Our Adoption Story
Russia 2006
We adopted two of our children from Russia, Nik and Alyona. When we first met our children, Nik was quiet and reserved and Alyona was so excited to see us that she ran right up to us saying mama and papa.
Our children's health is severely affected. Alyona has FAS/Developmental delays, radial articulation and a disorder called optic nerve hypoplasia. In addition, she may never grow either as her growth plates may have closed off. She also has microcephaly, and holes in her heart. Nik was born premature and at 3 years old was non-verbal.
We were completely shocked at what our daughter looked like. She was such a skeleton of a little girl and so unhealthy looking. We were actually speechless. But we started to play and it was all okay. The love comes through even when they are medically fragile. Amazing!
The orphanage was fairly decent for an orphanage, but they desperately needed an outdoor playground.
While in court the judge was asking questions pertaining to our family size. My husband was explaining we have plenty of space in our home, including a table that seats 12. The judge said "I guess we'll be seeing you in Murmansk again then". We all laughed
The first month home with any adoption is always the toughest. With 7 special needs children, adjustments of siblings always take time. We are past the month mark and things have finally settled down. The nine of us truly feel like a family now.
The children have adapted so much better than we could have
ever imagined. Alyona, Irina, and Yana have all bonded as if they've always
been together; our oldest son and Nik have become inseparable. Nik runs to the
bus with his arms held out to go greet the other six kids.
If it were not for A Child Waits caring about the special needs children, Alyona would not be in our lives today. I cannot express my gratitude enough for helping us bring her home. Though the medical diagnoses are many, the love changes it all and shines through. Due to the grant that was provided, it allowed us to add Nik to our family at the same time.
We had no idea Nik had Usher's Syndrome. He is deaf and will eventually go blind. Yet if you could just see the amazing things these children can do, you would never guess they had special needs. Our family feels so right. We all belong in this family. Each person has their place in the family. We are so thrilled that A Child Waits Foundation exists, for if it were not for you, our family would not feel whole. We love our family and are so overwhelmed with gratitude that A Child Waits helped to bring us together.
Forever Grateful,
The Boyd bunch- Warren, Stephanie, Irina, Max, Yana, Bojan, Alyona, Alex and
Nik