More than an Adoption

For me, this journey has proved to be way more than just adopting Maria. It has become about people and making connections. I am a people person, always have been and always will be… probably in large part due to my sales at the hotel all those years. Sales is about relationships and I truly cared for all my clients and brides (well, most of them :). I have truly enjoyed getting to know Nicholai, and Serge and Marina. They are more to me than my “facilitator” or “driver”… and it is important to me to refer to them by name here. I feel connected to them….although I am sure we are just another family to them, I will never forget everything that happened here, how wonderful we were treated here, and Marina referring to me and Dom as “her children.” Marina reminds me a lot of myself when I worked in the hotel… many “client” files and trying to organize all the details and arrangements, and keeping everyone straight! …and all the caretakers who work at the orphanage and especially the ones who take care of Maria’s groupa… They are not just caretakers, they each have a name, and they have been bringing up Maria and preparing her for this adoption way before any of us knew it was going to happen. Each day I try to memorize a few more Ukrainian words and sentences so I can have small conversations with them…I believe it is so important that they know they are appreciated and that we appreciate their culture and language. Many times they respond to me and I stare at them blankly…and then they try some English, and somehow we each figure out what the other is saying.

Then there is Rustik, our driver here in Khmelnitsky. He has shared with us much about his life. Dom has had some very nice conversations with him, talking about work, family, goals, etc. Rustik is 32, is an only child, has never been married, lives with his mom, has never met his father, and his mom has no siblings. There is no other family beyond him and his mom - it is just the two of them. He is trying to grow spiritually. He shared with us that he has learned a lot from us, about family, and health. And yesterday when he drove Dom and the kids to Kiev, he told Dom that our family has changed his life forever….I was speechless… we have had a huge impact on him, his life, what he eats, how he looks at things, and his future… he said because of his experience with our very happy and beautiful family he sees now the importance of finding a good wife and having a family of his own...tonite I praised God for using our family in this way…. Despite all our challenges and some behavioral challenges with the kids, Rustik saw through all that, praise God. God has actually used us to not only change Maria’s life, but someone else’s as well - completely unexpected. I cannot thank God enough for using us in this way. We most definitely were supposed to come here as a FAMILY! We made the right choice. All glory and praise to Him!

….definitely MORE than an adotion….