Harder than a homestudy

Last year I ?met? a very nice lady, named Cindy, who was starting the process to adopt a little girl from Russia. She attended our agency chat one Thursday and she seemed like a pretty nice woman. She had to wait around for AIA to receive their accreditation before she could begin the process and in December that wish was granted for her. Shortly after accreditation she contacted me saying she wanted to start blogging her experience (which to this point has been quite whirlwind). I was happy to oblige and hooked her up with a nice little Elle blogger design. The creation of that design and it?s installation was a bit whirlwind too because two weeks after contacting me she kindly asked if I could speed things along. Normally I don?t take kindly to people saying hurry it up lady. Yes, I?m getting paid, but I have a queue of other people in line. First come first serve. But her pleading request touched my heart. That and she had a good reason for the urgency. She had a referral. That is enough to get my butt moving.

As I conversed with Cindy we discovered that her referral is in the same baby home the boy is from. It isn?t very often that I find people adopting from Khabarovsk, let alone Baby Home #2. Needless to say, I was excited. I was able to tell her all about the place, the staff and the warm welcome we were given. I hope it eased some fears for her. Anyway? I asked Cindy if she would do me a huge favor. I asked if she would take some photos of the boy to Tatiana, the social worker. You see? the baby homes don?t see the post placement reports we so diligently send to Russia. They are filed away in a drawer at the Ministry of Education. These women, who lovingly care for these children, never know what happens to them once they join their forever families. Sometimes they are luck and families will come back for additional children, make visits or in our case find a family traveling to meet their own children.

In Tatiana?s office she had a small bulletin board with photos of children that had been adopted. The background on her computer screen was that of a child, could have been her grandchild, but likely one of the children from the baby home. The screen saver on her computer was a slide show of children. This woman loves these kids. It emanates from every pore of her body.

A few weeks ago I sat down to pick out a few photos of the boy to send to Tatiana. It was so difficult. I had a year and a half of photos. How do you pick 6 or so photos that sum up the life this little boy has lived in the past year and a half? What?s worse is, this morning, I sat down to write a letter to Tatiana and the caregivers in the hopes that the agency translator can read it to Tatiana. Again, how do you sum the huge amounts of progress your child has made in the past year? We are talking about a child that barely spoke. A little boy that screamed when we took him out of the orphanage because he was so scared. The boy isn?t the same child we held in our arms that day. Today, he is a bright, energetic, smart and funny little boy. I?ve never written such a hard letter in all my life. I only hope it does justice to the care the women gave him during his time in the orphanage. I know without their love he wouldn?t have been the little one he is today.

In the mean time, you can follow Cindy?s journey over at Hoping and Believing. Ohh and Ahh over her pretty design and send her some love. They are traveling with two awesome women. Catherine and Cathy, take good care of her.