I was informed by the caller that she had found a little girl she thought was perfect for our family. The little girl was almost 3, and she like Max and Alex had an orthopedic handicap -
She was born healthy, but at 3 months of age she had contracted polio, and as a result the muscles in her legs had been affected. My friend told me that the little girl was walking, and that she was very healthy, and she asked me if we were interested in seeing her information. I went to Joe, we prayed, and we decided that we would consider her. They sent us her medical information, and a picture. We both fell in love with her, and we started the process to adopt her.
The process to adopt Anya was much easier and much harder than the process to adopt the boys had been. We sent our paperwork to Russia in the spring of 1993, and in early November 1993 I got the call telling me that I could travel. I left for Russia, with my mother, on November 7, 1993.
We arrived in Moscow on November 8, and we were scheduled to leave for Nizhney Novograd (Anya's region) the following morning.
Nizhney is about 8 hours north and east of Moscow by car, or a four to five hour train ride.
But, shortly after we arrived in Russia we discovered that my mother's passport and her Russian visa were missing. After searching everywhere it was still lost, and this presented a big problem. She was not going to be able to travel any further in Russia. I had to leave her with my friends in Moscow - she was terrified - she had never been to Russia before, and I she kept telling me not to go to Nizhney, but I had no choice - Anya was waiting - everything had been arranged, and I had to go.
So, the following morning, after a stressful night I left for Nizhney.... I was supposed to go by train, but there was a problem so I ended up traveling with our adoption coordinator by car.... the trip took 8 hours - it was snowing, the roads were a mess, and it was 18 below zero when we arrived........
George took me to meet my host family, a lovely women and her daughter, Ludmilla and Tanya. I settled in, and went to bed.
The next morning we traveled to Anya's orphanage - big yellow building. The first thing I saw when I arrived was the garbage shoot next the front door of the orphanage, the smell nearly knocked us down, and there were rats everywhere......
We went inside, and immediately I was surprised by the starkness of the building.... we were ushered in to a big conference room on the building's second floor, and they told George they would get the Director of the orphanage. A long time passed before the Director came, and as she entered the room I noticed she was carrying what appeared to be a baby, but a rather large baby.
Suddenly I realized she was carrying Anya - she brought her over to us and she began to tell us how beautiful she was, and how happy she was that Anya was going to have a family. She kept asking me if I thought she was beautiful, and she got very upset when I didn't respond to her questions, but I was in shock - the little girl she was carrying looked nothing like the pictures we had seen of Anya - other than her facial features. This child was obviously very sick, and I thought I can't adopt this child. I already have two handicapped children......
I began asking questions, and we learned that Anya had contracted a respiratory infection over the summer - since the last time George had seen her. The Director said it started out as a cold, but over the past several months she had gotten sicker and sicker, and she had been really sick for over 2 months. The first time I saw her she was 3 and weighed less than 18 pounds, and her breathing was extremely labored.
As I stood in the orphanage looking at Anya that day I thought ........she's dying, and I knew without God's help that we would never get her out of Russia because we had to take her to a doctor at the US Embassy to certify that she was healthy and free of communicable diseases.
I was so upset that I could hardly speak following our meeting with the Director, and I knew that I needed to call Joe before I did anything else or proceeded with finalizing Anya's adoption.
So, I asked George to take me to the post office - to place a call to Joe. Back in 1993, in Russia, you couldn't just pick up a phone and call the United States. You had to call an international operator, make a reservation to call the US, and wait for them to call you back saying an international line was available. You never knew whether you would wait 10 minutes or 10 hours for the line.
Fortunately for me that day we only waited a couple of hours, and when I heard Joe's voice on the other end of the phone I started sobbing - I was crying so hard he couldn't understand a word I was saying. Finally I calmed down, and I explained the situation to him. Joe said bring Anya home - do whatever you have to do to get her out of that orphanage. He went on to say - "bring her home so that we can take care of her.... if she's that sick, and if you think she's dying it would be better for her to die here with people who love and care about her than in the orphanage".
I knew he was right, and I knew that's what I wanted too, but I needed confirmation from him.
After talking with Joe I returned to the orphanage and began the final steps to adopt Anya.....
to be continued......
She was born healthy, but at 3 months of age she had contracted polio, and as a result the muscles in her legs had been affected. My friend told me that the little girl was walking, and that she was very healthy, and she asked me if we were interested in seeing her information. I went to Joe, we prayed, and we decided that we would consider her. They sent us her medical information, and a picture. We both fell in love with her, and we started the process to adopt her.
The process to adopt Anya was much easier and much harder than the process to adopt the boys had been. We sent our paperwork to Russia in the spring of 1993, and in early November 1993 I got the call telling me that I could travel. I left for Russia, with my mother, on November 7, 1993.
We arrived in Moscow on November 8, and we were scheduled to leave for Nizhney Novograd (Anya's region) the following morning.
Nizhney is about 8 hours north and east of Moscow by car, or a four to five hour train ride.
But, shortly after we arrived in Russia we discovered that my mother's passport and her Russian visa were missing. After searching everywhere it was still lost, and this presented a big problem. She was not going to be able to travel any further in Russia. I had to leave her with my friends in Moscow - she was terrified - she had never been to Russia before, and I she kept telling me not to go to Nizhney, but I had no choice - Anya was waiting - everything had been arranged, and I had to go.
So, the following morning, after a stressful night I left for Nizhney.... I was supposed to go by train, but there was a problem so I ended up traveling with our adoption coordinator by car.... the trip took 8 hours - it was snowing, the roads were a mess, and it was 18 below zero when we arrived........
George took me to meet my host family, a lovely women and her daughter, Ludmilla and Tanya. I settled in, and went to bed.
The next morning we traveled to Anya's orphanage - big yellow building. The first thing I saw when I arrived was the garbage shoot next the front door of the orphanage, the smell nearly knocked us down, and there were rats everywhere......
We went inside, and immediately I was surprised by the starkness of the building.... we were ushered in to a big conference room on the building's second floor, and they told George they would get the Director of the orphanage. A long time passed before the Director came, and as she entered the room I noticed she was carrying what appeared to be a baby, but a rather large baby.
Suddenly I realized she was carrying Anya - she brought her over to us and she began to tell us how beautiful she was, and how happy she was that Anya was going to have a family. She kept asking me if I thought she was beautiful, and she got very upset when I didn't respond to her questions, but I was in shock - the little girl she was carrying looked nothing like the pictures we had seen of Anya - other than her facial features. This child was obviously very sick, and I thought I can't adopt this child. I already have two handicapped children......
I began asking questions, and we learned that Anya had contracted a respiratory infection over the summer - since the last time George had seen her. The Director said it started out as a cold, but over the past several months she had gotten sicker and sicker, and she had been really sick for over 2 months. The first time I saw her she was 3 and weighed less than 18 pounds, and her breathing was extremely labored.
As I stood in the orphanage looking at Anya that day I thought ........she's dying, and I knew without God's help that we would never get her out of Russia because we had to take her to a doctor at the US Embassy to certify that she was healthy and free of communicable diseases.
I was so upset that I could hardly speak following our meeting with the Director, and I knew that I needed to call Joe before I did anything else or proceeded with finalizing Anya's adoption.
So, I asked George to take me to the post office - to place a call to Joe. Back in 1993, in Russia, you couldn't just pick up a phone and call the United States. You had to call an international operator, make a reservation to call the US, and wait for them to call you back saying an international line was available. You never knew whether you would wait 10 minutes or 10 hours for the line.
Fortunately for me that day we only waited a couple of hours, and when I heard Joe's voice on the other end of the phone I started sobbing - I was crying so hard he couldn't understand a word I was saying. Finally I calmed down, and I explained the situation to him. Joe said bring Anya home - do whatever you have to do to get her out of that orphanage. He went on to say - "bring her home so that we can take care of her.... if she's that sick, and if you think she's dying it would be better for her to die here with people who love and care about her than in the orphanage".
I knew he was right, and I knew that's what I wanted too, but I needed confirmation from him.
After talking with Joe I returned to the orphanage and began the final steps to adopt Anya.....
to be continued......
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