 school year, our girls enjoyed being part of the Tulsa Home School Choir--this was taken for the choir's yearbook. It was a great experience for them both, as the choir director exposed them to a huge variety of music styles and performance opportunities!
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Friday, July 30, 2004
Friday, April 30, 2004
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
Olga's testimony
(Posted Jan. 2007) With Olga's permission, I am posting her testimony here. I have chosen to post this before I share details of our early days together as a family--which were indeed challenging, and bear great testimony to God's providence, mercy and grace. This is the testimony she wrote herself, and read--with a heavy Russian accent--to the congregation of our church (Feb. 2004) before her baptism which was joyfully carried out by my DH, her dad!
Hello, my name is Olga. Most of you know that my parents adopted me from Russia in September 2002.
Life in Russia was hard. When I was 4 years old, my father died. After that, my mother started selling drugs to make money. She was put in jail for that, and I had to live with my grandmother and uncles. For 10 years my family had lied to me about my mother being in jail and that my father had been killed. They told me that they had gone to another country. My uncles started doing drugs and sometimes I had to help them give themselves drugs.
When my mother got out of jail, I went to live with her and her boyfriend. They would leave me all day, and I would fall asleep waiting for them since they usually came home around midnight. Often I would go hungry. I would cry all day until it was red under my eyes and my eyes hurt bad. When they got home, her boyfriend would sometimes hurt me and my mother. There were even times when my mother would hurt me, sometimes real bad.
I lived with my uncles again for a little while, but one day they tricked me, saying that I had to go to the hospital. After the hospital, I was taken to the orphanage on December 29, 1999.
At first I thought that this might be good, since I had uncles and aunts in the same orphanage after my grandmother died. Some of the orphanage workers were nice, but others were mean to us. They would tell us that we were trash and that our parents didn’t love us so they threw us away like trash.
Sometimes they would put us with a family. One woman that I lived with would use bad language with the kids and use us like slaves. She would often feed us soup made with only water, salt, soup bones, and would put bread in the soup. She was supposed to use the government money to take care of us, but she used it to buy nice food for herself.
Later on, I found out what happens to kids after they leave the orphanage. Kids are put out on the street around 16 or 17. Some have to beg for food and many die from starving and from the cold. Girls usually kill themselves, knowing that life will be so hard when they get out. Some of them become prostitutes and are often killed. Many kids steal for food and are put in jail and raped or hurt by the police.
In May of 2002, shortly after I turned 12, I tried to kill myself. Things weren’t going well in my life. I had no hope and was not interested in living. When I woke up in the hospital, I was so scared and I began to think that God would never forgive me for trying to commit suicide. I stayed in the hospital for 6 weeks. But then in July, 2 crazy Americans came to meet me and came back in September to adopt me!
When I was living in Russia I thought that hurting or hating people was okay. Even after I came to America, I had a cold, stony heart and I treated my Dad badly. But I also thought that if you did more good things than bad things you can go to heaven. When I was little, I tried praying for my mother and me, that God would take care of us and give us food. I prayed that God would give us a miracle, but it never happened. When I was 9 or 10, I was baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church, and I thought that could save me, but it did not change anything in my heart. After being baptized, the Russian church gives you a cross to wear and you always have to wear it because they tell you if you don’t wear the cross demons can be in you. I heard about Jesus and the cross, but I thought it was just a story.
I realize now that God used all of those things to prepare my heart to receive Him. And it made me realize that I must receive Him now because I’ve learned that there may not be a tomorrow. God has also used things in my new life in America to prepare my heart. When I first came to America I was amazed at how many people in my family and in our church loved me even though they didn’t know me. I thought it was kind of weird, but also pretty cool. Soon after coming to America, I found that I loved coming to GBC and wanted to be like the people here.
During the last three months I’ve felt so bad about my sin. I have been sorry for my sin and sometimes I would cry over my sin until I fell asleep. When I talked bad to my Dad or Mom, I would feel so sorry and this would also make me cry at night. When I shared these things with my parents, they told me that maybe God was softening and changing my heart. And He WAS changing my heart!
Two weeks ago I told my parents that I wanted to be saved. So they talked to me to be sure that I understood the gospel. Dad read me the book “Ultimate Questions” to make sure that I understood the gospel. When I first came home to America I read this book in the Russian language, but I didn’t really understand or care about it then, because my heart was still hard and cold. Later that evening when I knew that I understood the gospel, I asked God to save me!
Since that night, I have noticed that it seems easier for me to obey my parents. I also have a desire to be more patient, I enjoy listening when others talk about God, and I like to read more about God. I like to spend time with God everyday. I know that He has forgiven me for all my sins and has given me hope and joy and peace!
Hello, my name is Olga. Most of you know that my parents adopted me from Russia in September 2002.
Life in Russia was hard. When I was 4 years old, my father died. After that, my mother started selling drugs to make money. She was put in jail for that, and I had to live with my grandmother and uncles. For 10 years my family had lied to me about my mother being in jail and that my father had been killed. They told me that they had gone to another country. My uncles started doing drugs and sometimes I had to help them give themselves drugs.
When my mother got out of jail, I went to live with her and her boyfriend. They would leave me all day, and I would fall asleep waiting for them since they usually came home around midnight. Often I would go hungry. I would cry all day until it was red under my eyes and my eyes hurt bad. When they got home, her boyfriend would sometimes hurt me and my mother. There were even times when my mother would hurt me, sometimes real bad.
I lived with my uncles again for a little while, but one day they tricked me, saying that I had to go to the hospital. After the hospital, I was taken to the orphanage on December 29, 1999.
At first I thought that this might be good, since I had uncles and aunts in the same orphanage after my grandmother died. Some of the orphanage workers were nice, but others were mean to us. They would tell us that we were trash and that our parents didn’t love us so they threw us away like trash.
Sometimes they would put us with a family. One woman that I lived with would use bad language with the kids and use us like slaves. She would often feed us soup made with only water, salt, soup bones, and would put bread in the soup. She was supposed to use the government money to take care of us, but she used it to buy nice food for herself.
Later on, I found out what happens to kids after they leave the orphanage. Kids are put out on the street around 16 or 17. Some have to beg for food and many die from starving and from the cold. Girls usually kill themselves, knowing that life will be so hard when they get out. Some of them become prostitutes and are often killed. Many kids steal for food and are put in jail and raped or hurt by the police.
In May of 2002, shortly after I turned 12, I tried to kill myself. Things weren’t going well in my life. I had no hope and was not interested in living. When I woke up in the hospital, I was so scared and I began to think that God would never forgive me for trying to commit suicide. I stayed in the hospital for 6 weeks. But then in July, 2 crazy Americans came to meet me and came back in September to adopt me!
When I was living in Russia I thought that hurting or hating people was okay. Even after I came to America, I had a cold, stony heart and I treated my Dad badly. But I also thought that if you did more good things than bad things you can go to heaven. When I was little, I tried praying for my mother and me, that God would take care of us and give us food. I prayed that God would give us a miracle, but it never happened. When I was 9 or 10, I was baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church, and I thought that could save me, but it did not change anything in my heart. After being baptized, the Russian church gives you a cross to wear and you always have to wear it because they tell you if you don’t wear the cross demons can be in you. I heard about Jesus and the cross, but I thought it was just a story.
I realize now that God used all of those things to prepare my heart to receive Him. And it made me realize that I must receive Him now because I’ve learned that there may not be a tomorrow. God has also used things in my new life in America to prepare my heart. When I first came to America I was amazed at how many people in my family and in our church loved me even though they didn’t know me. I thought it was kind of weird, but also pretty cool. Soon after coming to America, I found that I loved coming to GBC and wanted to be like the people here.
During the last three months I’ve felt so bad about my sin. I have been sorry for my sin and sometimes I would cry over my sin until I fell asleep. When I talked bad to my Dad or Mom, I would feel so sorry and this would also make me cry at night. When I shared these things with my parents, they told me that maybe God was softening and changing my heart. And He WAS changing my heart!
Two weeks ago I told my parents that I wanted to be saved. So they talked to me to be sure that I understood the gospel. Dad read me the book “Ultimate Questions” to make sure that I understood the gospel. When I first came home to America I read this book in the Russian language, but I didn’t really understand or care about it then, because my heart was still hard and cold. Later that evening when I knew that I understood the gospel, I asked God to save me!
Since that night, I have noticed that it seems easier for me to obey my parents. I also have a desire to be more patient, I enjoy listening when others talk about God, and I like to read more about God. I like to spend time with God everyday. I know that He has forgiven me for all my sins and has given me hope and joy and peace!
Sunday, January 18, 2004
Born Again! (January 2004)
This picture was taken at church the Sunday after Olga made her profession of faith--she was so excited to share her news with everyone, we all were!
Thursday, December 25, 2003
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
First Family Vacation ~ Colorado 2003
Georgetown/Silver Plume ~ narrowgauge rail train ride
Nature sketching near The Loch in Rocky Mountain National Park
Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Mother & Daughter Tea ~ 2003
Our very first Mother & Daughter Tea (I've always loved wearing hats, Nina wasn't nearly as confident about her first hat wearing experience!)!!
For many years, I've collected china tea cups and saucers--simple, fancy, inexpensive, and expensive--how thrilling it was to allow Nina to choose a cup and saucer from my collection to use at the Tea!
Wednesday, December 25, 2002
Wednesday, October 30, 2002
Welcome Home Party ~ Oct. 2002
You can't see it in this picture, but we're standing next to our minivan which is FILLED to the brim with gifts for the girls from the "Welcome Home Shower" given to us by our church family. The girls were visibly shocked and amazed at the festivity in their honor, and the abundant gifts!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
